Competition, Communication, Conditioning

As the 2007-08 season begins, Westmont head coach John Moore enters his twentieth season as a head coach, and his fifteenth at the helm of the Warriors men’s basketball program.  The veteran coach loves his job.

"Coaching and teaching are more meaningful for me today than they were eight to ten years ago," proclaimed Moore. "I coach because there is a relational element which becomes more significant the deeper you get into it.  The success is always going to be meaningful.  We are competitors as coaches.  But there is a greater success that lies in a meaningful life.

"It is more significant because of the kinds of things that are important in coaching," continued Moore. "Someone once said to me, ‘You don’t have a philosophy of coaching until you get to 15 years as a head coach.’ I discounted that, but there was a point - and for me it was in that 15-year range - that I realized that I have a philosophy of coaching. That makes it more meaningful for me and more meaningful for my players.

"Just this last year we started these vignettes," explained Moore, "where we have our coaches sharing stories before every practice – stories about basketball and stories about life. You do those things when you get to a certain point in your coaching career because you realize this may be the most important thing we do in the next two hours."

Entering the season with a career record of 363-224, Moore is scheduled to coach his 600th game at Murchison Gymnasium on January 12 against Vanguard.

"Wow," quipped the coach when informed of the upcoming milestone.  "I was feeling pretty good.  I’m tired now.

"With longevity comes not just an agedness, but you better have some wisdom," reflected Moore. "I think wisdom comes through success, but it comes more often through failures.  The failures have taught me how to respond to the failures.  If I were asked to be completely frank about that, I would say that I have been given the gift of failure.  I have learned how to fail and I have learned from those failures.  What I have learned from those failures is the recognition of where the meaningful part of the process lies.  The meaningful part of the process is in the relational points and so at those points, I try to do more today than I did 10 years ago."

"Being here for only two years, I feel very lucky to play for coaches like we have," said senior co-captain Drew Benac who transferred to Westmont after playing a year under Billy Gillespie at Texas A&M.  "When I initially visited Westmont, the thing that impressed me the most was how Coach Moore led the team as a reflection of who he is as a Christian man.  We start our practices in prayer and coaches will share thoughts of encouragement and challenge. I admire that about Coach Moore."

Season Outlook

The 2007-08 season will be one of transition for the Warriors who lost five seniors to graduations last year.  Ryan Wassell did not play but became an important part of the coaching staff.  Will Allen finally was able to take the court after two years in which injuries kept him from playing.  Though limited to 159 minutes on the court, his leadership both on and off the court tremendously impacted the Warriors. 

Also graduating were Luke Allen and Johnny Wilson.  Allen, who returned to Westmont for his senior season after a year at Arkansas, scored 13.2 points per game last season and Wilson averaged 6.7 points and 3.1 rebounds per game.

But the biggest adjustment for the Warriors comes as the result of the graduation of All-American forward Santiago Aguirre who averaged 18.0 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. 

"The loss of Sant has changed the dynamic of our team a lot because of his vocal presence on the court," explained Benac. "We spent a lot of time going into the low post last year.  That was something we could always lean on.  We have some guys who are developing in that low post spot, but we are going to try and run more this year, get up and down the court and get the ball out.  We will probably have to play more like the traditional Princeton, more back cuts, more motion and not as much dumping it down low into the post.   We’ll see how it turns out. We are still developing as a team and have a lot of fine tuning yet to do."

But the returning Warriors will not have to make those adjustments by themselves.

"I was really looking forward to our recruits coming in," said Ware. "Now that we are on the court, I have about the most optimistic outlook on the season you can have.  It’s going to be really fun just being on the court with everyone.  We have a common goal and we have nothing but good things to look forward to."

"I’m excited about this group," agreed Benac. "The thing I’m excited about is the way our guys get along and the chemistry we have even off the court.  Even some of the younger guys have jumped right in and are not afraid to mix it up.  I feel like that gives us a lot of depth.  We might be short on experience compared to some teams, but I feel that our depth will really help us out as the season progresses.  We have a lot of different guys who could step up at different times.  Josh and I have a big responsibility to lead the way on that and keep playing with confidence and keep encouraging them so they can step out there and play confidently whenever they are called upon."

The Warriors will rally behind  three "Cs" as a theme for this year.

"Competition, Communication and Conditioning," explained Ware. "We conditioned harder this year than any year I have been here. We took all of September and ran. As for competition, everything in practice is geared toward competing in one way or another.  It means pushing each other and getting each other better.  Not doing something just to do it but to make each other better through it.  Being a team captain, communication means, you have to talk and talk meaningfully and intelligently.  Not just yelling or gibberish, but talking in a way that benefits the team in one way or another.  When that carries over to everyone on the court communicating, it’s like having an extra defender or extra person on offense."

"I think we are a team that is going to be a whole lot better in March than we are in November," said Moore. "It’s going to be itsy-bitsy steps.  We’ll have to look at our team through big picture lenses.  Our younger players are very good and we don’t have a lot of older players that have had a great deal of time on the floor. We have three players who played a significant amount of minutes, one who played 13 minutes per game, and after that are those who played very limited minutes.  So the question is, how do those who played limited minutes rise to playing 20-25 minutes per game? Or is it going to be our transfer or freshmen who play those minutes?

"Right now, I’d say it’s going to be a combination of all of those," continued Moore. "Nasa (Sete) is going to get a lot of minutes. Further complicating things is that we have only ten of seventeen players that are healthy including some of our players who have the most experience.  So we have to be big picture people and be very patient.

"We’ll be looking to simplify our offense without limiting ourselves or keeping our players from the freedom they need to play the game of basketball," said Moore.  "This must be an overachieving team.  We want to overachieve in practice.  Overachieving is not about conference championships, it’s about overachieving in the day – overachieving in the first five minutes of practice.  What can we do in the moments of the day to see ourselves achieving beyond?"

The Players

Seniors

"When I think of all the senior captains we’ve had, Drew will always be one of the top guys," said Moore of Benac.  "Sometimes it is hard to get to your senior year and still have that hunger for learning, but Drew has the wonder of a child.  I appreciate that so much about him.  And he processes.  He takes time to learn and is very thoughtful young man.  As a coaching staff, we want him to be successful as a player and play a lot.  If Drew is on the court a great deal, it means that we are that much better off as a team and it means that we are paying back the guy who is leading the team."

Benac, who played in 29 games and started in 14, averaged 12.7 minutes per game for the Warriors. Against California Baptist, he recorded a season high ten points.

Ware, the teams only other senior, averaged 9.7 points per game while shooting .515 from the field (85 of 165).  He also pulled down 3.0 rebounds and dished off 2.4 assists per game.  Thirteen times he scored in double figures including 18 points against Mississippi College.  With 125 steals, Ware currently sits at number 11 on the Warriors’ career steals list.

"Josh is a four year guy and is learning how much he is capable of leading and how much other people value his leading," said Moore.  "This is his team.  In the past, there has been a bit of reluctance for leadership, but he no longer has that reluctance.  He is a point guard who is going to be a leader defensively, he is going to have as many minutes as anyone on the team and we are going to look to him to score more often than he ever has.  He shot 51 percent from the field last year and I’m going to say to him, ‘I want you to shoot more.’"

Juniors

"I think Tyler Dutton has had his average year," said Moore of the team’s third co-captain.  "He had a very good freshman year but had an injury filled sophomore year.  I think he is ready to have a breakout year.  If we can keep him healthy, he will be one of the better guards in the conference.  He has that capability.  He’s a very good shooter, an incredible competitor and a tough-minded player."

Dutton averaged 10.3 points per game last season, despite his injuries.  From beyond the arc he made .433 of his attempts (26 of 60) and posted a .463 percentage from the field (82 of 177).

Transferring to Westmont in January of 2007 was Nasa Sete who saw action in eight games last year as he learned the Warriors’ system.

"Nasa has transformed his body," reported Moore. "He has very good basketball skills and because he has transformed his body, he is able to move around better.  His quickness is where it needs to be, his ability to defend is better, his ability to get up and down the court is better, he doesn’t get fatigued as quickly."

"Nasa is an incredible leader," continued Moore. "He has been on campus for one semester and part of this semester and there is talk about him speaking in chapel – something usually reserved for seniors.  He has had that kind of powerful leadership throughout the campus.  He is a dynamic Christian, is a leader on the team and is highly respected."

Also returning to the guard position is Colin Hofer.  Injured in the exhibition game against UC Santa Barbara last year, Hofer was unavailable to the Warriors for the first six games of the season.  But Hofer played in the final 23 games, scoring 3.7 points per game including 17 against Hope International.

"We have very good shooters on our team," said Moore, "but I’m not sure there is a better pure shooter in our program than Colin Hofer.  When he’s open and his feet are set, he is as likely to make it as anyone.  I think he will get more minutes this year."

Depending on their health, Moore hopes to have juniors Sean Rager and Dustin Jones available this year.  Rager was limited to 16 games last season and Jones did not play at all.  Jones did play in his freshman year, averaging 4.3 points per game.  Rager averaged 3.8 points and 2.0 rebounds in his freshman season.

"Dustin has the ability to be the surprise player on the team," said Moore. "Dustin is a very good shooter.  If his back heals in the way his doctors say it will, he could be an important piece that we haven’t been counting on.  He won’t be able to play until at least January."

"Sean has been disappointed in his playing time, but it has all been related to the amount of time he has been able to play in practice," said Moore. "That goes all the way back to last year and part of his freshman year.  We could use a guy like Sean Rager every day in practice.  If he gets healthy, he’ll be our best offensive rebounder.  We are looking forward to seeing him in practice, but we really don’t know if we will."

Sophomores

Heading the list of sophomores is point guard Andrew Schmalbach who started 27 games last year and played in all 29.  Schmalbach scored in double figures on ten occasions including a season high 19 against Biola.

"Andrew had a phenomenal freshman year," said Moore. "He was the surprise of all surprises last year.  He led us in minutes (34.0 per game), led us in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.19) and he averaged almost ten points a game.  He shot well from the three-point line (.411) and shot above 50 percent from the field - which for a guard is outstanding.  He was second in steals on our team (33).  The unfortunate thing with Andrew is that he has been hurt.  He broke his foot in the first two minutes of the national tournament game (last year) and played through it.  He was in a boot for the rest of the spring semester and into June."

Also returning to play at guard is Matt LeDuc who played in 26 games and averaged 8.1 minutes per game.  LeDuc averaged 2.2 points while shooting .400 (22 of 55) from the floor.

"Matt had a very good freshman year," said Moore. "He came to me and said, ‘Coach, I played more than I expected to play.’  And he played a whole lot more than I expected him to play.  Both of those are good signs.  He not only played more, but he played important minutes in important games last year.  Matt has an opportunity to increase his playing time, but he also has greater competition than he has had at the two-guard position.  Matt has great energy and a great work ethic.  With Matt it comes down to physical strength.  He’s a capable shooter and really works hard."

John Miller returns at forward for the Warriors after playing in 13 games last season.

"I think John has made the most of improvement," said Moore. "I am excited to see his athleticism.  It is evident that he worked extremely hard during the summer.  John is more about playing past his mistakes.  He will make mistakes because he is so athletic and because he is learning how to play the game more from the outside than the inside.  But John is learning to play past those mistakes, use his athleticism and take good care of the ball.  He may be our best offensive rebounder.  He keeps the ball alive and gives us extra chances."

Brent Legace and Bobby Fenske also hope to make an impact in their sophomore years.  Fenske is a transfer from the United States Naval Academy.

"Brent Legace is a back-up point guard who red-shirted last year because of the injury he had last year," said Moore. "He has been practicing hard and helping us get better as a team."

"Bobby is getting better each day," said Moore. "We expected him to be farther along as a Division I transfer.  But Bobby is a very capable shooter – maybe has as pretty a shot as anybody we have.  He has great footwork in the low post.  With Bobby, it all comes down to pushing hard.  He is learning every day what it means to do that.  He is coming along and is going to be a very important player to us throughout the year.  We need him to be in the range of 20-30 minutes per game."

Freshman

Five freshman begin their Warrior careers in the 2007-08 season.  Point guard Ryan Aijian of Santa Barbara; forward Dan Rasp from Camarillo; Zachary Spangler of Rio Rancho, New Mexico; Blake Bender from Anaheim Hills and Evan Haines from Bellevue, Washington.

"Ryan is going to be a really good player in our program," said Moore. "That’s a bold thing to say about a freshman, but I know his position better than any on the floor because it’s a position I played.  He has athleticism, he reacts to the game in a way the game ought to be reacted upon and he has incredible basketball instincts.  That combination doesn’t happen very often.  We have been fortunate the last few years to have people like that who are perimeter players.  I think back to Josh Ware as a freshman, Tyler Dutton as a freshman, Andrew Schmalbach as a freshman, and now we have Ryan Aijian.  He’s been a joy to coach."

Aijian recorded 19.7 points and 9.0 rebounds per game in his senior season at Bishop Diego High School and scored in double figures in all 25 games.

"Dan Rasp simplifies the game," reported Moore. "He knows how to ball-fake, he knows how to move defenders, he knows how to get to the basket and he knows space. He knows when people are in his space and he knows how to create space for himself so that he can find ways to get to the basket.  Dan has a fine head for the game and is a real talent.  He will get better as his work ethic improves, as his understanding of the Princeton system grows and as he realizes the freedom within the Princeton system.  There is a huge learning curve coming into college and all the adjustments that go along with that.  Our system is a lot more complicated than a three-on-two man or a triangle offense.  Dan Rasp is going to be a very fine player."

Rasp posted 13 double-doubles in his senior year at Camarillo High School while averaging 18.2 points and 10.8 rebounds per game.

"Evan Haines has been injured the whole time," said Moore, "but every time someone walks into the gym and looks at him, they say, ‘What a body. What a big body that guy has."  It has been a while since we have had a player with a big body like that who can do the kinds of things he can do.  Evan reminds me of players like Jim Fortosis and Braden Weber – both were traditional low-post player like Brian Gomes and Mike Spears.  Evan is two or three inches bigger than Mike Spears and three or four inches bigger than Brian Gomes, but he can play the same kind of position that they did.  He just got out of the boot (after a foot injury) so it will be the Tom Byron before he will be ready to go."

At 6-8, Haines was a First Team All-Emerald City League selection his senior year and averaged 14.7 points and 11.7 rebounds per game.

"Blake Bender is a thinking man’s player," reflected Moore. "He will probably be one of our best defenders.  He’s very dependable and long at 6-5.  He has a very high basketball IQ and he is hungry.  Blake sat out all last year and is currently recovering from a stress fracture.  When he is ready in a couple of weeks, he will play at the wing or high post."

Bender averaged 4.4 points and 3.2 rebounds per game in his senior season.

"Zach has been the biggest surprise of our program," said Moore. "Frankly, we thought we would have cut Zach by now.  But he keeps showing up in the stat program we use in practice.  Last week, Zach was number two on our team.  He continues to impress us."

A two-time first team All-State AAA selection from New Mexico, Spangler averaged, 15 points and nine rebounds per game as a senior.  His team won the state championship in his sophomore year.

The Schedule

After exhibitions against The Afghanistan National Team and Pepperdine, Westmont begins the regular season at the Dominican Tournament on November 9 and 10 where they will take on the host Dominican and Holy Names.  Then on November 20, Westmont begins conference play.

"We have to go on the road with our first two GSAC opponents," said Moore. "Those two games are going to be very challenging; we face two of the top four teams in our conference according to our coaches’ poll."

The Warriors will play at California Baptist on November 20 and then head to Azusa Pacific one week later.  Westmont’s first home game won’t occur until December 1 when they host San Diego Christian.

"I am really excited about our conference schedule," said Benac. "Last year, after going down the stretch, we were in a tight race and squeezed into the national tournament at the last second.  When we were at that point, I remember looking back and thinking there were so many games that we were so close and didn’t end up winning.  It gave me an appreciation for how every single one of those games count.  So if we can take care of business, play smart, take care of leads, play good defense, do the little things and take one game at a time, I think we will get to the end and find ourselves in pretty good shape."

"Vanguard is better from what I hear," said Moore, beginning a critique of the Golden State Athletic Conference. "The new coach at Fresno Pacific is a very fine coach.  At the JC level, he averaged 31 wins per season.  Art Wilmore at Point Loma is an outstanding coach.  Ken Amman at Concordia is coming off of a National Tournament run with everybody back.  Biola will be better than they were.  Dave Holmquist doesn’t have many seasons under .500.  Justin Leslie has been instrumental in Azusa Pacific’s success and now steps into the head coaching role.  Master’s has almost everyone returning with a very fine coach in Chuck Martin.  Tim Collins at Cal Baptist does a nice job.  San Diego Christian may be a bit down."

After the three conference games, the Warriors will head to Boise, Idaho to take part in the College of Idaho Tournament where they will face Northwest Nazarene and College of Idaho.

"Of course, I am looking forward to December 7 and 8 against Northwest Nazarene and College of Idaho," said Ware. "It’s going to be great to be back in my hometown.  I probably could have gone to either of those schools, but Westmont was definitely the place that I was supposed to be and I love my time here.  At the same time, it is going to be great to play a game back in Idaho where I played for four years prior to college."

The Warriors will host Trinity Western (B.C.) on Monday, December 17 before heading home for Christmas. The team returns from the break to take part in the 32nd Annual Tom Byron Classic on December 28-29.  Participating in this year’s edition of the Byron are Edgewood (Wis.), Puget Sound (Wash.) and Baruch (N.Y.).

A game on December 31 against Concordia (Neb.) at Murchison Gymnasium will complete the 2007 calendar year.  Coach Moore will then enjoy something he is rarely afforded in the men’s basketball schedule – the first week of January without a game.

"We purposely give our teams a lot of time off at Christmas," said Moore. "Many coaches use those seven or eight days before Christmas for a mini-camp.  The first week in January gives us a chance to have a mini-camp.  It will be the first time we will have multiple practices in a row to go back and refine our play.  It will be a great opportunity for us."

The GSAC schedule resumes again on January 8 when the Warriors travel to Fresno Pacific and continues uninterrupted until the final game of the regular season against The Master’s at Westmont. The first round of the GSAC tournament will be held on March 6 with the semifinals and finals on March 8 and 11 respectively.  The NAIA National Tournament is scheduled for March 19-25 in Kansas City.

"Going to nationals last year made me so much more eager to go back," said Benac. "We watched a lot of the teams play and got a sense that there are so many teams around the country that we can compete with.  We have a hope this year of getting back and going in with even more confidence and making a serious run."