Any win in the “second season” simply is an added bonus to Bob Hofman.
The Fort Lewis College men’s basketball coach looks at the season in three chapters, beginning with the preseason, the early conference games before New Year’s Day and then the bulk of the conference schedule after the holiday.
“I always look at this part of the season, and the league is set up where we have way too many league games,” Hofman said. “Playing each team twice, it’s too many. I look at it as the preseason, the second season and then the third season starts around New Year’s. As many games as you can steal in this the second season, its good for the third season that we gear ourselves toward.”
Even with a 6-2 start and a split on the road in last weekend’s Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference season-opening weekend doubleheader against two tough opponents, Hofman is concerned more about seeing his team improve than the final result on scoreboards.
“What we’ve shown is we still have a huge amount of improvement. We’re still not set with rotations, knowing what our best defenses are and solving minutes played for different players,” Hofman said. “For us, we don’t talk about wins and losses, but stealing one in Pueblo was a big deal for us last week.”
FLC will play its first home conference game at 3 p.m. Saturday inside Whalen Gymnasium. The Skyhawks will welcome rival Adams State (3-2, 0-2 RMAC) to town. It’s a rivalry Hofman said is underrated amongst those in the RMAC.
“You look at the last four years with Adams and the road team has been able to steal important games. You can make a case it’s the best rivalry in the league, even though we don’t have a musket to shoot off,” Hofman said, referencing the football traveling trophy the two teams share. “Maybe we should get a pistol or something.”
Adams State has played a tough exhibition schedule, including a 78-49 loss at Boise State on Tuesday.
The Grizzlies are 0-2 on the road this season, but they have averaged 90.4 points per game and have five players averaging double-digits in scoring.
Shakir Smith and Travante Williams lead that group with an average of 16.8 points per game each.
“You can’t simulate their speed and quickness. It’s hard to adapt to,” Hofman said of the Grizzlies. “They’ve played a ridiculously hard exhibition schedule to get better for conference, and they played an elite Division I team before they play us.”
FLC will counter with a strong post game led by star senior center Alex Herrera of Ignacio. Herrera has averaged 21.3 points, 10.9 rebounds and 3.75 blocked shots per game. He is joined in the starting five by four guards Rasmus Bach, Cade Kloster, Will Morse and Jared Smith.
Bach, a redshirt freshman, had two big games a week ago against No. 5 UC-Colorado Springs and CSU-Pueblo, and he is averaging 11.4 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.
But FLC will have to find a way to pick up the scoring void left when junior transfer Kofi Josephs was forced to take a medical redshirt after six games. After hip surgery in April, Josephs was deemed unable to play on consecutive nights, leading to the decision to take a redshirt. He had averaged 10.8 points, tied for third most on the team along with Kloster.
“We have a few guys who haven’t had the opportunity, yet. Ryan Brooks has played well enough to get more time, and we haven’t found time for him,” Hofman said. “Kevin Flohr has done a lot, and he came in during a big moment against Pueblo and held his own very well. We’re still figuring out the rotations.”
Hofman will take Saturday as another chance to learn more about his team during the “second season.”
“We have a chance to be a very good team in the future,” he said. “Right now, its about progressing.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
