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David Jenkins has been with T.J. Otzelberger longer than anyone, dating back to their time together at South Dakota State, and he can vouch for the fact that the UNLV basketball coach isn’t normally the type to pass up an opportunity to practice. And yet Jenkins understands why Otzelberger chose to send players home just two weeks into the scheduled eight-week summer workout period.
While Jenkins would prefer to be on campus, taking part in practices with his teammates, he knows his main duty right now is to stay home in Tacoma, Wash., and stay healthy.
“Coach came up to us after practice and explained to us why he was doing it,” Jenkins said. “I understand it’s about keeping us safe, making sure the whole university is safe. The more we can follow the protocols, the sooner we can get back on the court.”
Jenkins said the team was getting along off the court, as teammates spent most of their time hanging together in their on-campus apartments. Breaking up that budding camaraderie was the most disappointing part about being sent home, according to Jenkins, but he believes UNLV has already developed impressive chemistry.
“This team is the most together team I’ve been on since I’ve been in college, and that’s even including some of the teams I’ve been on at South Dakota State University that went to the NCAA Tournament,” Jenkins said. “We were hanging out with each other every single day, playing poker, playing black jack, playing video games. The better you know your teammates, the better you know each other, the better it’s going to translate to the game. The more you hang out with your teammates off the court, it makes you look so much more unified on the court.”
Jenkins is eager to get back on the floor because what he saw during the truncated summer workouts was a team he believes can compete at a high level this season. Jenkins will be a big part of that, as will junior guards Bryce Hamilton and Marvin Coleman (both returning starters), but Jenkins especially took note of the incoming recruiting class.
UNLV is bringing in six freshmen (and 10 newcomers overall) and Jenkins was impressed with their progress in the short amount of time he got to work with them last month.
“We all meshed well on the court,” Jenkins said. “The new guys, we were trying to teach them some of our defensive and offensive principles. That was taking a little bit of time, but we expected that. We have a lot of new young guys who didn’t know any of the philosophies and a lot of guys haven’t been taught certain things. Coming from the high school level to the college level is a big adjustment, so the older guys like me, Marvin, Bryce, as leaders we try to do certain things for the young guys to help that transition. Later on in the week as guys started to learn the philosophies practice started to go much smoother.”
Jenkins’ biggest leadership responsibility now will be making sure his younger teammates maintain focus during this extended offseason. Being away from structured practices for such long stretches is not easy, but Jenkins wants everyone on the team to understand the stakes.
On that front, he said the Mountain West’s decision to cancel the fall football season got everyone’s attention.
“I think it’s an eye opener,” Jenkins said. “Some people didn’t take the virus as seriously as they should have. They felt like, ‘Oh we’re gonna play regardless of the virus.’ I think it opened their eyes and they know we’ve got to make sure we’re following safety protocols that they’re teaching us because if we don’t, it could be even worse at end of day. That’s an eye opener not just for us, but for everybody and the whole country, really. Some players [on other teams] are going out and partying regardless of what we’re told, and the fact that seasons are getting pushed back is letting guys know we’ve really got to buckle down and do a good job of making sure we’re safe, because we want to play.”
Jenkins said he felt safe during UNLV’s summer workouts, noting that the team sanitized and washed their hands before and after each drill.
Some have bandied about the idea of playing college basketball in a “bubble” setting, like the setup currently being employed by the NBA. It’s hard to imagine the NCAA asking its amateur athletes to isolate like that in order to carry off a championship tournament, but Jenkins said he’d be willing to consider a bubble scenario.
“I was just talking to Marvin about this the other day,” he said. “I think it would be good. The NBA did a really good job. They’re still getting tested in the bubble and nobody is testing positive because they’ve got everybody packed in together and nobody goes in and out. That could be something that could be effective for us as well. People who have got real love for the game will do it; they’ll sacrifice their time and sacrifice anything to play.”
Before that’s even a consideration, the players have to do their part. For UNLV, that means staying on top of workouts, staying connected with teammates and pushing each other to improve despite the distance.
“When they call us back for team practices and school, we’ve got to be ready. We don’t have time to be sitting at home and not working out, because if we go back to practice and we’re not in shape, that’s going to be a big disadvantage for us. We’ve got to get just as much work in as we were when we were all together. When T.J. calls us back, we’ve got to make sure we’re ready, because we’re trying to win this year.”
Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.
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