Balancing Act for UNH’s Herrion
DURHAM, N.H. – Bill Herrion is trying hard – really hard. He’s trying to turn around a program that hasn’t won much over the years, but in the midst of it, there’s something else he’s trying to do: keep a level head and help others do the same.
He inherited a team whose personnel is severely limited, which he has noted on a few occasions. The Wildcats aren’t very big, strong, quick or athletic, and they’re certainly not deep. In Division I, a roster like that will face severe challenges every time out on the floor, because a team like that has many weaknesses and few strengths, and as such can be exploited in many ways. Of course, the end goal isn’t that he produces an America East championship team this season, but the goal is always to win when a team takes the floor, and a coach must always approach it that way with their team.
So Herrion is trying to balance the short-term, where the Wildcats won four in a row before Thursday night’s 67-53 loss against Maine, with the long-term, where in due time he will have a team comprised of players he and his staff recruit. Thursday night’s loss was one where the Wildcats seemed overmatched at times against a Black Bears team that has had their share of ups and downs during the season.
“We never had a chance,” Herrion said of Thursday night’s game. “They just thoroughly out-played us tonight. We got out-coached, out-played, out-toughed, out-hustled.”
The Wildcats went on a four-game winning streak recently, including two road games, which was snapped with Thursday’s loss. There was a little more attention for the team on campus, mainly in the form of signs posted about an upcoming game in places besides right near Lundholm Gym, and a good crowd of about 1,800 gathered for Thursday’s game. Make no mistake about it: at UNH, basketball will always play second-fiddle at best to hockey, as the hockey team is a consistent national power. But a little success in basketball, at a school which has also had a recent string of it in football, would certainly be a nice thing for the fans there.
Wins will be hard to come by at first, given the team’s personnel. That’s a major reason why the Wildcats’ 4-4 record is evidence that he’s already doing one of the great coaching jobs in America thus far. Herrion knows his team’s personnel limits, and knows that he is trying to build this team for the long haul. But he’s a competitor, so that doesn’t make losing games any easier to absorb. He also knows that people can’t be caught up in any success they might have right now, because it’s a stepping stone for later on.
“We’ve done some good things recently, we’ve won some games, maybe we stole some games, maybe teams haven’t been as ready to play against us – I don’t know. But that’s the thing we have to be so careful of here, and I keep saying this – still, we are who we are,” Herrion reflected.
It’s been an interesting season in America East thus far. The Wildcats are in the middle of the pack, and not far from the top after their 75-72 overtime win at Albany on Sunday. The Great Danes have now dropped two straight after winning their first five games of conference play. Binghamton now has a slight lead, while three-time defending champions Vermont and Boston University are also in the mix. Every team in the race has its share of flaws, so it’s wide open. The Wildcats don’t project to be in the hunt for the title, but they could certainly be a factor.
But Herrion knows that will take a lot. Lately, junior forward Blagoj Janev has been a consistent post player, scoring 24 points in the win over Albany on Sunday. But other than that, there isn’t much consistency to this point. The guard play has been up and down, as has the post play. There isn’t a lights-out shooter that can stretch defenses.
“The game almost has to go the exact way for us to have a chance,” said Herrion. “We won four basketball games, we did a lot of good things, but this program is far from arriving. I think that’s the fine line that we’re walking here at UNH. When we play hard and we play well and we execute and we make shots, we’re a pain in the neck. When we don’t, like tonight, and we get pushed around and don’t get loose balls and we don’t get 50-50 balls and our post defense is bad, we lose.”
The Wildcats are finding out that with a little winning comes a higher challenge. Now that they are winning, teams will respect them more, and play at an even higher level. That means the Wildcats have to bring their A-game even moreso than before. The challenge will escalate as they start winning, and if they can rise to that challenge, then they might arrive as a program. At that point, Herrion won’t have to tell the media that they need to be careful anymore.
