Kelsey Berg

make a difference. be great. philippians 4:13 #PFCG 3.14.14 CMG

[Seth Davis @SethDavisHoops]

March is for the dreamers

[Jeff Goodman @GoodmanHoops]

Ben McCollum was coaching Northwest Missouri State two years ago in the D-2 tourney.

Last year he took Drake to the NCAA tourney.

This year he's taking Iowa to the Sweet 16.

[Craig Doty @CoachDoty]

I coached against Ben McCollum across six seasons. We built our roster and our defensive system with the goal of taking them down. While we beat them three times in a row, they always flexed greater winning four D2 National Championships and beating us a large majority of the time. There is no team we studied more as a staff than McCollum’s teams. Here is what he does better than most coaches in the country:

*Point guard development: Ben McCollum is to college basketball what Andy Reid is to NFL football. Reid is widely considered the best QB coach developing Donovan McNabb, Alex Smith, and Pat Mahomes. If you think Bennett Stirtz is good for Drake, you should have seen McCollum’s point guard Trevor Hudgins (2x National POY) who signed and played with the Houston Rockets. Before Hudgins was National POY Justin Pitts. Simply put, McCollum always has the best point guard in the country. He develops them and they play the entire game. Stirtz leads the country at 39.4 MPG; Hudgins was at 37.7 MPG. McCollum’s methodical and controlled style of play protects them from injury and their team defense protects them from foul trouble. Stirtz was a second team all-conference player in our D2 league last season. He is now one of the best players in the country in NCAA D1 and a serious NBA prospect. No one develops PG’s better than McCollum.

*Team Defense: No one gets players, who shouldn’t be able to guard, to be better on D than McCollum. Mitch Mascari should get blown by every possession. Daniel Abreu shouldn’t be able to guard 6’10+ big men. Bennett Stirtz should be attacked off the bounce constantly to wear him out and get him in foul trouble. Opposing coaches know these things and try them. But it doesn’t work well. McCollum’s best, and most underrated strength, is coaching team defense. His guys are tough, physical, legal, smart, play for each other in the gaps, take pride in winning their individual defensive matchup, and they don’t get tired. Plus, he always has one bona fide elite on-ball defender on his roster (see Isaiah Jackson and Diego Benard) to shut down elite guards.

*Shot developer: Many college coaches don’t develop or change their player’s jump shots. Shots typically get worse for months at a time before they get better and most players are stubborn and/or not there long enough before transferring to their next school. McCollum develops shooters. One example is Mitch Mascari. Here is his shooting splits over the past five seasons:
*Fr: 7/27 3PT - .259
*So: 20/60 3PT - .333
*Jr. 56/120 3PT - .466
*Sr. 82/171 3PT - .480
*Gr. 87/214 3PT - .407 (vs. D1 closeouts)
It isn’t just Mascari either. A key reason Stirtz went from second team all-conference at the D2 level to the Larry Bird MVP of the Missouri Valley Conference is because of his improved perimeter shot. His last season in D2, Stirtz was 36/110 from 3PT (.327). This season at Drake he is 62/156 3PT (.397). He is perhaps shooting 80% from 3PT on “big shots” too. For perhaps McCollum’s best shot development job, see Ryan Hawkins, who starred for four years at NW Missouri State before transferring and being All-Big East at Creighton his final season.

*Master in-game manipulator: As Ben’s former assistant Austin Meyer says, “You’ll play the game the way Ben McCollum wants you to play.” I’ve never seen, or coached against, someone who manipulates pace the way that Ben does. He can play his point guard the entire game as a result. Most players don’t want to play this way. It’s slow, sometimes boring, it’s controlled, there isn’t a lot of freedom, and the point guard usage rate is amongst the highest in the country (I.e. the PG gets to create in this system while others don’t). However, McCollum’s innate ability to identify selfless, no-ego players during the recruiting process allows him to get the buy-in needed to operate this way and at his pace. “Press them.. just speed them up”… Good luck with that.

[SportsCenter @SportsCenter]

Drake gets its first-ever win in the Round of 64‼️

Who's still perfect? 👀

[Kansas Men’s Basketball @KUHoops]

going to be thinking about this one for awhile 🤯

[The Field of 68 @TheFieldOf68]

ICYMI: @GoodmanHoops sat down with @DrakeBulldogsMB's core to discuss their 9-0 start and what makes Ben McCollum such a great coach 👀

WATCH:
https://t.co/QR3RxpQT6Q

[College Basketball Report @CBKReport]

Drake STUNS Kansas State in OT in the Wildcat Classic 73-70! 🔥

The Bulldogs improve to 10-0 under first year head coach Ben McCollum. 🐶

[KSPrincipals @KSPrincipals]

We want to give a big congratulations to our 2024 Kansas Elementary Principal of the Year, Ms. Kerri Lacy from Lincoln Elementary School in Hays USD 489! Congratulations! #edleadershipmatters #KSPrincipals

[Kayce Smith @KayceSmith]

So the WNBA fights to be noticed more in sports and then when it’s actually being talked about, they decide to show how little they actually support A WOMAN IN BASKETBALL?

Bold move.

[ESPN @espn]

KANSAS UPSETS NO. 6 OKLAHOMA TO RUIN THE SOONERS' UNDEFEATED SEASON‼️

[Kelsey Berg @kelsberg10]

@EddiexRichey3 karma for being a bandwagon bengals fan

[Anand Nanduri @NanduriNFL]

Travis Hunter has already done more for the state of Colorado than Russell Wilson

[Holly Rowe @sportsiren]

If you build it, they will come. Sincerely, Womens Sports

[Tennessee Titans @Titans]

We asked people on Broadway to help us with our 2023 schedule release. 🤣

📺: 2023 Schedule Release on @nflnetwork

[MSSU Athletics @mososports]

For the first time since 1993 the Lions will host an NCAA Regional Tournament after being announced as the second seed in the Central Region. #LetsRoar

📝 - https://t.co/yGExR9d3DB

[Kelsey Berg @kelsberg10]

THAT GIRL FAST @yazy_20 !!!!!!

[MSSU Softball @MSSUSoftball]

Lions get out of a jam in the top of the 3rd inning and a six run bottom half highlighted by an inside the park home run down the left field line by Yazmin Vargas makes it an 11-3 lead over Emporia State heading to the 4th inning. #LetsRoar

[The MIAA @TheMIAA]

🆕 MIAA Softball Athletes of the Week🥎⤵️

@MSSUSoftball's Bailey Lacy struck out a program-record 15 batters AND recorded back-to-back complete-game shutout wins on the road to be crowned the MIAA Pitcher of the Week👀

📰 https://t.co/uiVVm7fVKg
#BringYourAGame

[Kelsey Berg @kelsberg10]

for whatever reason, she threw a shutout 🤷🏼‍♀️👏🏻 @baileylacy10

[MSSU Softball @MSSUSoftball]

Lions SWEEP No. 2 Rogers State 4-0!

Bailey Lacy with a complete game shutout and four strikeouts. Ashlynn Williams had two RBIs and Kara Amos finished with one RBI.

Lions to play at Nebraska - Kearney on Mar. 31st in a DH beginning at 2:00pm. #LetsRoar

[Chaz Wright 🌵 @ChazWrightTV]

MSSU's Bailey Lacy came up huge for the Lions today against Northeastern State.

Game 1: 3.2 IP, 3 hits, 0 ER, 3 strikeouts...

Game 2: 3.2 IP, 2 hits, one ER, 4 strikeouts...

Lacy is now 5-0 on the year!

@mososports | @MSSUSoftball | @hallieblackney

[MSSU Softball @MSSUSoftball]

Lions get the 14-5 run rule win over Truman State in game one.

Bailey Lacy picked up the win in relief throwing 3.1 innings with 5 strikeouts. Abby DeSanto and Emily Perry had grand slams. #LetsRoar