Friday Features: Young guns key Christian Brothers’ early hoops success
By Maurice Patton
Once bitten, twice shy? Maybe.
But after making the decision to redshirt both Mitch Mays and Brad Miller as incoming freshmen last season – and going through the program’s first losing season since the 2001-02 campaign – veteran Christian Brothers coach Mike Nienaber and his staff opted to go with Joe Laravie from the start this time around.
The trio has helped key the Buccaneers’ early run to the top of the Gulf South Conference standings, as CBU closed out the 2016 portion of their schedule with an 86-74 win over West Florida to improve to 7-3 overall and 4-0 in league play heading into the holidays.
“They’re putting up numbers you don’t usually get with freshmen,” Nienaber said, as Laravie was named Tuesday as GSC Freshman of the Week for the second time this season and Miller was recognized earlier this month.
Laravie’s initial honor, on Nov. 15, could have easily gone to Mays.
“The week Joe got Freshman of the Week, I called (athletic media relations director Eric Opperman) and asked which one he went with. He went with Joe and I didn’t disagree with him. But if we had nominated Mitch that week, he’d have gotten it.”
Throughout his tenure at CBU, redshirting has been a common theme for Nienaber, resulting in that consistency that was interrupted with last year’s performance.
“You’ve had a year to get immersed in the system and understand a little more what we’re trying to do,” he explained. “I catch myself thinking now, ‘maybe we shouldn’t have redshirted those two last year; maybe we wouldn’t have had our first losing season in 14 years’.
“We anticipated redshirting Joe. But the more we looked at him, the more we thought ‘we can’t redshirt him’. We decided we really needed him as a backup to (senior point guard) Jeff Larkin. When Jeff got in foul trouble, Joe is more of a point guard than Brad. Brad can handle it, but when Jeff’s not on the floor, we like having both Joe and Brad.”
Laravie (10.7 points per game), Mays (8.9 ppg) and Miller (7.5 ppg) have emerged as three of the Buccaneers’ top six scorers through the team’s first 10 games, with all three averaging upward of 23 minutes per night.
“We have six or seven guys that, on any given night, it wouldn’t shock you if (any of them) got 20 points,” Nienaber said. “The thing we’ve stressed for them to know is, if a team comes out and says ‘we’re going to take Jeff out’, Joe can score, Brad can score. That’s the really good thing about our team: Other guys have stepped up.”
Laravie, Mays and Miller are among six players on the CBU 13-man roster that played their high school ball in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area – a spot that has traditionally been good to Nienaber and his staff.
“We’ve got contacts up there, two or three coaches that are involved with AAU and high school ball that are very realistic,” said Nienaber, a Cincinnati native with 500-plus career victories. “When they tell me ‘here are three kids you’ve got a chance to get’, I go after them.
“A lot of times we get kids from Cincinnati that are like the third or fourth recruit on their team. You find out about them and they’re pretty good players, but they fall through the cracks. A lot of times it works out that they’re better than we thought they’d be. A lot of times you don’t know about a kid until they’re in a situation where they’re being featured a little more than they were and they have a chance to blossom.”
The formula has worked for Nienaber and CBU more than it hasn’t. That West Florida win was his 300th over his Buccaneer tenure.
“I didn’t know until after the game,” he said. “It was just critical for us to get to 4-0 (in league play) and to win at home, because we haven’t done that (consistently) the last couple of years. There are no easy games in this league. We’ve been fortunate to get out of the gate and get a win at Union and hang on for a couple at home.
“It’s a good sign for a young team.”
Follow Patton on Twitter at:
@mopatton_sports. E-mail comments to:
mopattonsports@gmail.com.
Join in on the conversation using
#FridayFeatures on
Twitter and
Facebook.
2016-17 GSC Friday Features
9/09/2016 - UWA QB Grammer Wants to 'Pay It Forward' for Tigers.
9/16/2016 - UWF's Rookie Program Gets Boost From Veteran QB.
9/23/2016 - Hall of Famer Kuhns Excited to be Back at Valdosta State.
9/30/2016 - FIT Football's Quick Rise Leads to Poll Position.
10/07/2016 - Evans Brings His Talents South - And UNA is Glad He Did.
10/14/2016 - Wilkes Doing What She Does Best for Union Soccer.
10/21/2016 - Shorter's Dowd Takes Lessons From Big Family to Volleyball Stardom.
10/28/2016 - No Goals, No Problem, for MC Men's Soccer.
11/04/2016 - UWG's Armah Plays Both Ways to Give Wolves Boost.
11/11/2016 - Delta State's Robinson in Hill Trophy Discussion.
11/18/2016 - Basketball is Family Affair for UAH's Seab Webster.
11/25/2016 - UWF Women's Soccer Returns to National Stage.
12/02/2016 - Jacob Tucker Sits, Then Stars as UNA's Quarterback.
12/09/2016 - Energy Sparks Fiery Start for Lee's Cheeks.
12/16/2016 - Beau Justice Follows Big Brother South and Valdosta State Profits.