This Tuesday the WVSSAC Boys Basketball Championships begin in Charleston at the Civic Center. We at ovathletics.com took some time to catch up with Morgantown head coach Dave Tallman as his team prepares for the state tournament.
In his 9 years at the helm of the Mohigan program, Tallman has his team competing as one of the top if not the top program in the state. They have 180 wins and 2 state championships with Tallman on the bench. Tallman was in the Washington DC Catholic League (WCAC) (the toughest basketball league in the country) at St. Mary’s Ryken for 10 years before he came to Morgantown. At Ryken he coached future Mountaineer John Flowers and future NBAer Treveon Graham.
I ask Tallman about his scheduling and how he uses the regular season to prepare his teams for the playoffs. Tallman always has his teams play the toughest schedule they can find. Last season was no different, they played Bishop Walsh, the #40 team in the country. We have scheduled Oscar Tshiebwe’s (Kennedy Catholic) team in the past as well.
This year they went to Tennessee to a national tournament and played 3 other state champions from other states in the Alpha Invitational. One of our great wins there was against Lexington (SC). They have Cam Scott who is a 5 star recruit. He has offers from Kansas, North Carolina, etc. “Playing great competition only helps us when it gets to tournament time. In my eyes we get 22 exhibitions each season to prepare us for our tournament run. Why not play the best teams you can find?”, says Tallman.
Of course, during the season every team faces adversity. For Tallman and the Mohigans it has been the injury bug. They lost their point guard, Sharron Young, for a few weeks. He was averaging 22 points per game and facilitates a lot of things for the Mohigans. Morgantown has gone 3-0 since he’s been out but are still trying to figure out how to function without him. The good news for the Mohigans is that he will be back for postseason play.
As Morgantown continues to pick up wins during the season, I asked Tallman how he keeps his team motivated for the stretch run of the season. He told me that their practices are designed to challenge each player and the team every day. He keeps practices demanding and physical to keep his team on the top of their game. Also, their challenging schedule does not give them time to look back at their successes but rather work for their future goal of a state championship.
Competition at these practices are what keeps Morgantown on top. They have 12 players at the varsity level that can play some ball. This allows the Mohigans to go good on good at each practice. This is a huge advantage for them over many other teams in the state. There practices are just as competitive as their games.
Some of these players at the highly competitive practices include: Sharron Young, Brody Davis, Cam Danser, Garrison Kisner, and Izzy Everett who all average double figures. And when they need a break or need competition in practice in comes Koma Neal, Jonathon Shrewsberry, and Jacob King. What makes it even better is that as Tallman says, “All of our young men are great people and our chemistry is very good. They love each other.” The talent is abundant at Morgantown as Davis is committed to Shepherd University, Kisner is committed to West Liberty, and Danser is committed to WVU Tech.
Something that is really helping the Mohigans is that their junior class is really stepping up big. In this junior class are Jacob King, Izzy Everett, and Johnathon Shrewsberry. Each on of them are talented and can put the ball in the basket.
The Mohigans loan goal this year is to win a state championship. To do this they need to get healthy. Work every day to get better in each area of the game as individuals and as a team. And also, to realize that haven’t achieved anything yet.
Tallman doesn’t rest on his 180 wins and 2 state championships, he is building a program that will sustain from year to year. He learned this program building from his dad, Dave Tallman. When he took over at Magnolia they were terrible. Within 8 years he won a State Championship. He has gone on to win 3 as a coach and also won one as a player. As any basketball fan in the Valley knows Coach Tallman dad is a legend. Dad and son talk every day, “I’m always bouncing ideas off him.” Morgantown’s Tallman has learned from his dad to always stays positive no matter if your team is having success or struggling. His perspective has always been that you want to peak at the right time. Tallman said, “I’ve learned so much from him and am so grateful for him.”
Other things that help build a program our support from the community and participation at the youth level. Tallman has each of these in Morgantown. He has noticed that the crowds have gotten much better over the years. He is very appreciative of the love and support he gets from the Morgantown community. They also have a big summer camp each year that Tallman looks forward to hosting and helping the local youngsters get better at basketball and just to become better young men. Tallman is also around all of the youth events seeing that his son plays.
Good luck to Coach Tallman and the Morgantown Mohigans in the upcoming state tournament. It’ll be great seeing them play as ovathletics.com will be in Charleston this coming week to enjoy the WVSSAC State Basketball Tournament.
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