But that doesn’t mean the first-year coach isn’t going to put his own stamp on the program. Sargent wants to emulate Nagy’s winning ways and his authenticity as a person, but he also has a revamped roster and fresh ideas on how best to put the pieces together.
Asked what he’s been spending the most time on in practice, he replied: “I would say it’s probably 80/20 defense to offense.”
That’s not much different than Nagy. But unlike last year when the Raiders leaned almost exclusively on man-to-man defense, Sargent wants to give opponents a variety of looks to keep them from getting comfortable.
“I want to disrupt the rhythm of the other team. I would like more options,” he said, likely meaning more zones and pressure.
“I think you want those options — all while not being one of those guys who just changes every time somebody scores, and you end up not being good at any of them.”
The Raiders have had a goal of holding opponents to under one point per possession, which they met only once to twice last season.
They were 341st nationally in defensive efficiency, surrendering 1.154 points each time their foes had the ball.
Giving up a shade over one point — .154 to be exact — doesn’t sound like much. But over a typical 75-possession game, that’s 11.55 additional points for the other guys, which is why the Raiders were a middling 18-14 last season.
In 2020-21, when they were 16th in defensive efficiency at .912, they went 18-6 (the season was shortened by the pandemic).
In 2017-18, when they were 12th at .929, they went 25-10, won the Horizon League and played in the NCAA tourney.
“You have to have an identity, and our identity will be that we can guard you man to man. But I do believe, when teams have rhythm and you’re having a hard time stopping them — or you just want to throw a wrinkle at them — that you have to be good at other things, too,” Sargent said.
“This team has the capability to have an identity, that ‘this is what we’re going to hang our hat on,’ while also being able to change the course of the game because we can throw something at an offense that maybe they weren’t ready for.”
The Raiders are just finishing their second week of preseason practice, though one season bleeds into the next with almost non-stop offseason workouts.
They have a closed preseason scrimmage against Bowling Green at home Oct 12.
They have an exhibition game at the Nutter Center against Wilmington at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct, 26.
The opener is at Kentucky on Nov. 4, and Sargent would like to have his rotation pinned down by then — but that won’t be easy with such a talented collection of players.
Though they lost three of their top four scorers in Trey Calvin, Tanner Holden and A.J. Braun, they picked up three Division-I transfers and a handful of ready-to-play freshmen to go with established holdovers Brandon Noel, Alex Huibregtse and Keaton Norris.
“We’ve traditionally played small rotations — seven or eight guys. … But on this year’s team, there’s a lot of competition,” Sargent said.
As with Nagy, who left for Southern Illinois, the way for players to get into the mix is to prove themselves defensively.
“I just want our guys to be able to empty the tank, play harder, and if that means shorter spurts and a bigger bench, I’m all for it,” Sargent said.
“If the product on the floor doesn’t drop, and we can produce a great defensive team with a bench of eight, nine, 10 guys, we’ll definitely look at that. But that’s what these next three or four weeks are for, to see what that looks like.”
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