COMMERCE — You can’t blame the players on the Commerce boys basketball team if they continue to ask coach and former Tigers standout, Russ Gregg, “Are we there yet?”
The “there” is back to being a consistently competitive program. And it’s an answer that Gregg’s heart wants to shout out a resounding “yes.” But his experience and knowledge of rebuilding a moribund program, so far, is holding him back.
“I feel we’re on the road to being back to where I think Commerce basketball should be. We’re not quite there yet, but I feel we’re getting closer every day,” Gregg said.
Looking back four years ago, the Tigers were coming off a shocking winless season (2015-16). They followed that with a 3-win campaign and Gregg, who was looking to get back home after six seasons as the women’s coach at Erskine College in South Carolina, was brought in to try and bring life back to a once-proud program.
When he arrived, nine kids showed up for a youth basketball camp (2nd-8th grades).
“I was shocked, really, that there were so few kids interested," he said. "I instantly knew this was going to be the toughest job I’ve ever had.”
He knew because when he took the Erskine job, he was charged with rebuilding the Lady Flying Fleet, who went 3-25 in his first season.
“I knew it would take about three years to get where I thought we could be.”
Three years later, they posted 18 wins, the biggest turnaround of any program in Division II that season.
“There are a lot of similarities (at Commerce) than when I took that job, except for the fact that I could recruit the players I wanted,” Gregg said. “But I did see some talent here. It was just young and needed to be developed. I told everyone, don’t expect us to be totally back for about five years.”
In Year 1 under Gregg, the Tigers went 4-22. Last season, they were just 2-24. So far in Year 3, he has the Tigers at 5-3 after Tuesday's 81-22 rout of Cross Keys, with three of the wins coming on the road.
It’s enough in the early going to have players and fans alike wondering if perhaps his 5-year plan is actually ahead of schedule.
“Again, I don’t think we’re all the way there,” he said. “I’m very encouraged about how we’ve started. It takes time to change the culture in any place where they haven’t won much. We have just two seniors and a bunch of juniors who haven’t won much.
“But I think everyone is really buying in right now and that’s a credit to the kids for believing in what we want to do and just working their tails off every day. I couldn’t be more proud of how the older guys, and some younger ones, have taken on leadership roles to try and get this thing turned around.”
The Tigers are being led by a slew of underclassmen. Junior Ian McConnell, a 6-foot-4 center, is averaging a double-double so far with 14.1 points per game and 10.4 rebounds per game after averaging just 9 ppg and 5 rpg last season. Another junior in Shawn Cunningham, who did not play last season, is averaging 10.7 ppg and 6.3 rpg. Junior guard Dominic Ricci is at 10.4 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2 assists per game, and 2 steals per game. Freshman guard Jackson Morris is knocking down 7.9 ppg, and 6-3 junior shooting guard Creed Dunbar is averaging 7.6 ppg, 7.0 rpg, and 2 apg, although he is below his shooting averages from last year, so when he begins to heat up the offense could be even better.
While Russ is putting up a good front on a slow, patient rebuilding process, he admits the first two years were trying.
“I’m not a patient person by nature,” he said. “I don’t like being embarrassed, so it was tough at times because you want to win and you want to see guys getting better. I think this year we’re getting to that competitive balance where we can compete in any game. Now we have to learn how to win consistently. That is the next step.”
After suffering countless blowout losses over the past two years, the competitiveness seems to be there for the Tigers this season. Two of their losses have been by 5 points or less, including one to unbeaten Providence Christian.
“We led Providence for three quarters but they made a run and we weren’t able to answer,” he said. “That was an encouraging outcome even though we lost. We’ve been much more competitive so far this season. I feel from what I’ve seen so far we can make a run at having a winning season [which would be their first since 2010] and maybe the (state) playoffs [which they haven’t made since 2012].
“I don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves but this group has really stepped up. I think interest in the program is picking back up.”
It must be evidenced by the 48 future Tigers that showed up for his latest youth camp.
“That’s a huge turnaround in just two years. Again, I don’t think we’re there yet to being completely back. But we’re much closer right now than I anticipated. We’re excited about what the future looks like.”
