SEGUIN, Texas – Last season, the Texas Lutheran men's basketball team had its fair share of ups and downs, and when a particularly hard-fought victory was met with a muted response in the locker room, one Bulldog spoke up.
"One of our seniors, Alex Cage, told the team that they needed to celebrate wins," said head coach Mike Wacker. "Around that same time, Nathan Josephs said, 'Let's just go 1-0 every time we play. Let's not worry about our record, let's just go 1-0.' Then this summer, they kinda came up with the mantra of 'Win the day.' We've adopted that. They're invested highly in that."
TLU finished last season with a 12-15 overall record, but won four of their last five games. With six returning seniors, the team felt they were primed for a big turnaround.
Mission accomplished.
Despite starting this season 3-6, due to a tough nonconference schedule, the Bulldogs suddenly found new life with the start of conference play. They won 10 games over a 12-game stretch, and finished with an 11-5 record in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play -- good enough to clinch a share of the conference title.
"At the beginning of the season, we went through some struggles, but right at the beginning of conference we hit our stride," senior Nathan Josephs explained. "We won five games in a row right before the Christmas break. After that, we just rode that momentum."
"We knew that we were built for something special this year," said senior Jacob Kouremetis. "We were picked to finish fourth in the conference in preseason polls, but we knew that we had what it takes to get first place."
The biggest reason for the team's success this year is balance. The Bulldogs have six players who average between eight and 12 points per game, and they're all ready and willing to share the ball.
"We've had five or six guys score over 20 points in one game, so there's a lot of guys who can contribute, and it takes the pressure off of all of us," said Kouremetis. "If one of us is having a rough night, anyone else can step up and score those 15 or 20 points. It's nice to have that depth."
"It's magical," Wacker said. "The ball has energy. I wish we counted the 'hockey assist,' so you could see and chart and give credit to those guys as well. That's something that this team has really invested in. They spend a lot of time working on their individual game, but when they come together, they always make the right basketball play. They don't play with each other, they play for each other. I know that that's such an important part of a successful program, and it makes the experience so much more fun."
That sense of unselfishness and togetherness extends past the court, and it helps the team stay level-headed, even after tough losses.
"It's a real brotherhood," Kouremetis said. "We work together all of the time, eating dinner and lunch. We're at the cafeteria and the library together, doing homework, you name it. It makes it a lot more fun too, celebrating the wins and even in the tough losses, it makes it a lot better knowing you have brothers that have your back and a team that's always behind you."
The Bulldogs now prepare to enter the SCAC Championship Tournament as the second seed. They will host the winner of the Trinity and Centenary quarterfinal matchup in the semifinals Saturday at 7 p.m. But even though TLU hosts the entire tournament on their home court, Memorial Gymnasium, their mentality hasn't changed at all.
"We try to enjoy every day, every practice, every game," Kouremetis said. "I'm not ready for it to end, so we're going to try to win every game we can to keep this thing going.”
“I’m comfortable with this being my last year because this is the best team I've ever been on," said Josephs. "This team is full of guys who I'll call brothers for the rest of my life.”
"My favorite part is the journey with these guys," Wacker explained. "They're just fun to be around. They work hard every day in practice. They respond to losses extremely well. They're just winners. They're going to be winners the rest of the season, and more importantly, they're going to be winners in life."