In his years coaching junior colleges, former Wichita State basketball assistant Steve Forbes learned that “shared suffering” can help players bond quickly.
Running stairs. Intense weight-lifting. Bend-your-knees defensive drills.
Forbes’ East Tennessee State team, with 10 new players and a new coaching staff, will take its suffering dividends to Las Vegas for Monday’s game against Louisiana Tech in the Vegas 16, a new postseason tournament played at Mandalay Bay Events Center.
“I think there’s a lot of established Division I head coaches probably wouldn’t want that much turnover,” Forbes said. “Because I had 11 years of juco experience, it didn’t faze me much.