Kari Hoffman | Photo by Christian Peters | The Wright State Guardian
From the loss of Player of the Year Loudon Love to the all-brand-new coaching staff for Women’s Basketball, this upcoming season has a lot of changes for Wright State University (WSU) Basketball.
However, the expectations around these programs are no different from the successes they have had in previous years.
For Athletics Director Bob Grant, these programs have been successful by looking for sustained good results no matter what circumstances the team might be in.
“Our expectation level, honestly, has not dropped at all,” Grant said. “This program is built for sustained success, and that’s what we expect this year.”
Raider fans are back!
While the teams this year may look very different from previous years, the biggest change from last season may be the return of fans in full capacity to the Nutter Center for this season’s home games.
For Grant, the wait for fans to be back in the stands has created a buzz around all of WSU Athletics.
“It feels like it’s been many years since we’ve had fans in a legit basketball atmosphere,” Grant said. “So as much as we love the flat cut-outs, we’re glad they’re gone and replaced by real people.
For Men’s Basketball Coach Scott Nagy, having fans cheering in stands is why athletes play.
“It’ll be great. It’s been fun this fall watching football games and the excitement that’s back in the stands,” Nagy said. “It’s one of the reasons why the guys play. It makes it exciting.”
Losing Love
While Men’s Basketball has lost one of its star players with Loudon Love now playing for the Texas Legends, it still has a strong core of players from last year.
Tanner Holden, Grant Basile, Tim Finke and Trey Calvin are four players who started most of WSU’s games last year and were all standout players for the team in their own way. All four scored over 200 points for the Raiders last season and were the team’s top four scorers behind Love.
“Those are four very good players with a lot of college experience,” Nagy said. “There shouldn’t be a lot of surprises for them.”
With those core four players, the team has a lot of versatility in the way that it likes to play. For Nagy, what’s important is finding the right balance of being strong on attack and being able to lock down on defense.
“We’re still trying to work through that, ‘what are the best lineups for us defensively, offensively?’” Nagy said. “There’s a lot of things for us still to work on.”
Hoffman at the helm
After Women’s Basketball’s first-ever win at the NCAA Tournament, its coaching staff and three of its best players left the team to look for other opportunities.
But, for new head coach Kari Hoffman, the roster still expects to win, and win big.
“This group expects to win, and that’s one of the things that has impressed me the most about being here. There is a culture of winning. I love that,” Hoffman said.
Throughout this new coaching staff’s first season, there will definitely be some rough patches. But, for Hoffman, that change and adversity are necessary to be a good coach.
“We definitely have had our growing pains, but I think it’s been a fun couple of months getting to know our players,” Hoffman said. “We’ve had to adapt and change, and I think there will probably be a season full of that … but that’s what coaching is.”
