City of Basketball Love

Austin Lederman (@AustinLederman)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2016-17 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 11. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season, click here.)

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When Zach Spiker was introduced as the new Drexel men’s basketball head coach back in March, his press conference was filled with energy and an excitement that hadn’t been felt around the Dragons’ program for several years.

The fresh face of Drexel basketball, who recently celebrated his 40th birthday, intends on bringing that same energy and excitement to the basketball court that he shared with a handful of reporters in Drexel’s new media room.

It’s quite a change from the former regime, as 15-year head coach Bruiser Flint preferred a style that plodded along amongst the slowest in the country. Spiker understands the challenges of trying to overhaul an offense with players who were largely recruited under the old style.

“I think that’s always something that’s easy to talk about and say when the reality is doing it is very different,” Spiker said. “It’s hard to play at this pace, it’s hard to play faster.”

Spiker, a West Virginia native, comes from Army's West Point, where he has spent the past seven seasons guiding the Black Knights. Last season was his most successful, a 19-14 record, tied for tops in the Patriot League. A first round CIT exit ended Army’s campaign, but Spiker was the first coach to guide the Black Knights to the postseason since some fella named Mike Krzyzewski back in 1978.

The 19 wins matched a program-high total. The previous coach to reach that milestone? That same Coach K guy.

Part of the success stemmed from Army’s style of play--it was faster than Drexel’s. A lot faster.

The Black Knights ranked 33rd in adjusted offensive tempo last year, nearly 300 spots higher than the Dragons. Drexel ranked 330th out of 351 schools in adjusted offensive tempo last year under Flint, which wasn’t an aberration; Flint’s teams always played a slow-down, grind-it-out style that emphasized ball movement instead of rushed shots.

As much as Spiker wants to speed up the tempo, he acknowledged the difficulties of a team completely changing its offensive identity.

“Them transitioning to a new style offensively, would probably be the biggest one [challenge],” he said. “We’ve got to make sure we don’t run before we should be walking, we should be crawling. We’ve got to take the progressions of how we want to play offensively.”

It starts with connecting with the players and getting them on board. A new system doesn’t matter if the players don’t buy in. It helps Spiker to have a senior leader like Rodney Williams, who was second on the team in scoring and first in rebounding last season who is all for the change. After a 6-25 season, Williams is willing to do whatever it takes to make his last season one to remember.

“I’m definitely enjoying it,” Williams said of the new offensive system. “He’s going to use me in a lot of different ways that I haven’t before. A lot of ways that I was in high school. We’ll see - he’s gonna let me do a little things, shoot a couple threes, different things like that are gonna happen just because the offense allows that so I think it’s going to benefit me tremendously and I’m interested to see what’s going to happen.”

While Spiker wouldn’t confirm if he’d actually allow Williams to shoot 3-pointers, (he’s attempted just one in his three collegiate seasons) he didn’t completely rule it out and says it matters more that he gets Williams in a position to score where he’ll be successful.

“Which very well is on the low block, but maybe some in rhythm shots that he hasn’t taken in the past, if he proves in and out of practice that he works on his game and consistently makes it, I hope he earns the opportunity to take those shots, and he’s excited about taking them.”

A faster tempo tends to lead to more open 3-pointers. Defenses need to crash to the rim to prevent open layups, which allows shooters to fill the wings for kickout opportunities. Three of the Dragons’ best long-range shooters from last season aren’t with the program anymore. Tavon Allen, a 36.6 percent 3-point shooter last season, graduated. Terrell Allen, who shot 32.1 percent from deep, transferred to Central Florida. And Ahmad Fields, who made 2-of-5 3-pointers last year stepped away from basketball due to injuries.

That leaves junior guard Sammy Mojica as the lone player to connect on over 30 percent of 3-point attempts. Redshirt junior guard Miles Overton, who sat out last season after transferring from Wake Forest, will also be relied upon to stretch opposing defenses.

As much talk as there was about offense, Spiker says it goes hand-in-hand with a successful defense. Playing fast is great, but you can’t win games without consistently getting stops.

“I want to be in condition to sustain multiple series, down and back,” Spiker explained. “Our teams have been good when we’ve had sequences. A made bucket and a stop and another made bucket and a steal and a dunk, whatever it may be, if you can put together a couple 4-0, 5-0 runs, you do that (twice) each of the halves, you’re plus-18.”

Spiker wouldn’t put an absolute number on possessions. It’s moreso playing the game in an aggressive manner.

“Don’t have a possession goal, I think we just have a mindset goal,” Spiker said. “And that possession goal can take up a life of its own.”

The players have so far taken to the mindset.

“I think they’ve been really good," Spiker said. “They’ve been good. There’s only so many things you can control. A lot of it’s your attitude and your effort. Just come in with the right attitude and give the right effort. Be a great teammate. They’ve been open-minded and that’s all you can ask for.”