Made the trip over to the St Paul side of town on this cool late October afternoon to take in one of the early practices at St. Kate's. I arrived early enough so I could meet with Head Coach Don Mulhern and catch up with him and talk about various happenings on the MIAC scene. Shortly after 5:00 PM, we both headed upstairs to the Butler Center Gym where the squad had already been getting a good shoot around in and getting loosened up for a day of work.
Assistant coaches Geno Bullard, Paul Richie and Ben Fleming were also on the floor and ready to go as well. After having the team in a circle at the middle of the floor to go over the day's details of what they were going to go over, Mulhern first has the team do a 5-on-0 "shell" drill entitled "Winona Horns 1 &2 and 14 & 21. This half court drill emphasizes ball movement. Coach Bullard has a pad and acts as a defensive player in the post. This drill eventually transitions into a full court drill.
The next drill is something I've seen Mulhern and his staff do before in the early part of practices which is called "Kentucky Shooting". Here, players start off with a required number of layup shots off the glass. After that, the players then have to make a required number of short jumpers from the elbow area. Then, the drill starts becoming more challenging as it transitions to mid-range jumpers. After the required number of made shots is met, then the drill becomes even more challenging as it transitions to behind the arc for a required number of three-point shots to be made.
The next drill is an interesting one which is called "Victory Shooting". In this drill, players are on both ends of the floor and here players get to work on layups first and they then run to the other end of the floor to make three-point shots.
Next, Mulhern has the team split into two groups. Mulhern has one group work on post defensive tactics while Bullard's group works on tactics for guard and wing players making drives into the lane as Bullard has a pad and acts as a defensive post player to make things challenging for the players making the drives into the lane.
After Mulhern has players work on defensive tactics out on the wing and perimeter areas for a bit, the next big drill is called a "5 On 4 Scramble" (5 offensive players with 4 defensive players). It appears that the primary purpose of the drill is to emphasize proper switching on defense in addition to getting into the passing lanes as well in hopes of disrupting opponents in the half court. To make things even more challenging for the players on the offensive side, each players has to run to one end of the floor and back if they're guilty of a turnover.
The next drill is a 5-on-0 half court "shell" drill that starts with a sidelines inbound pass with Coach Bullard acting as a lone defensive player in the post with a pad. After a bit, Coach Fleming modifies this drill as the inbounds player then has to throw a skip pass to the offensive player on the opposite side of the floor in the corner; presumably for either a quick pass to the post or for an easy three-point shot attempt.
The next drill is a full court 5-on-0 "shell" drill with Coach Bullard on the finishing end acting as a lone defensive player in the post with a pad. A bit later, this drill is modified as five defensive players come onto the floor from the sidelines on the way back down and it's interesting to see how the offensive players have to react to that as that aspect makes it much more challenging for them.
The next drill is a very interesting drill which is called the "Tim Kjar Helpside Ballside Drill" in honor of former St. Kate's Coach Tim Kjar. In this drill, there are two lines of players with Coach Bullard and Coach Fleming throwing the ball to each other from sideline to sideline with the two lines of players reacting to the ball movement.
Next, Mulhern has the squad do another 5-on-0 "shell" drill in the half court with Coach Bullard acting as a lone defender in the post with a pad. It appears that the two main purposes of this drill is to have players move and space properly and come off screens correctly as well.
To finish things off on this night, Mulhern has his squad go 5-on-5 full court to get a better idea of what his likely primary five players as well as reserves look like.
Outtakes: First, I think it's important to keep in mind that this is a vastly different team from last year's squad. Gone to graduation are Rachel Randleman, Greta Schimnowski and Maddy Manger. Unfortunately for St. Kate's, it didn't end there either as juniors from last year - Kaylee Miron, Emme Golembiewski and Maddie Young are not on this year's roster and neither is Lainey Draack; a sophomore from last season. That in itself is a big blow for a program that has been trying so hard over the last several seasons to move into the upper echelon of the MIAC. However, that's not to say that this team is totally depleted of talent - far from it in fact. Junior guard Hattie Fox is back and presumably more than ready to be the leader for this team and the former Osceola, WI standout has definitely put in the work in the weight room as was easy to see. Sophomore guard Jordyn Peed is another player who I think is more than ready to assume a bigger role this season as well. Junior forward Lily Peper will undoubtedly have an expanded role this season as well. Senior guard Kristin Oberle will also be a key piece in this mix with her ability and experience and leadership. Junior post Julia Harmon along with sophomore guard Raya Cassidy could be important pieces here as well. To me, I think the big thing is that this team knows who they are; they know their identity is the drive and dribble, getting into transition opportunities and applying pressure defense in order to force turnovers and I don't expect this team to deter from that. It seems like a recurring theme for this squad but Mulhern and his staff will have to develop depth and soon and keep the primary pieces healthy in order to contend for a playoff spot. Scrimmages are planned with both Bethany Lutheran and Concordia St Paul and the season officially begins on Friday 11-7 when UW-Superior from the UMAC pays a visit to Butler Center. They then turn around the very next day and host a conference game with Macalester on Saturday 11-8. Two more games with UMAC opponents on the road - UM-Morris and Martin Luther - the following weekend and then the dreaded trip up US Highway 10 and the BNSF Staples Sub mainline to Moorhead to take on Concordia on Wednesday 11-19. Then the weekend of 11-21/22, they head down to the Quad Cities for the Augustana College Tournament in Rock Island, IL. Then on Tuesday 11-25, they make the short hop across the St. Croix River to take on UW-River Falls before fully delving into MIAC play after Thanksgiving. If the 'Cats can come out of this early stretch on a reasonably good note, they should at the very least contend for a MIAC Playoff spot.
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