Expectations Big Sky high for Eastern basketball team

Another year older, another year wiser?

That’s the idea, anyway, as Jim Hayford begins his fourth year in charge of the Eastern Washington basketball program.

And he’s not talking only about his players.

“Through these building years, it’s hard when you’re losing. A piece of you goes when you lose, but it’s made me a better coach, a better person,” Hayford said before a recent practice.

Hayford hopes the same is true for an Eagle program that has seen its share of growing pains, but now appears poised for a big season with a talented, veteran lineup that’s everyone’s pick for a high finish in the Big Sky Conference. The media picks them to finish third, the coaches have them second, and everyone has them reaching the conference tournament they’ve missed the past two seasons.

But will the Eagles – 15-16 overall last year and 10-10 in the Big Sky – fulfill expectations, which for years have been dormant but suddenly are through the roof?

“Being a year older doesn’t necessarily mean we’re more mature,” Hayford said, this time of his players. “One of the things that gives me confidence is that they’re looking back and realizing how much they didn’t know that they didn’t know.”

At the top of the list: defense, specifically the realization that you don’t have to score 80 points every time out.

In the Eagle locker room, Hayford maintains a large whiteboard, with about two dozen benchmarks he’d like to hit each game. Hit the benchmark and a tiny Eagle logo goes on the board; miss the mark and that spot remains blank.

A major goal each game is to hold opponents to less than 42 percent shooting, but that space remained empty in 14 of 15 games during one dreary midseason stretch.

Who better to reinforce that point but junior guard Tyler Harvey, the leading scorer last year in the Big Sky?

“We have to do a better of stopping teams,” Harvey said. “We’re not going to shoot 50 percent every game, and in some games, we’re going to have to grind it out.”

That’s especially true on the road, where the Eagles were just 3-7 last year in conference play.

“If we could just make the strides on the road that we made from a really young team at home, then we’re going to be knocking on the door,” Hayford said.

For the players, that means digging a little deeper “and not letting the other team get comfortable in their own gym,” Kelly said.

The Eagles certainly have the talent to do that, at home or away. In the backcourt, it all starts with senior point guard Drew Brandon, who brought some needed stability to the position while averaging 10.4 points and 5.1 assists. Brandon also gave the rebounding game a boost with 6.4 boards a game, second-most on the team behind Venky Jois.

Brandon will direct what appears to be a three-guard lineup part of the time, looking to set up sharpshooters Harvey and Parker Kelly.

After a year with Brandon, “I know what he’s thinking and he knows what I’m thinking,” said Harvey, who averaged 21.8 points a game, while shooting almost as well from 3-point range (43.3 percent) as he did overall (44.3 percent.)

The most dynamic player in the Big Sky, Harvey also was streaky. During one five-game stretch in January, he was 23 for 65 from the field and 10 for 30 from 3-point range, and the Eagles went 1-4. Harvey and the Eagles showed a mirror image of that in February, as Eastern went 4-1 while he shot 39 for 79 from the field and an otherworldly 27 for 50 from long range.

“I just have to try to take what the defense gives me,” said the 6-foot-4, 185-pound Harvey.

Kelly, a 6-4, 195-pounder from Gonzaga Prep, offers another big gun on the perimeter.

“I don’t think I’d trade our backcourt for any in the Big Sky,” Hayford said.

Down low, the Eagles will rely more than ever on Jois. The 6-foot-8 junior power forward from Australia, who averaged 13.4 points and eight rebounds, will be expected to carry a bigger load on the boards after the departure of Martin Seiferth.

Hayford expects big things from rangy forwards Ognjen Miljkovic and Felix Von Hofe. Miljkovic, a 6-7 Serbian who bulked up to 220 pounds last year, hit 36 percent of his 3-point shots last year.