The Bellevue College men’s basketball team has made it to the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges championship every year since Coach Jeremy Eggers took over the team, and this year they are looking to do the same. As the pre-season was ending, the team went through a rough start, having a 7-7 record so far. “We’ve been a little bit inconsistent. We should be consistent by doing all the little things; the extra box out, the extra rotation, diving on the floor for loose ball, and doing it as a team,” said Coach Eggers.
On Jan. 4th, the men’s basketball team had their first road game of the league in Olympic. They played really well, and were able to stroll past the Olympic team, having a 20 point difference in the 2nd half, and finishing off the game with a score of 75-59. The fact that the Olympic team was able to catch up at the end signifies that anyone can lose in this league. “There’s no easy game in our league. This is personally why I enjoy coaching in this league, because anybody can beat anyone, if you don’t come to play. There is no bad team,” said Coach Eggers.
Coach Eggers takes every loss as a lesson and it actually motivates him to win, by adapting and overcoming the things they lack depth in. One of the examples is size; the front court of the men’s basketball team is not very big.
Anthony McLaughlin and Segun Amonsun, who are some of the Bulldogs’ largest players at 6’ 6” each, have been playing center, even though McLaughlin normally plays forward.
Although the Bulldogs have had some success inside the paint, the lack of size could possibly create some challenges for them under the basket. However, Coach Eggers has been able to compensate the lack of size with one of his tactics which is to spread the floor.
“We play a spreaded out offense, making us hard to guard. If the other team is big, they will need to step out and guard us. If the other team goes small, we have enough to go in and attack inside,” explained Coach Eggers. “Defensively, we will need all five guys to be boxing out. Even though they might be outsized, they still need to do their job defensively and rebounding.”
This season the team will be rallying behind the leadership of Austin O’Keefe with his supreme skills and wise decision-making on the court. Thus far, O’Keefe has had a breakout year, having received the title of MVP in Walla Walla, and is the leading scorer for the team. “He is an inside and outside kind of guy, who can score from pretty much anywhere on the court. He’s been a real delight,” said Coach Eggers. The team has a good support system where each player depends on one another. “We have a real good nucleus of good complementary players that feed off of each other” said Coach Eggers.