'I'm going to remember that feeling:' How Millersville basketball players are coping to life without the game

Thank goodness for basketball. 

Thank goodness for that portable hoop in the driveway. 

It may not be exactly regulation height. Dribbles on the pavement may not bounce back true. Shooting a three requires a few steps onto the lawn. Missing long on a baseline jumper might put the rebound in the street. But it’s basketball—kind of. And right now, it’s enough. 

For Millersville junior Khari Williams, because COVID-19 sent him and his teammates home for the semester, that hoop in the driveway is his connection to normalcy. 

“That’s my everything,” said Williams. “I’ve played on that court since I was six. My driveway is keeping me sane right now. If I didn’t have that, I don’t know what I’d be doing.”

His season ended a month ago in the PSAC Tournament, and the Marauders, who figure to return all five starters, a healthy Jaden Faulkner and four (yes, four) All-PSAC East players, were chomping at the bit to get back into Pucillo Gymnasium at play together again. Before they could, a worldwide pandemic sent them to their hometowns. 

“Our talk after the Shippensburg game, I haven’t seen it in a while, it was a determined look,” said Millersville men’s basketball coach Casey Stitzel. “The talk was, ‘remember this moment, remember how you feel.’ That’s what drives you. Our guys played a lot of minutes because of our injuries. Some guys needed to take some time off but mentally they were very hungry. We have four seniors who are really hungry to take the next step.”

In a world without COVID-19, the months of April and May represent a crucial time period for Millersville’s basketball teams. With the lessons learned from a six-month season still fresh, coaches can work with players up to four hours per week on individual skills and pick-up games while weight training, film and individual meetings are conducted. 

The Millersville women will return all but one player in 2020-21, including all-time leading scorer Lauren Lister, and those precious couple of months together before summer would have been key to further the development of a team that lost nine games by single digits. 

“We would be in the weight room having instruction from our strength coach,” said women’s basketball coach Mary Fleig. “That was a big part we were looking forward to because it was an area we needed to work on. We would have held our individual and team workouts to work on skill development and skill development, and culture building was going to be a big part of it.”

“In Zoom meetings, we are doing film work, that’s all we are allowed to do right now,” said Stitzel. “Normally, we would be in the process of weight training. Try to give a preview of what the players need to do over the summer after they leave campus, work with strength and conditioning and take that momentum into their summertime. In previous years we had two hours per week, this year we would have had four with the players. We were brainstorming for individual workouts, grouping bigs and guards to improve individual skillsets, do some five-on-five and let them play in pick-up settings with the coaching staff able to be there. We were really looking forward to letting the guys play on their own and figure out things without blowing the whistle every time. It was an opportunity to get some of the newer guys up to speed.”

Players like Williams are doing what they can. Williams is at home in Norristown, which he says has become a ghost town because of the social distancing measures. He rarely goes out, but when he does, it’s not uncommon to see no one else. As of April 16, there were nearly 2,200 positive cases and 120 deaths in Montgomery County, which saw some of the first cases of COVID-19 in Pennsylvania and was the first to shut down. Williams lives just 20 miles from Philadelphia, which has seen more than 7,400 cases. 

“When I’m home I don’t really do anything but help my mom with the house and workout,” said Williams. “Coming back here and having classes online, I’m just in and out of the house to the court. It’s a different atmosphere.”

The driveway is the only basketball he has because rims at public outdoor courts have been physically removed. That’s not just in urban areas either, but also in small towns like Palmyra, Pa., where women’s basketball freshman Olivia Richardson lives. 

Richardson played in 20 games as a reserve for the Marauders in her first season, and she had hoped to continue improving her post skills by working with Coach Kristin Kunzman over the course of the spring. Usually, when it comes to basketball, Richardson is at an advantage at home. Her father, Scott, is the principal at Palmyra High School, so Richardson has access to the high school gym. No more. The school is locked and off limits. 

“For basketball, on the court, there’s nowhere for us to go right now,” said Richardson. “We don’t have any around here that are functioning. I haven’t heard of anyone who has been able to shoot. Everything for everyone is shut down.”

Instead, Richardson is filling her would-be basketball time as an “essential employee” at a local Lowe’s, helping customers from behind a plexiglass shield. 

Even for men’s basketball sophomore Mekhi Hendricks, at home in the tucked-away Shenandoah County, Va. (23 cases of COVID-19 in its population of 43,000), playing basketball is nearly impossible and at best impractical. 

“I do ball handling in my basement,” said Hendricks. “In terms of shooting or weightlifting, that’s been a struggle. The gym five minutes from my house where I usually lift is closed. I usually go to the high school I went to to get shots up, but it’s closed. I haven’t been shooting lately. The outdoor courts are still open but there are a lot of people who go to those, and I thought I should probably stay away. There are a lot more than should be advised out there.”

Smartly staying away from crowds, Hendricks, Richardson and Williams have gotten creative to stay in shape. 

Millersville strength and conditioning coach Kyle Regensburg provided the women’s team with a makeshift program that utilizes household items—lifts with gallon jugs of water, squats and lunges while wearing a backpack filled with textbooks. 

Williams is using a pull-up bar and body-weight exercises to stay fit. Hendricks’ keeping his cardio on point by running daily. 

“The biggest thing is you can be in great condition,” said Stitzel. “No one is telling you to not go run or do sprints. Getting to a basket might be challenge. Even NBA players are saying it’s a challenge. Our guys have some things they can do. Every player should be the best ball-handler in the country when they come back. Everyone has a ball and a street. It’s the mental side of it where you can improve. There’s way to exercise your mind. That’s what really separates it. Basketball-wise, I have no doubt that they are doing whatever they can to get better. We have an experienced and super-motivated group. That’s what you really want during a time like this.”

All three Marauders have previous experience with the D2L portal and online courses, so academics at home has been a smooth transition. 

“The teachers have done a great job uploading everything, making everything visible,” said Richardson. “Most assignments were due on D2L anyway. All my classes are going well. There are open office hours if you need anything. It’s going better than a lot of people expected.”

“I think the professors are very aware of the patience needed,” said Fleig, who has heard positive feedback with the online learning. “If someone doesn’t understand something, how it was set up, they are understanding.”

What the student-athletes miss the most are their teammates—the relationships. 

“That bond,” said Hendricks. “Meeting for lunch every day, going to the weight room together, cracking jokes. At least we have some Zoom meetings where we get to see everybody.”

“I miss the presence of my brothers every day,” said Williams. “Every day. Every day I think about what we would be doing, when I would be seeing them in the Upper Deck, meeting up and going to class, going to the gym, going to weightlifting, calling them over to play video games. We are close.”

For these basketball players, it’s not just about not getting to play the game. It’s hearing the squeak of shoes on hardwood and the unmistakable echo of a ball bouncing in an empty gymnasium. It’s the camaraderie of competition, beating your friend off the dribble and exchanging some good-natured trash talk. It’s getting just a little more physical with teammate at the defensive end, knowing it will make them better for next season’s PSAC East schedule. Williams understands why basketball with his teammates isn’t a daily occurrence, and he’s remembering every moment that he misses it. 

“It hurts,” said Williams. “When there are no runs, no pick-up games, all I can do is go work on my game. But not getting to play, it builds that fire up. However many times I want to play and I can't play, I’m going to remember that feeling so by the time I get the floor, it’s going to be like the first time. I’m going to appreciate it.”

But for right now, that driveway hoop is enough.