By Jordan Burton (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
This will be Pete McBride’s 22nd season at Eminence and still last year was a bit of a surprising story.
At one point last year, saddled with injury problems and pockets of inexperience, the Redwings lost five of seven games in December and January.
Growing pains may be the best way to describe that stretch, but it ultimately led to Eminence winning 12 of its last 14 games before losing to eventual Class 1 runner-up Advance in the Elite Eight.
Now, Eminence has everyone back from last year’s 20-win team and should be a contender for a Class 1 state championship.
“I was pleased by the way our whole team handled our situation last year,” said McBride. “It would have been easy to just pack it in. Many people didn’t realize it wasn’t just Trent’s injury that we were dealing with. Other very important pieces to the team had issues to deal with as well.
“I think what I’ve learned over the years is don’t get to high or low with where things are in the program, especially after last season’s roller coaster of injuries.”
Those injuries created opportunities for players to grow and evolve into new roles.
Junior Trent McBride averaged nearly a double-double as a freshman, but a foot injury limited him for much of his sophomore year.
Without McBride on the floor, Grant (16.1 points, 6.8 rebounds) and Wade Dyer (9.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.5 assists) took on bigger scoring roles, while point guard Ethan Drake (12.4 points, 4 assists) also expanded his game.
Drake is now the experienced senior, the Dyer twins are now 6-foot-1 juniors with great athleticism, poised to make another leap and Senior Kendall Copeland (7.9 points, 3.9 rebounds) is the ultimate glue guy.
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Maybe the biggest news for Eminence is the health of Trent McBride, who dropped 20 pounds during the offseason, helping to make him more agile and hopefully keep him healthy.
“He’s definitely more fit and we will see how that translates to his game,” said Coach McBride. “He is still very much a power player but has improved his foot speed and agility.
“After the fractured foot he suffered early last year we’ve kind of taken a different approach with our thoughts about his development. Hopefully he finishes his next two years and helps achieve great things for the program he’s grown up in, but were looking a lot closer at trying to improve daily and enjoying the process.”
Coach McBride also has several underclassmen that he feels can make an immediate impact.
Junior guard Reece Parrish will be a 3-and-D guy that can defend multiple positions and also knock down perimeter jumpers. Classmates Wyatt Spurgin and Landon Matteson will also see rotational minutes.
Robert Keeling gives McBride another great, selfless defender.
Sophomores Dakota Pulliam and Drake Stephenson (6-foot-8) will also provide depth.
Eminence will again play a meat grinder of a schedule in hopes to be ready for March Madness and possibly a Final Four run.
Advance, Thayer, Dora, South Iron and Clever are all on the regular season, non-tournament schedule.
Tough schedules are nothing new in Eminence.
“Scheduling is definitely something we think a lot about and value as an important factor in developing our team,” said Coach McBride. “I’m happy with who we have on our schedule this year and think it could prepare us very well for the postseason.”
Fans around Eminence are hoping this is history repeating itself.
Back in 2011, the Redwings won 20 games, beat South Iron in the district championship and lost in the quarterfinals to a team that played in the state championship game.
The next year Eminence won state, with a Dyer and Keeling on the floor…
Last year Eminence won 20 games, beat South Iron in the district championship and lost to a team that played for the Class 1 state title.
Again, there are Dyers and a Keeling on the floor.
Coach McBride doesn’t want to add any more pressure to this group, but everyone is excited about this team.
“This team has very high goals of itself and believes in each other greatly,” said McBride. “Probably what I’m most excited about is the individual growth of our guys. I enjoy watching them mature over time. You want it to happen faster than it should but it’s just a process that takes time and you can’t really rush it.
“We had a strong summer of development as a unit and think people may be surprised at how athletic we are. I really look forward to what the year may bring.”
Eminence opens the 2017-18 season on Nov. 25 vs. Advance, a rematch of last year’s Elite Eight game.
