After a dismal 11-16 season last year, the University of Tampa men’s basketball team obviously wanted to improve.
But there’s not a coach, player or critic who could have predicted the magnitude of this turnaround.
Countless records broken, and 16 wins later, the UT men are in the midst of the greatest start in school history.
They stand at 16-0, ranked 12th in Division II basketball, but they’re not nearly satisfied.
“I’ve never been ranked before in my life. It’s a blessing,” forward Fred Woods said. “Hopefully we can win the conference championship and maybe do better than that.”
The Spartan men have broken the school record for most wins to start a season (14 games) and most consecutive wins (15 games). But the most important stat to them remains the Sunshine State Conference standings.
Having won their first five conference games, including a 77-70 win over rival Eckerd, they look poised to make a run for a high seed and a deep run in the conference tournament.
Although the win streak begs for celebration, Head Coach Richard Schmidt pleads and preaches for focus on the task at hand. He says that his players haven’t gotten wrapped up in all the record book talk.
“We take it one game at a time. Our league is very tough and we’ve got a long way to go,” Schmidt said. “Our goal is to get into the NCAA Tournament, but we’re not there yet. We’ve got a lot of hard tough games to play.”
Schmidt, in his 28th season coaching at UT, has seen plenty of ups and downs. But with a winning percentage at the University of about 70 percent, it should have come as no surprise that the team would be better this year. It’s a credit to his coaching style, understanding, and patience.
“I probably hate losing more than anyone you know,” Coach Schmidt said. “But I thought our boys played about as good as we possibly could play last year. As long as a coach is getting out of his kids what they can give, then you’re happy.”
Don’t be deceived though, Coach Schmidt still has a boisterous reputation to uphold on the court. He admits that he has probably done an equal amount of yelling this season, during some blowout victories, as he did during blowout losses last year. Star guard Rashad Callaway agrees.
“Whether we’re up 30 or up 2, Coach is always a nervous wreck,” Callaway said.
During last Saturday’s matchup with Palm Beach Atlantic, mental errors early in the game merited a flash of temper from the coach. Anthony Griffis fell down as a live ball rolled into him, not realizing the ball was live; he didn’t pick it up and put in what should have been an easy layup.
Glyn Hunter was in foul trouble early on, putting more pressure on Fred Woods to play a less physical game. Not to mention, the team shot just 36 percent from the floor in the second half.
Coach Schmidt is very open about the team’s flaws, and he doesn’t even mention the word “undefeated.” He just keeps repeating that it’s a long season, and UT has to get better every game.
In his eyes, they’re still not strong enough in the paint, and they need to be better off the boards, illustrated by the game two weeks ago at Eckerd. UT was out-rebounded 47-33. It’s impossible to keep winning games with such a drastic disparity.
If UT is going to look toward one player to change its rebounding woes, it will be Fred Woods. He missed the beginning of the season due to personal reasons but he has contributed immediately since getting back on the court.
The six-foot seven forward recorded his second double-double of the season on Saturday, citing a dissatisfaction with his previous game as his motivation.
“I just wanted to turn it up a little bit and improve,” Woods said. “We try to improve every game. I’m just excited to be back on the floor to help the team.”
Both Coach Schmidt and Callaway mentioned Woods as a key to the team’s success, in regular season and postseason play. In regards to Woods’ 13 rebound night, Callaway was not surprised in the least.
“We know he can do that night in and night out. It’s kind of expected for him to get 13 rebounds,” Callaway said.
Where Woods is the key to the team’s defense and rebounding, Callaway is head of the offense. Having started all four years of his collegiate career, he has grown and matured into a multi-faceted point guard.
Last season, he garnered All-SSC honors and the SSC scoring title, but it didn’t translate to wins. So he adapted his playing style to feature more passing and less driving to the hoop. He is still averaging almost 19 points a game, but it’s partnered with 88 assists this season.
Callaway admits that a big reason for his increase in passing is an improvement in the players around him. The additions of sharp shooting guard Anthony Griffis and having Callum Townsend fully back from injury has helped make the team an offensive threat.
“I just feel like everyone, from the starting five to the people who barely play,” Callaway said, “have stepped up.”
Coach Schmidt’s humility seems to have rubbed off on the players. They continue to focus on their very tough SSC schedule, rather than the task of going undefeated. Every game until the end of the season is a conference matchup, leaving very little room for error.
But Woods is a believer. He says the team can keep getting better and that they’re still “hungry.”
If that’s true, then they may well find themselves deep into the postseason, maybe breaking some more records while they’re at it. Woods says he doesn’t think anything’s out of reach.
“The sky’s the limit right now.”
Miles Parks can be reached at mparks@spartans.ut.edu.