By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- There has been so much change and transition with Tennessee Tech basketball over the last four to five seasons, and these players have stuck with it through thick and thin. Their legacies with their programs will be as builders, shapers and molders as their work with the teams aim to propel the Golden Eagles into future success, whether it's this year, the next or near future. With the final home week of the regular-season campaign ahead for the Tennessee Tech men's and women's basketball teams, it was a good time to sit down with the five Golden Eagle seniors and reflect on their time with the teams.
THOMAS CORHERN: I know there's still a few more weeks of the season, but it's hard to believe that it's to that point of the year where it's almost done.
TYLER THOMPSON: It is and it is kind of crazy to believe looking back at my four years. From my first year at Roane State to the last four years as a whole looking back at it, it has flown by. I was talking to a couple of my former teammates last night and they are all competing for a ring in their conference. I was like, man it seemed like yesterday when I was thinking about doing that at Roane State. It has just really flown by.
AKIA HARRIS: It really is. We have been here for four years with Coach Rose (Kim Rosamond) and we have grown a lot and it has been fun. It's just hard to believe that it is here now.
DARIUS ALLEN: Yeah, I mean I did not expect it to go by this fast, you know. It was like an instant flash. Even since my senior year in high school, those four years of high school were going by fast and next thing I knew, boom, I was a freshman in college. The transition from being a senior in high school and a freshman in college just happened in a blink of the eye. I just amazed me how fast time goes by and everything.
CADE CROSLAND: It's been great. It's been great. My time here at Tech, it's just been… you know, I never would've dreamed of how it would've turned out -- coming here as a walk-on, I was just excited about playing the game that I love. Nothing else mattered, I was just here to play the game and just excited that I was given the opportunity to keep playing. Then it turned into more than that with Coach (Steve) Payne giving me a scholarship and then continued to get that opportunity. It's been incredible. It's been a blessing. God has really just blessed me with the opportunity to keep playing the game that I love and it's been awesome. It really has. (I've) Met some life long friends from this. It's been great.
TC: What was the decision that brought you to Tennessee Tech?
AH: What sold me was, when I came here on my visit, they treated me like family and that is what I was looking for in a college. That did it. I came in and they treated me like family.
TT: So my coach at Roane State, Coach (Randy) Nesbit, and Coach (Jason) Taylor -- the head assistant here last year -- they had a really good relationship and had seen me play. I was originally going to spend three years here since I was going to register my first year but I did not end up registering. But his plan from day one was like 'two years at Roane State and come to Tech and we will hook you up with Coach Taylor. He is a really great guy and a great coach and you will play your two years with Coach Taylor.'
CC: I wanted to be close to home. I missed my family. I needed to be with my family. Of course, Division I basketball was a draw, but I wanted to be with my family.
ANACIA WILKINSON: I would say it was the community, the coaches and the players. They made me feel like family, they made me feel welcome. I felt like I was already a part of the team before I was a part of the team.
TC: For the guys, this has been a year of transition, learning new teammates and coaches, while trying to build the team up for the future. How has that transition been?
DA: It has been up and down, but I finally figured things out with Coach Pelphrey. I try to get into his office and watch film and put in work on the floor to the best of my ability and try to be a student of the game.
TT: It has definitely been a transition, you know. You will never hear me say a bad thing about Coach Payne -- he is just the pinnacle of the human being. Playing for Pelphrey has definitely been a transition, because one, we are playing faster. They brought a lot of new guys in and I like everybody. I think we have a good chance to get some titles in the next two to three years.
CC: People want to be here. People want to be at Tennessee Tech and play basketball and it's been a great run, even though it's been difficult at times, it's been a good thing.
TC: For the ladies, you've both been a part of the journey for Coach Rosamond and this program on its upward swing. What does it mean to you to be a part of that?
AW: It means a lot because coming from I played for a different coach (previous coach Jim Davis), so just to see from what Coach Rosamond has done with this program is amazing in how much it has changed. The culture that she has instilled in us is great. We have a group of girls that have really bought into it and it is not just us -- the coaches, they bought into it as well. I think it is really great what she has done.
AH: The growth is amazing -- we started out with four new coaches and to just see where we started and how far we have come, it has just been great.
TC: Looking back at that first game until now, how do you think the program has grown?
AH: Putting in new offenses and learning how they want us to play defense, it was hard trying to get everybody to buy into it, but after we all bought into it, it has become a lot easier for us now. It is basically instilled in us and we just go out there and do it.
TC: Of course, there's also been progress made on the men's team this year. How much improvement have you seen?
DA: When I first got here, it was rough because no one knew how everybody played. The ball was going everywhere and we really just started from the basics and built our way up like a stepping stone. That transition, it was rough but as Coach said, we have a lot to learn and have come so far as a team and as a young group of guys. We can get it done and I know he believes in us.
CC: It's hard coming in and everybody on the team, it's new. The coaching staff, players -- we're all new all of a sudden because we have a new offense, defense. Everything is new and literally everything is different all of a sudden. So, number one there's obviously some growth from just 'OK, we know what we're doing,' to where now we're kind of getting the hang of what we're supposed to be doing.
We know what's expected and we've grown from that, but we're also gaining confidence. We've got guys now that, at the beginning of the year, you could just tell in their eyes that they were nervous and scared and had no reason to be. They were young or inexperienced or just nervous about the new staff. But now it's like people have calmed down. We're kind of getting in the groove. So, it's been nice winning a couple of games in the conference here and start building some confidence.
TC: What's the biggest lesson you've learned along the way?
DA: What I learned that was most important to me, and I learned throughout the 2019-2020 year, is that if I can conquer my mind, I can do anything and I can go out and do all sorts of things on the floor and off the floor. Coach Pel preaches that a lot to us and it is just starting to click and I see that what he is preaching is right.
AW: I learned that you have to do everything consistently. You have to take one day at a time, one journey at a time and one challenge at a time. You have to be your best and do your best every day.
TT: The biggest lesson I have learned is to stick to 'The Code.'
TC: What does 'The Code' mean to you?
CC: I think 'The Code' is a lifestyle. I take it, it's the same thing as being a Christian guy. To me, if you're a Christian, you're doing 'The Code' and they're very similar. I'm not saying he meant to do that or didn't mean to do that, but to me knowing your job and doing your job well and I think, as a Christian, you know you're here on Earth to glorify God and do everything in your power to do as much as you can and do your job well. I think that relates to basketball. I think if you do your job well to God's glory, you're going to your best on the basketball court, you're going to do your best in film and you're going to do your best in the weight room.
I think it's an effort thing. Everything that's in 'The Code' is directly related back to my Christian moral values and I think that it's relatively difficult because you have to pick your cross up every day and follow God, but at the same time, it's not too big of a difference from what I've been trying to do. I'm really encouraged by Coach Pelphrey enforcing 'The Code,' and wanting guys to be, if not Christians, just good guys. He's teaching guys how to be good people first.
TC: For the women's team, the SOAR culture is also an important tenet.
AH: the S stands for serve others, the O means Own it, the A means Acquire Knowledge and the R stands for respond positively. I try to live by that every day. Each one of those, Coach Rose has instilled that in all of us and when we live by that, great things just come.
AW: It is something that we live by every day. It's not just something that I would just live by here at Tech, I can take it with me on my life journey ahead of me.
TC: What's been your favorite moment?
AW: I would say the Vegas and the Charleston Trip -- it was a week-long trip that we get to spend with each other and we grew as a team so much. We got to bond and learn so much more from each other. I believe my favorite memory with the team is being able to go to Vegas and just experience something outside of going to each different state or locally to play a team. We got to go out of state, we got to see a different atmosphere, we got to play some teams we never got to play before. I also got to experience things I never have before -- the Las Vegas strip -- and just to be with each other on that trip was amazing.
DA: My favorite moment is watching film with coach Pel and some of the sayings he comes up with – it's just funny to me.
AH: With our growth and how much fun we have doing what we love, the coaches make it fun to come out here and play and do what we love, so the fun aspect of it has been tremendous. On the trip to Charleston, it was fun. On the bus, we sang karaoke and the coaches walked a catwalk with us and it was so much fun.
TT: The best part would probably be the road trips. I really like the road trips, you know, getting to hang out with all the guys and not really having to worry as much about school and life in general, you are just trying to win some games. The favorite place for me would be the University of North Carolina. I was a big Carolina fan growing up, so for me going to North Carolina was cool and was by far my favorite. We also went to UT last year, Michigan State, Memphis and all those places are great.
CC: Well, when I got that scholarship that was a dream come true. I really, I kind of thought that was over. I thought my dream of being a scholarship Division I athlete in basketball was over. It was an unexpected turn of events and that was amazing. So was beating New Mexico. That was probably my favorite win for sure. That was just an experience like no other -- they were all leaving. We cleared them out of there and there was just a bunch of red shirts leaving. There's nothing like it.
But then really, I'm not kidding, Maverick Smith (against Morehead State) -- I've never been happier in my career than when he did that (being named Special Olympics Player of the Game with 12 minutes played, five points, a rebound and a steal). That was just awesome to see because I see him working and I see him every day, the grind and him not getting in the game and him not even getting in practice sometimes and then all of a sudden it's like 'click' -- here you go, here's your payment for all that work you've been doing. It was really good to see that and see his work getting paid off.
TC: If you had advice for your younger teammates, what would it be?
AW: Lead in your own way, be your own leader, and then be the leader that you would want to be for the other players.
DA: Do more. Do more. There is nothing wrong with doing more, even then work on your craft and do more, so you can be good at it.
TT: Man, it would have to just have fun. Having fun takes care of a lot of problems that are going on in basketball, school, life and whatever it is. If you are having fun you are going to be a lot happier person.
AH: Go hard every day, because you never know when it is going to be your last.
CC: On the days that it hurts and you don't want to keep going, just keep going anyway because it's going to be over and if you have those days where you don't decide 'OK, I'm going to do it anyway' when it hurts, you're going to regret it. And I don't think I've had that at Tech, but I think if I hadn't kept going when I hurt, I would've regretted it.
TC: What are you going to miss the most?
AW: I am going to miss my teammates the most and just the college experience, everything is laid out perfectly for you and every day you have a schedule, you have times where you have to be certain places, you have classes to be at, you have study hall or practice or time in the gym. So I guess having everything laid out for me, now that I have to go out in the real world and plan out my own schedule for myself.
DA: I am going to miss the group of guys I met this year and coach Pel obviously and the staff and everybody that supported Tennessee Tech.
AH: Probably the road trips and the hotels, playing Mario Kart with my teammates and just being out there with them and having fun.
CC: The people. I'm going to miss these guys. I'm going to miss being around the game but my knees are ready to hang it up and my hips are ready to hang it up. My body is giving out on me. I'm going to miss the game, my heart is going to miss the game, but my body is not going to miss the game.
But I think what I'm going to miss the most is just being in the gym with these guys every day. Working as hard as you can at something with a group of guys is something special. In all, having one common goal, and trying to accomplish it together and knowing that everybody is on board and everybody is, no matter what the results are, working together for a common goal is something special to be a part of. In your heart, it feels good knowing that we're all trying to do this one thing and if we fail, we fail, but we're going to give it all we've got.
