CHRIS KOCHMAN
Staff Writer
Freshman Tyrone Shelley takes a deep breath with a countenance of confusion. He struggles to find words as he begins describing the disastrous whirlwind that was the Pepperdine basketball season. “I don’t know if I’ll be back next year, I have to look at all my options,” Shelley says. “I think Pepperdine is a great school and we really have a chance of doing some amazing things next year, but I still have to make sure I make a good decision for myself.” There is regret and disappointment in his voice. It is palpable. “I thought things would be different,” adds Shelley.
Trauma, disaster, disappointment, letdown, fiasco – take your pick because all of the above describe the men’s basketball season. Who wouldn’t want things to be different?
There was calm before the storm. The season began with high hopes as second-year coach Vance Walberg set a blaze on the recruiting trail. Along with Shelley, a four-star recruit, Walberg also received commitments from Australian-bound Daniel Johnson and San Diego products Mychel Thompson and Malcolm Thomas — all long and athletic players. Moreover, Rico Tucker, a red-shirt transfer from Minnesota, was ready to secure his spot as the starting point guard on a team that was supposed to run-and-gun like the Phoenix Suns. Shelley explains, “I thought we were going to run on people and get out on the fastbreak and start pressuring teams.”
Walberg now had all the necessary pieces for his high-scoring offensive scheme. Scores were supposed to be high, players were supposed to be feasting on their scoring averages, attendance was supposed to be up, excitement was supposed to be back at Firestone Fieldhouse, and winning was going to be the product of these suppositions. These were the beginning sentiments of “The System.”
Walberg’s self-proclaimed ingenious offensive invention Attack-Attack-Skip-Attack-Attack was going to catapult Pepperdine men’s basketball back into supremacy in the West Coast Conference. On the court, “the system” was a seemingly chaotic offense with players unconsciously hoisting up threes and breaking down defenses with dribbling instead of passing — a basketball player’s dream. “I did believe in it and I thought we were making strides, getting used to each other,” says freshman forward Mychel Thompson. “Spacing was there and the offense looked great, we were young and getting used to the system.” It was an unconventional style, but the results were unquestionable allowing basketball pundits to glimpse the organization within the chaos.
Walberg’s record was a clear indication of the genius within the madness. His resume includes a record of 292-29 at both the high school and junior college level, winning the 2005 California Junior College State Championship at Fresno City College. That was enough to validate his position as a legitimate Division I coach at Pepperdine and architect to a team needing rebuilding. However, duplicating his success at the next level was challenging.
Walberg resigned midway through the season after posting a combined record of 14-35 after one-and-a-half seasons of work. In his first stint as a Division I head basketball coach, the man responsible for creating the successful high-scoring offensive scheme being utilized by first-place Boston Celtics (NBA), No.-1 Memphis (NCAA) and national champions St. Anthony’s High School, is unemployed. He now has left a young, yet talented Waves team in a state of disorientation. Why was this system so potent elsewhere, but combustible at Pepperdine?
“It’s a great offense and it’s going to work somewhere,” remarks Shelley, “but we had a coach who only wanted to run his stuff and if we didn’t then it was his way or no way, and we didn’t know how to react.” To avoid dysfunction Shelley refrained from expressing his discomfort.
“I did commit to Walberg’s system and believed in it, but I kind of stopped toward the middle of the season,” says Shelley. “I think we needed to make adjustments but I never wanted to create any dysfunction with the team and the coach.” Adjustments were not made and the free-flow Walberg offense was exposed for the first time to the flaws inhibiting players’ abilities.
“We couldn’t shoot mid-range jumpers, it was either a three or a lay-up,” explains Shelley. “In a way I think it kind of held people back and took away from a large part of my game, which was the mid-range shot. Everyone was a different kind of player.” Players’ abilities and tendencies were evidently ignored and could never compromise the integrity of the offense.
As a result the exciting offense that would score 100 points per game and witness three-pointers hitting the bottom of the net actualized into averages of 74 points per game, 30 percent three-point shooting, 17 turnovers per game, six wins, and declining attendance. “I was kind of disappointed in the student section. I didn’t think our fan base was strong and in order to be a good team in this league you need the fans and students,” declares Shelley.
What churns out fans and supporters is excitement, what breeds excitement is winning.
Neither was happening at Firestone Fieldhouse. After the mastermind and his scheme crumbled midseason on national television with a 37-point drubbing to Gonzaga, change was inevitable. “Walberg is a great coach and it is a great offense,” continues Shelley. “It obviously works, look at Memphis, but it wasn’t the same here.” Walberg — the innovator — was out with a grand total of 14 victories and his pupil Eric Bridgeland would assume interim duties.
With such a young team — seven freshmen — a midseason coaching change almost assuredly would fizzle any remnants of team chemistry. The social fabric of the team seemed irretrievably torn after the departure of the head coach. There was trauma and adversity.
What happened next was both unimaginable and unexpected. Under interim coach Bridgeland, passion for basketball was reignited. A resurgent attitude was cultivated in the locker room. “Bridge came in and brought us together as a family and created a bond between us bringing everybody together,” utters Shelley. His teammates shared the reaction.
“I think this team handled the adversity well,” says Thompson. “Where other teams would completely quit, this team came together and kept on going.”Adversity seemed a driving force behind the team’s late-season resilience.
After Walberg’s resignation, the Waves took nationally ranked Saint Mary’s down to the wire, losing a nail biter by five points. The young team then managed to reel off five victories, one less when under the stewardship of Walberg, only to advance to the quarterfinals of the West Coast Conference Tournament with a fatigued rotation of only eight players. “It was still a team, people wanted to say one person can turn it around, Walberg could turn it around,” exclaims Shelley, “but in the end we were the key to this season. Bridgeland came in and directed us in the right way.”
Thompson shares those feelings. “I think the difference between Bridge and Walberg was the players weren’t as worried about making mistakes,” Thompson explains. “We were together, whereas with Walberg everyone had their different feelings about the system.”
Sophomore guard Vuk Vojinovic reaffirms the team’s sentiments. “Bridge did the best he could’ve done with what he was dealt with,” reveals Vojinovic. “It wasn’t just Bridgeland that brought the team together, it was everyone else – the entire team decided to stick together and stick it out to the end of the year.”
Even after the team united, Pepperdine again faced obstacles in the WCC tournament after key injuries to guards Rico Tucker and Ryan Holmes left the already undermanned Waves even more depleted. Pepperdine went on to lose to eventual WCC champion San Diego, bringing an end to the rollercoaster season. “I expected us to be a decent team, but we were just hit with so many obstacles,” Shelley says disappointingly. “People quit, people unmotivated, coaching change – if none of that happened I think we could have won the WCC tournament.”
Immediately after the season, the restructuring of the Pepperdine basketball program began. Although Bridgeland helped to reignite a resilient identity for the team, it was not enough as the program sought to reestablish stability and continuity. Pepperdine’s fourth coach in three seasons is a familiar face — Tom Asbury.
Asbury was responsible for building Pepperdine basketball into a perennial powerhouse in the WCC during the early 90’s. His record was 125-59, earning WCC coach of the year honors in 1991 and 1992. He also led the Waves to the NCAA Tournament, winning three conference titles in 1991, 1992, and 1994. He now sets out on a daunting task as he endeavors to heal and rebuild a broken team.
“Hopefully we can go out there and continue his success,” says Shelley. “I want to win and everyone on the team wants to win, everyone knows what it takes to win now, the team is hungry. We had a disappointing season this year, and I don’t think anyone wants to go through that again next year. We have too much talent to go through that again. We just need someone to direct us in the right way and believe in us and give us hope.”
After the trauma Shelley and the rest of the team endured this year, hope is all that is left for the players. The hope of winning and of proving people wrong is what fuels Shelley and his teammates. “I think I’m a leader, certain players look up to me and I’m more aware of that now,” states Shelley. “If I’m back next year I plan on leading by example so we can do big things as a team. We just need to trust each other and the coaching staff.”
Nevertheless, there is only hope that trust will be contagious, players will return and that the trauma will be over. As next season approaches, Shelley’s disappointment is focused on translating hope into success for Pepperdine. “Next season’s expectations would be nothing short of winning the WCC tournament, being regular-season and conference champs, maybe even going to the dance.”
03-20-2008