By Steve Carpenter
Hutchinson CC Sports Information Director

Tommy DeSalme just wasn't having fun anymore at the thing he loved doing … coaching basketball.

The daily grind of his chosen profession became a grind. Winning 61-60 was mundane. The game was changing. Three years ago, DeSalme decided to change as well.

"Kids today like things fast," said DeSalme, hired as the 15th Hutchinson Community College men's basketball head coach on May 6. "They watch the NBA more than college ball and see guys like Steph Curry. It's a different ballgame than it used to be.

"My mindset has always been to play extremely fast. You have to be willing to let things go that you were taught from an early age. Our style gives the players some freedom of mind to be creative, but it also freed me up to get back to having fun."

The high-tempo style of play that DeSalme has implemented makes its Blue Dragon debut this week – at 7 p.m. Wednesday against Fort Scott and this weekend in the BSN Sports Tipoff Classic against No. 12 Odessa and NOC-Tonkawa.

DeSalme starts his 21st season as a head coach Wednesday night against Fort Scott. From 2001 through 2019, DeSalme coached old-school basketball – pound the ball inside offensively … play hard-nosed defense … don't give up any easy buckets.

His last two seasons at Cowley, DeSalme's Tigers became a scoring machine full of 94-foot pressure defense that caused steals and transition baskets either by dunks or 3-pointers. The Tigers were among the national scoring leaders, routinely blowing past the 100-point mark midway through the second half.

The helter-skelter style of the Tigers produced a record number of points, but more importantly 50 wins, a Region VI championship and a berth in the 2021 NJCAA Tournament championship game.

"There are a lot of extremes to this style," DeSalme said. "We went them to play really, really hard and really, really fast. You see the action, but there are a lot of basic fundamentals that go into it. It's harder to teach this than a half-court style.

"This style really puts a player out on an island. It forces them to get better and forces them to improve their skillset. You can see now how much our players have improved just since September when they got here to now."

DeSalme's 2021-22 Blue Dragons will not only have a new look, but no players returning from last year's at-large national tournament-qualifying team.

Among the list of 16 new faces on the Blue Dragon roster are five players who played for DeSalme at Cowley.

"The five guys we have do know the level of competitiveness it takes to compete in this system," said DeSalme, who brings a career mark of 396-233 with stops at Sterling College, Kansas Wesleyan, Independence and Cowley. "None of the guards played a lot, so I really don't have a teacher on the floor, which makes for another assistant coach."

"It sounds funny. The pace is fast, but it takes time to implement. Where we are on November 3rd, we are going to make some strides in the next two weeks."

Forward Jacquez Yow (6-foot-5; Newport News, VA) has been in the DeSalme system for both years. Last season Yow averaged 8.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. He averaged 7.2 points and 3.4 rebounds as a freshman in 2020.

Forward Josiah Harris (6-8; New Castle, DE) averaged 11.1 minutes last season. He averaged 3.6 points per game. Guards Kobe Campbell (6-2, Kansas City, MO), Cameron Robins (5-8; Independence, MO) and Tarsese Morse (6-5, Springfield, MA) all averaged less than 10 minutes per game for the Tigers last season.

DeSalme has five other transfers and six true freshmen on the roster for 2021.

Guard Kaiman Lennox (6-2; Kansas City, MO) is a transfer from Missouri-Kansas City. DeSalme said he is becoming what he calls a lead guard. At UMKC, Lennox appeared in nine games with two starters, averaging 4.4 points per game.

"He's been all over the map in the preseason, but he is starting to come."

The other transfers are Ra'Shawn Frederick (6-6; Atlanta) from Clarendon College. He averaged 14.3 points per game at Clarendon. Angelo Stuart (6-1; East Stroudsburg, PA) is from Mineral Area. Cecil Lee (6-6, Kansas City, MO) played at Truman state. Guard Nate Goodlow (6-3; Del City, OK) is a transfer from NOC-Tonkawa. He can play all five positions on the floor.

"We are a true hybrid team this year," DeSalme said. "We really have only two true forwards. The rest of them really all have the ability to be a lead guards for us.

"We are a work in progress. We won't be reliant on the 3-pointer, but we will be able to shoot it. We have length all over the guard, which will be really help our press. We have a long way to go, but we will get there."