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Each week Lindenwood University Head Men’s basketball coach Kyle Gerdeman talks men's basketball and much, much more. We'll talk about basketball, future Lindenwood University games, past games, players, the OVC, the NCAA, academics, careers, and many other interesting topics.
Gary (00:01.186)
Welcome back to Basketball Talk with Lindenwood University head men's basketball coach Kyle Gerdeman and it's time to start talking real basketball games. Coach had one on Monday night.
Kyle Gerdeman (00:11.091)
Yeah, we finally got the season started and it's exciting as always to kick off the first game and get the season underway. And schedule changes a little bit now from just practice every day to games and game planning and still trying to find time for working on yourself and your team. So it's a fun time to get started.
Gary (00:31.758)
Let's just talk about that OU game. They had some fast folks. They kind of scored 29 points on the fast break, and Lindwood didn't have that many. What did you see with that?
Kyle Gerdeman (00:43.755)
Yeah, I thought that we talked a lot about defensive transition being a big key for us as we went into the game. And I think over the course of 40 minutes, we did a pretty good job with it. But I think when we got back and watched the film and even talking about during the game, think there was just three short segments where we just didn't do a good job in defensive transition. Now, some of that was because of turnovers where we penetrated into a couple guys.
you're not going to be able to stop some of those fast break points. But at the same time, we had some moments where we just didn't get matched up right. And when we did do our defensive transition correct, we were pretty solid defensively. But I think a lot of the mistakes were probably two things. think one, a little bit common for the first game, but even more common at a team with the athleticism and speed that you see from Oklahoma and a power five team, they come at you a little bit fast.
faster than you can practice that we saw in our exhibition and our scrimmage game. So the first time you see that, it gets a little bit different and it's a little more challenging.
Gary (01:54.446)
And there's, appeared to be a little bit of a mental lid on the basket. Neither the two point nor three point shooting was very strong on Monday night. Was that just first game jitters? How would you characterize that?
Kyle Gerdeman (02:04.855)
You know, I think I think the shots at the rim.
which I thought we got some really, we got the ball to the basket. I thought, you know, a lot, we had some good touches from, you know, Jalen McDaniel down low and Jordan Wildey down low. And I thought Markeith and Jadis did a really good job of attacking the basket and getting opportunities. Colin Ruffin did a nice job of having, you know, two or three shots at the rim. So we got it there, which was a big positive. And I think, you know, probably the percentage wise, I think is a little bit of both, a little bit of the first game, a little bit of experience for some of these guys. And then you got to give Oklahoma
Gary (02:28.43)
Yes.
Kyle Gerdeman (02:39.505)
I mean, they've got they keep coming at you with six nine guys that protect the rim and those shots aren't as easy As you might think, you know, I think we could have taken a couple of them, you know better a couple stronger drives You know, I thought a couple times we tried to avoid contact a little bit You can't do those things against anybody not just Oklahoma But I think it'll be interesting for us to see as we move forward You know how we get that percentage improved and if we don't make a few more of them going down the road because I expect we will and we made more of them in the second half
which I thought was a positive. I think for Jadis Jones, it's about getting comfortable and realizing the physicality and the speed of the game. And as he adjust to that game by game, I think we've talked about that before. I think he's just gonna get better and better. I look at Mark Keith and I think his is a comfort level too. This was his first real game in almost a year. And I think the adjustment that you saw from what he did in the first half to the second half,
I think he was two for seven or something like that in the first half and he ended up seven for 18. So very effective in the second half, making shots and getting to the rim. So I think a lot of it is just getting that experience and adjusting and getting that first game out of the way.
Gary (03:54.986)
And you mentioned Jadis Jones and the double double on his first night out at college D1. He had to walk out with a pretty pretty big smile on his face.
Kyle Gerdeman (04:01.975)
Yeah, you know I was was proud of him because you know think it's it's great for him to to you know not only find the 10 points but I thought the 10 rebounds was was really impressive you know because you know he was he was undersized most of the night against the guy he was guarding. Yeah, he had five offensive rebounds, five defensive rebounds and offensive rebounds. Well then the defense too, but like offensive rebounds is just a mentality. You know you just want to go get the ball and then you chase it hard and you're tough and that's what he is. And so I thought for him to do that.
Gary (04:14.432)
offensive rebounds a lot of them, right?
Kyle Gerdeman (04:31.989)
in his first game out against Oklahoma where he was undersized at his position, but it didn't stop him. loved what he brought to the game that night.
Gary (04:42.03)
Cool, cool. When the game was kicking off, the announcers made an interesting observation. It's not going to knock you off of your chair, but they said something along the lines of the 33 players on both teams, all but a handful were transfers into this basketball year. Are you going to see that all year long, you think?
Kyle Gerdeman (04:59.115)
Yeah, yeah, I think so. I just think it's so common. There's just not many programs or there's just not many players anymore that are just kind of buying their time and hanging in there. I think guys are looking for opportunities to play at different places and rightfully so. it's.
They only get four years, five maybe. so they wanna maximize their years that they have left in their career or be able to advance themselves forward in their career. So I think it's gonna be really common, I think we'll see it every night out. mean, 33 is a lot, it'd be interesting to see what that number is, game by game. But I know when you look at the conference, mean, you're gonna see rosters that have had a lot of turnover. I think when you look at the league, you're gonna see that.
that kind of a number every night.
Gary (05:55.358)
Interesting. So the Oklahoma team was coached by Porter Moser, whose claim to fame a few years ago was the Loyola University team he took to the NCAA double, NCAA Final Four. I he had a nun cheering him on, as I recall, back in the day. What's it like when you have those kind of sidelined conversations with big time, power five coaches like Porter Moser?
Kyle Gerdeman (06:15.307)
Yeah, you know, it's always it's always interesting. You know, I mean, I don't. We don't know each other. You know, I think we we know who we are. You know, we know each other when we see us, you know, passing by. We always speak, but you know, I don't think we have a, you know, like a close relationship by any means, but I've seen his career. You know, I remember when he was at Saint Louis, you were Rick Magyar as an assistant.
way back when and again, being able to speak to each other cordially when you see each other is always good. I think when you get there to the game, I think there's just always a mutual respect.
for each other and from each other. I think just speaking quickly before the game, he knows enough about our program just from the scouting report to know kind of how we're trying to build it through the transition. And he understands that and was very complimentary of what we were trying to do and kind of what we've been able to do to this point. And so you always appreciate to hear that as a head from one head coach to another, especially from a guy that's been as successful as he has. So I think that's fun.
I'm kind of the same way. You root for guys and you want to see them build their program. When he got to Oklahoma, it was kind of a rebuild and he's pushing through that trying to grow his program and find success. I think what last year, I think they were the first team that was left out of the NCAA tournament. So they were right on the border of making the NCAA tournament, which is a big step forward for them when they make it. So I think when you talk to those guys, it's just a little bit of congratulations on starting another year and let's-
Gary (07:34.925)
Yeah.
Kyle Gerdeman (07:47.471)
continue to build and grow your teams.
Gary (07:50.728)
I didn't do an actual count, but I looked at the website and the OU team had a lot more assistant coaches than you have on your staff at Lindowan. I know it's a financial thing, but what are the practical implications of large coaching staffs when you face teams like Oklahoma?
Kyle Gerdeman (08:08.427)
Well, I don't think it necessarily has much impact on the game, except from the standpoint that I think what they can generate, having such a large staff, whether that's staff coaching members, whether that's graduate assistants, whether that's managers, is the ability to.
I mean, I think their scouting is probably more advanced because of the hands-on that they're able to have in that department. I think the thing that you see the most from it, I think, their individual skill work, their individual improvement. They have so many people that can put their hands on their athletes during the day. They've got graduate assistants that can help with workouts. They have student managers that can be rebounders all the time.
But I think the overall thing that I see or that I think when you see staffs that size and that much help is how much more efficient can you be during your day when you have that many people that can help? I think that's where Porter, for example, he's got to kind of be the CEO of all of those people and make sure that they know their role, they know what their job is on a day-to-day basis. But I think those guys do a phenomenal job of lining those things out. And so all of a sudden, you're looking at us with.
Gary (09:16.622)
Yeah.
Kyle Gerdeman (09:29.597)
a head coach, four assistants, and really one manager. We've got to be able to manage all those things, the same amount of things that Oklahoma manages, but we do it with six people, where Oklahoma can do it with 16 people or 20 people. And so how much more efficient is your day, is your practice, is your workout when you have that, you have eyes and hands on deck to really help out.
Gary (09:53.934)
Well, I told you while we getting ready for this podcast that I was a student manager for a football team. So Kyle, if you need somebody to do some rebounding for you, just give me a call. I'll come out there and snatch those boards off and feed them to the guys for you.
Kyle Gerdeman (10:04.919)
We practice at 1230, so if you want to come on in, we'll use the help. I'll call you out on that.
Gary (10:09.166)
You got me on that one. So hey, let's go ahead. You did. You got me on that one. I didn't expect such a timely response. So tomorrow night, six o'clock in the Highland Center, the first real home game of the year. What kind of progress are you looking for?
Kyle Gerdeman (10:15.435)
Hahaha.
Kyle Gerdeman (10:22.487)
You know, I think that's the biggest thing is the progress. We talk about it. We've talked about it every week, getting better every week. And now when we get into games, it's about being able to improve a lot of weeks in a short amount of time. And what I want to see is the things that we talked about after the game Monday night.
off yesterday, we'll be back at practice today. And so in a short amount of time, the things that we see on video from Monday, the things that we talk about today in practice, you know, the improvement areas and improvement areas for us are simple. It's, know, we've got to become more, we've got to become more disciplined on offense and defense with, the things that we're implementing. We've got to continue to grow in that area. Our defensive transition is like we talked about earlier in the Oklahoma game is something that an area that we, you know, we're really concentrating
trading on. want to be really good at it because we feel like that when we get back and we can get you five on five and a half court, I think our half court defense is going to be pretty good. So, you know, I think the thought is we talk about those things. We watch film on it today. We practice it a little bit today and then you play tomorrow. And so in that in that short of amount of time, can you can you see improvement in those areas? Can you see it? And not necessarily just an improvement because there's still going to be plenty of mistakes to be made. And that's fine. We understand that. But can you see a better focus?
focus on it, is the intent right? Can you see guys sprinting back harder in defense, for example, or can we see guys communicating louder in defensive transition? At the same time, can we run the fast break more? Can we get more fast break points, which is something that we're trying to concentrate on? So basically, every area, does it look like we're taking a step in the right direction game by game is what it gets to now.
Gary (12:13.506)
Well, Coach, let's call that a wrap for this November 6, 2024 podcast. I wish you the best tomorrow night. And of course, we'll get back together and chat next week as you head on the road for a couple of games. Coach, always a pleasure. We'll talk soon.
Kyle Gerdeman (12:25.889)
Sounds good. Thank you.