Centenary University Men’s Basketball Preview of The Season

Centenary Men’s Basketball team started their season one win and two losses, led by Head Coach Chris LaBelle. A former Centenary University Men’s Basketball player, 2018-2019 CSAC Player of the Year and now the coach of the team, Labelle has hopes of making the playoffs for the second year in a row. LaBelle is also the director of athletic communications for the Centenary Athletics Department. On Thursday, Nov. 20, I interviewed LaBelle about the upcoming season. 

What’s your prediction for this season?

I'm hoping we have another good year where we keep learning and improving. I believe we made it to the first round of the playoffs last year and brought back a lot of those guys, so we're hoping to just continue to improve and make that next step. 

Obviously, our goal is to win a championship, and I'd be lying to you if I didn't think we were going to do that. It's my job to make sure the team thinks that. That's goal number one, but at the same time, we're just looking to get better every day and just keep taking steps as we build our program up. 

Who has surprised you the most during the offseason? 

I think our seniors really did a good job. This offseason is setting the example. With Justin Carbone and Devin Strickland, you can tell they really put the work in this offseason. They've been coming into the gym every morning. But the good part is when we see one or two guys do it, then the whole team does it. I've been really happy with my team this year. They've all started to really buy into, whether it's nighttime or in the morning coming back, getting extra shots up. Avery Cannato is another one who is constantly in the gym. It starts with our seniors and then just continues to trickle down. And now it's just kind of how our 

culture is, getting those extra shots up and getting our extra work in. 

How do you plan on running your offense and defense this year? 

I like to play fast. I think it's more fun. High pace defense and high pace offense. We're looking to use our defense into our offense. I'm trying to play really quickly and, then, when we have to slow it down, really attacking the paint and sharing the ball. I think when we play team fast basketball we're really really tough to defend because we got a lot of skilled guys. Offensively, we get the ball moving as much as we can and, then, defensively turning those turnovers and extra possessions into some quick offense. 

How do you define success for your program beyond wins and losses? 

I think it's a commitment to getting better every day on and off the court. Whether it's in the classroom,on the court, or in our personal lives, just making a commitment, taking strides to getting better every day, and building these routines that make you better as a person. 

I think we really harp on time management. We really harp on being a good person, and really representing Centenary men's basketball everywhere you go. We can have 15 guys that come back with better grades than they did the year before. We have five guys that are planning to graduate this spring, and they keep representing Centenary men's basketball in the positive way that they have, and that’s a success in my book. 

How do you handle the challenges of coaching student-athletes who can't receive athletic scholarships? 

I was a D3 athlete, so I think what helps is being able to understand where they are and where they come from and realizing that a lot of them have jobs or a million different things other than basketball that holds them back from just being able to do that. It's a balancing act. You want to have an expectation for them, but you have to have that realization that they're students, that they're employees, brothers, and sisters, and they have a lot of things to do. It's just kind of finding that balance and then also trying to still hold that standard, because you know how hard it is to be good at a sport right? It takes a lot of time, dedication, and effort too. It’s really trying to be excited that they're here playing basketball and taking advantage of that. 

How do you prepare your team for different opponents throughout the season? 

We do scouting reports. The beauty of today is everything is on film. All the games are recorded. We'll show them some clips of some of their key players and some of the key offenses that they run. Then,  throughout the week, we will game plan for them with our scout and shell drills. Anything we're gonna change up offensively that they do, that'll work against their defense. I think that's a big part of it. 99% of the game is preparation.

The more you prepare, the higher chance you have of the team winning. The more we can get prepared for the next team we play against, the better outcome will be. 

How would your former players describe your coaching style? 

I would say hardcore, in terms of having high expectations, but fair. In terms of, I'm not asking them to do anything I haven't done myself or anything that isn't necessary to win. I would say I'm hardcore and very passionate; I really enjoy what I do. And I think I really want the best for our team and our  program. A lot of times that passion comes out, but at the same time, I think it's fair. 

I think it's something that we really look for the best possible outcome for our program and our team.

What's been your biggest success as a coach and what did you learn from it? 

I'd say our biggest success so far is that our team GPA has raised up from  about a 2.9 to about a 3.2. We haven't had anybody academically fail off in my three years of coaching and we started to take some steps in the right direction in terms of winning and losing games too. 

What I learned for me is that it's how you do one thing is kind of how you do everything. You can't not play basketball and have the academic side of it. You have to make sure we're full circle. I think it taught us that it puts an emphasis on everything. Make sure we make sure everybody's in class and study hall, and then that way they can make sure they can take that on to the court as well.

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The Cyclone Chronicle thanks former student-athlete and Men's Basketball Coach Chris LaBelle for doing this interview and giving us insight about the future of Centenary Men’s Basketball. 

Go Cyclones! 

Good luck to Coach LaBelle and the Men’s Basketball Team!