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Q:
The Railer program never sleeps. What's happening at this time of
year?
A: It is
about as active as it usually is in the spring. A lot of kids are
doing other things. We do have some kids in the gym playing every
day. We do have kids involved in weightlifting during their
physical education classes, because I think they all know that it
is important for them to get bigger and stronger. They also need
to work on their game and to improve it as much as they can to
allow us to compete at the level that we want to compete at.
Q:
I know that this year is unique in that you are not losing as many
people to graduation as you normally would. Tell us a little about
that.
A: Well,
you're right... We will have almost everyone back. We do lose a
lone senior in Mike Lee. He was an important leader to our
basketball team. He worked hard. Mike was in the gym all summer
striving to get better. We will miss his leadership.
Q:
In that case, Coach, you know who we're going to have back next
year. What kinds of things do you want the players to be working
on now?
A: Well, the
kinds of things they need to be working on now are individual
skills and individual moves. They need to be working on their
shot, especially the mechanics of shooting, and on their footwork.
They need to improve in all of these areas in order for the team
to step up. Coach Eric Ewald and I have decided, rather than
having them try to improve their overall game, that we would pick
out four areas that need specific attention. We want to put an
emphasis on these specific areas. We think if we can get that kind
of the focus, that we can really improve before next season gets
here, and that will make us a better team.
Q:
What do you hope to accomplish during the summer months?
A: Well, one
of the things that the IHSA has done is to let the coaches coach
during the summer. That rule has not been in effect in the past.
That will help our program tremendously. It will help all teams
who are involved in a summer program. You like to take a group –
like, say, last year's sophomores – and make the summer almost
like another season for them. They gain experience, they get a lot
of playing time, and they learn to play defense and how to execute
the offense. They learn the things that need to be done to make
our team better. You really find out how hard kids want to work in
situations like these. The ones who want to put in the time and
the hard work are the ones you usually see playing come
wintertime. I am not opposed to a kid playing more than one sport
– some may even play two or three sports. It just takes so much
time to be good at any one sport that society has forced changes
in how kids approach their sports involvement. Some kids enjoy
football, some kids enjoy basketball, and some kids enjoy baseball
or track or wherever sport you want to name. Kids are now forced,
if they want to compete at a high level, to spend a majority of
their time in their sport of choice to make themselves better.
Q:
Coach, tell us about your summer league.
A: We run a
summer league here at the high school. We schedule it two nights a
week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It'll start on about May 30, and
it will run until about July 13. We have approximately 20
different teams that will be playing a full schedule and there
will be another eight to 10 teams that will come in to play from
time to time. It is really a good league, and everyone usually has
a pretty good time. Sometimes there are as many as 15 games a
night out here. You can browse the summer league schedule on our
Web site at www.railerbasketball.org.
There is a link to click on that will give you the whole summer
league schedule. You can see who's playing on a certain night and
at what time. We encourage all basketball fans to come out and
enjoy some summer hoops. There is no charge for the summer league
games. Many come out and see how hard these kids work and how good
the basketball is in the central part of our state. There are a
few other leagues around the area, but not all that many. Up
around Chicago and in the surrounding suburbs, they have the fall
leagues, summer leagues and even the spring leagues. During the
winter is when they just happen to play their regular schedule. I
think they have a lot of kids who only play basketball up in that
area.
Q:
What about the tournaments that the Railers participate in?
A: We play
in the tournament at Peoria Richwoods June 9-11. They will have
about 32 teams in that tournament from all over the state of
Illinois. In fact, all the tourneys that we play in are very
competitive. On July 6 and 7 we will play in a tourney in
Jacksonville, and on the 15th and 16th of July we will participate
in the Morris Shootout. We will then go to Murray State University
in Murray, Ky., to play in the Steamboat Classic. That tourney
will be held from the 27th-30th of July, and it includes teams
from across the country. There are many nationally ranked teams in
that tourney and we have fared well against most of them. We have
a lot of success down there with the type of defense that we play.
Teams don't attack our defense if they haven't seen it before, and
they just don't know what to do with it. It's a good checkpoint
for us at that place in time to see how we are progressing. We see
how far along the kids are with their skills. It just takes a lot
of work to be a good basketball player or to be a good basketball
team. I think the people of Lincoln expect to have a top-notch
program. And the only way you're going to be at that level is to
compete against those types of teams.
Q:
Coach I know that next season's schedule is now final. How does it
shape up for the Railers?
A: We had
changes on it and it is not on our Web site as of yet, but it will
be before too long. By the way, while we're on that subject, we
will be adding a lot of new features to our site that will make it
even more interesting than it already is. You might want to keep
checking in on our site to see all the developments that are in
store. As far as the schedule goes, we have added Lockport High
School, and that game will be played on January 20, and it will be
the only non-conference home game of the year. Non-conference
games on the road will be played at Peoria Manual, Peoria
Richwoods and at Centralia. As you can see, our non-conference
schedule will be very strong. This year we will not play
Jacksonville at home during the Central State Eight conference
play. We are adding an exciting new feature to the schedule. We
will play them on January 23 at the convention center in
Springfield. Once again, we will be playing in the Bloomington
holiday tournament over the Christmas holidays. That tournament
will feature All-American Eddie Curry and a host of other good
players and great teams. Our tournament at the beginning of the
year has changed a little bit. Over the years, it has been a very
competitive and exciting tournament. This year we've invited
Rockford Guilford, Rockford Jefferson, Danville, Pontiac,
Bartonville-Limestone and ourselves. It will be a six-team round
robin tournament. Games will be played on Monday, Wednesday,
Friday and Saturday of Thanksgiving week.
Q:
Coach, many people in the media said that your Railers were too
young and too inexperienced last season. Most of that group now
has a year of varsity competition under their belts. How will that
be a factor?
A: As far as
youth and inexperience goes, it definitely plays an important part
of any team or game. We did gain of a lot of experience, and
another year of maturity will definitely help. We also had a very
successful sophomore team. We have a lot more kids that can play
now. Sometimes that is good and sometimes that is bad. We do have
a lot of kids who are very skilled and are very talented athletes.
Unfortunately, once again, we will not be very big. We will just
have to continue to work on and try to emphasize things that will
help us get better. I felt we did a lot better job the last couple
of weeks of the season as far as rebounding goes. That is
definitely one of the areas that we need to improve in. To do the
fundamentals of blocking out and rebounding are among the hardest
things to do in the game of basketball. It takes so much energy to
keep your feet moving while people are pushing and shoving you
around. That makes it very difficult to excel in that area. We
must improve in the area of rebounding if we want to advance in
the post-season.
(To
top of second column)
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Q:
Since we are talking hoops, what is your coaching philosophy?
A: There are a lot of
philosophies and a lot of different ways to play to the game. If
everybody played it the same it would be a very boring game. I
think that basketball is one of the most exciting games around the
country and around the world today. I realize that a lot of people
do not agree with the way we play. There also are some people who
do agree. I have played a lot of basketball and I've seen a lot of
basketball and I'm constantly evaluating our talent. Fortunately
for us, our system does not change. Our kids adapt and they come
through the system believing in our defense, the ball press and
the 1-2-2 zone. We try to do some different things, like running
the floor in a fast break situation, but usually the kids are
tired from playing good defense. They are more than happy to just
take care of and hang onto the basketball. They can then make a
few passes here and there to make sure we get a good shot. My
philosophy has always been that if you can get a good shot every
trip down the court, you're going to have a good opportunity to
the win. We want to hold all our turnovers to a minimum, and I
feel like we have done that the past few years. There have been
years where we have averaged only seven or eight turnovers a game
while the defense was taking up 20 to 23 turnovers from our
opponents. There is no doubt that I feel and believe that defense
wins championships. If you play the good, solid defense and work
extremely hard, you give yourself a good chance to win games. One
thing I believe in strongly is that there is absolutely no excuse
for not playing hard. It takes no skill or talent to play hard. It
just takes heart and all-out effort. If we play as hard as we can
and leave it all on the line, we're going to be successful. The
kids in Lincoln believe that.
Q:
What has it been like to coach your two sons in this program?
First of all, they are
two different personalities. They also were two different kinds of
players. Even though I felt Geoff had the skills to play the
perimeter, I had to play him in the post. At that time, we had a
few kids who shot the jump shot pretty well and we didn't have a
big, bulky kid in the middle. Geoff got stuck playing in the
paint. He was one of the better post players that I have ever
coached. Gregg is more of a perimeter player. He is more of a
shooter of type of player. I wouldn't change anything. I guarantee
you that I was much harder on those two then I've been on any
other players. Both have played the game and love the game and
have been in the gym since they started walking. They were there
before and after practice and started doing a lot of different
things. To become a great player, you have to work hard and spend
time at it and they have done that.
Q:
Geoff used his body well, had great footwork and position, and
excellent post moves. Were those skills innate to him or did you
teach him all that?
A. He was a player
that you could show what to do and how to do it and then he would
spend the time to learn how to do it right. He had a great first
step. He was as quick as anybody getting around people. He was
also a very strong individual. He was much more bulky then what
Gregg is. They both possess the will to compete and the will to
win. It's just always been there for the both of them. If
anything, you watch those kids play, and you know that they play
hard. They will get on the floor for loose balls, and they are
willing to do the dirty work at both ends of the floor. They also
have handled the critics and the criticism as you expect that they
would. It has been a joy to coach them. They have been very
successful in this sport, and now Geoff has the opportunity to
coach at Western Illinois University.
Q:
I've never seen a player that was mentally tougher than Gregg. Was
that a part of his makeup or nature or did he get that from you?
A. It all starts with
the instruction, but it has to end with his will and his desire to
do the repetitions. He is willing to work on things over and over
and over again. This spring he is taking 200 to 300 shots a night,
and he also is playing with an AAU team down in St. Louis. By the
end of the summer, he will have probably played between 90 and 100
games. But his will to win is probably his biggest asset. I
definitely think that he is mentally tough. He enjoys playing and
he enjoys competing. He has the ability to get and stay focused.
You have to be pretty tough to play in our conference and play the
kind of schedule that we play. He has always competed against his
older brother, and playing better competition can only make you
better. He is one of the toughest kids that I have ever dealt
with. You are right when you say that nothing seems to bother him.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going – that definition
fits Gregg. He really responds when people back him into a corner.
Q:
You always say that the season will start before we know it. When
it does start how do you think the Railers will fare?
A: The
summer seems to go by pretty fast, and when school starts the
season is just around the corner. As far as the season goes, we
are going to be playing a lot of very good teams this year. As
always, we have a very strong schedule. We will come through it
all, road-tested. Hopefully, our experience will be an asset to
us. I felt that we competed well last year. We finished the season
19-8 and had the chance to be 25-4. We let a couple of games get
loose here and I chalk that all up to a lack of experience. Now
that we have a group of experienced kids and a group of young
inexperienced kids, we have a nice mixture. The chance for a very
good season is there. It will be a test for us. Our goal is the
same that it always is, to compete for the conference
championship. We also want to advance as far as we can in the
state tournament. That is one of the reasons that we will play
Jacksonville at the Springfield convention center. We hope that it
will get us ready for post-season play. What I see as far as an
outlook is that we're going to be very quick. We do need to be a
little stronger on the boards. If we do those things, we should
have a very good year.
Q:
What does the public NOT know about the team or about you that you
wish they did?
A: That you
have to be a good, solid team to compete at this level. You must
have unity within your team and your program to be successful. You
have to be supportive of each other. There are so many influences
that can affect a team. A team is so delicate, especially when
you're working with different types of personalities. The teams
that are really good are the teams that work together, play
together, pull for each other and believe in each other. That is
one of the things that we are striving for. Our coaches put in a
lot of time to prepare our kids to do just that. The players put
in two and a half hours a night. That is by far, not near as many
hours as the coaches put in.
I am happy
to serve as the head coach, but you have to have good assistant
coaches to get the job done. Donnie Aeilts has done a great job
with our sophomores. Eric Ewald and Darrin Worth have done an
excellent job running our freshman program. I have been here 10
years, and I have always had good assistants. I haven't had a lot
of assistants because the ones I have had have been loyal and
solid. John Welch and Larry Engel were with us for the longest
time. Patrick Greathouse, Steve Barry and yourself also gave
outstanding efforts. It is really important for the coaching staff
to get along with each other and with the players. And our players
respond well to our coaches. It takes hard work and the desire to
win. We ask the kids every day to play as hard as they can. We
don't talk about wins and losses. We always want our kids to play
up to their potential. When they do that, everything else falls
into place.
[Jeff
Mayfield]
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