WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Charger Rundown: Cole McWhinnie and Garrett Bolte

Episode Date: January 28, 2024

Hana Connelly and Evan Mick interview Cole McWhinnie and Garrett Bolte, players for the Hillsdale Men's Basketball team. 

Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. This is the Charger Rundown. I'm Hannah Connolly here with Evan Mick covering all things Hillsdale Charger Athletics. Today we will be interviewing Cole McQuinney and Garrett Boltee, members of the Hillsdale Charger men's basketball team. Evan and I are here with Cole McQuiny,

player for the Charger basketball team. Cole, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for having me. So first question, what made you decide to commit to Hillsdale? Was it your first choice? Did you have other options? What was the process with that? Yeah, so just going through the recruiting process as a junior, you know, it was kind of a crazy time with COVID and everything. So we were shut down actually for AAU basketball. So yeah, I was just kind of seeing, you know, who was offering and things like that. And then Hillsdale came around. And I actually had one of my best friends growing up, his dad and his mom, they both went to Hillsdale. So I was kind of familiar with Hillsdale. But like I didn't know for sure that this was the place I wanted to be until I was able to get up on campus. And, you know.

you know, meet Coach Tharp and Coach Pritzel, who was our assistant at the time, and just kind of seeing the culture that they said. And, you know, I just kind of knew right away that it was the fit for me. Cole, you usually come off the bench early in a game. How do you keep the focus on energy when you're waiting to get into the game? Yeah, I mean, that's just kind of my role this year. You know, coming off the bench, I try to provide that, you know, that spark, that little energy that we need off the bench.

And just kind of, you know, it's been good. You know, we've been starting off games well. just to be able to come in there and keep it going, you know, because, you know, we have full trust in the starters to get us going and then just keep it rolling, you know? And so outside of games and practice, what is something that your team does to encourage chemistry on and off the court? Yeah, I mean, we have a team house and we try to hang out pretty much as much as possible and just kind of do things together and team meals and such. So coaches do a good job of just kind of having us do team bonding things and, you know, the guys get along really well. so it's not really like we have to force anything. It's just kind of nice the way it happens,

but it's been pretty smooth and the guys get along really well. As a team, how do you guys balance two point and three point shots? Yeah, so obviously I'm more of a three-point shooter. Coach prefers the two-point shots, I'd say, for the most part. But I mean, yeah, we definitely have a focus on getting inside, but when we can get our feet set and get some inside-out threes, then those are the ones that are encouraged. But yeah, we've been, we haven't been shooting it great from the three point line as a team overall.

So we've been kind of focusing more on getting to the two point line and getting inside out three. So we can have a better percentage on our three point shots. But we've been really improving here in the last several weeks on that. And so it's game day. What are the things that you have to do to get ready for a game? What's your pregame routine look like if you have one? Yeah. I mean, well, we have our shoot around in the morning.

And then we just kind of have a little shooting game, me and two of the freshman, Mikey McCullum, and Logan Beeston. We got to have a little shooting routine thing after. And we go to the finish line before every game for our pregame meal. They always get us right. So always good food over there. And then, yeah, just got to go back, take a cold shower, take a nap, and then pretty much ready to go. And so if you were talking to, say, a potential recruit, what would you tell them is the most? significant and memorable aspects of the Hillsdale basketball program and what sets

Hillsdale itself apart from other programs in schools yeah I just say the culture honestly like I think it was built by coach Tharp you know is 15 years here where he was just it was just a you know a strong foundation where you know we don't really have guys that transfer in and out you know most most D2 programs in our conference have you know five-ish transfers you know where they've got guys coming in and out every year and at Hillsdale it's just like it's a stable atmosphere that you know exactly what you're going to have from year to year, which I think is huge. It's just kind of knowing that the guys that you come in with are going to be the guys that you graduate

with and kind of just knowing that, you know, that stability and that culture is always going to be there. And Coach Bradley has done a great job of just, you know, continuing on that culture because he was with us the last three years as an assistant. And, you know, he obviously, he has his own culture in a way, but, you know, it's been a smooth turnover just because he's been a part of it. Big conference win this past weekend. You guys dominated this game. Actually never, Kentucky Wesleyan never had the lead. So what's the biggest difference when you guys are playing with the lead and how you play?

Yeah, I mean, obviously, it's, you know, on Thursday we struggled. We got to, we got behind a little bit. But, you know, on Saturday we were just focused on starting strong. And, you know, obviously playing from the lead, you just got to keep it rolling. You know, you get feeling good about yourself and then just, you know, keep getting the shots that we want and just kind of control the pace of the game. So you got to register your freshman year. What does that look like as a basketball player?

And what did it help you learn? Yeah, I mean, I think red shirting is huge. Like, obviously it kind of has like a bad undertone, I'd say, where like some people are like, oh, like, you weren't good enough to play as a freshman. And that's not even what it is really. I think it's just a great opportunity to develop. And like especially we do a good job of like redshirt lifts where, you know, you just really focus on getting stronger and getting better in the system.

You know, with our system, especially with the motion, it's kind of difficult as a freshman to come in and, you know, know, know, all the intricacies right away. So for me, I think it was just huge for my development, just, you know, getting more comfortable with the system and, you know, just getting my body ready because it's so much different than the high school game, you know, just the physicality and the speed. So just getting more up to speed with that stuff. And I think it gave me an advantage. And especially when I'm getting into my fifth year here in a few years where, you know, it'll just be so much more physical. much more physical and things like that. And so what is your major and what are your plans after college? Yeah, so I'm a finance major.

I don't have any set plans right now. I'm thinking about possibly being a grad assistant somewhere and going and getting my master's and then seeing if that leads into coaching somewhere down the line or something like that. But we'll see. Go get that master's hopefully and then we'll see from there. Of all the players who've appeared in all the games, you have the most assists per minute.

Why do you think that you're so high in that stat? Yeah, I mean, I've always been a pass-first guy, I'd say, and just, you know, I love sharing the rock. That's kind of been what I do since I was a little kid. So, you know, I've been working on my passing every day since I was little and just trying to hit guys on target, hit guys in their shooting pocket. And, yeah, I'd say that's something that I really take pride in.

And so last question for you. you, how has your faith impacted your athletic journey here at Hillsdale before and your life in the future? Yeah, no, for sure. I mean, it's been a journey for sure here. You know, there's been ups and downs, obviously, through the redshirt year. You know, I was a part, luckily to be a part of a great team. You know, we went to the elite eight that year, which made it a lot easier, you know, just knowing that we were having success. But it's still difficult, like, just having those times where you're like, can I still do this? You know, and, you know, obviously, you don't want to be too dramatic,

but those doubts do start to creep in and just leaning on, you know, you know, God has me here for a reason and, you know, he wouldn't have put me in a position where, you know, I was going to fail. And because I really felt like once I got here and prayed about it on my visit that this was the place that I was supposed to be and just kind of comfortable with these people. So just continuing to trust God through all of that, through, you know, the decision process and just kind of freshman year to hear and just to kind of see it start to pay off is really rewarding. Well, thank you so much for joining us today, Cole.

Thank you. You're listening to the Charger Rundown on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. Evan and I are here with Garrett Bolte, player on the Hillsdale men's basketball team. Garrett, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you for having me. So first question, what made you decide to come? commit to Hillsdale. Was it your first choice? Were you weighing options? How did that process look? Yeah. Throughout the whole process, I wanted a really strong academic school,

but a lot of the schools that were recruiting me weren't really up to that standard. And then eventually when Hillsdale came around, I was really excited by it. And then when I came here on the campus, I kind of just got that feeling that I wanted to be here. And I liked the guys on the team and the coaches and the culture. So it was really just a perfect storm of things. Garrett is a guy who's 6'5-215. You're definitely not the smallest player, but you're also not really the biggest. How did you say that you match up against other players in your conference? Yeah, that's actually a great question because I'm still figuring that out really because the position I play is the four, the power forward, and it's really

just different each game. Sometimes they play a guard that's 6-2. It's a lot quicker than me. Sometimes they play someone who's 6-8 and taller than me. So I kind of have to be good at both guarding inside and outside, which is probably something that I work on the most to make sure that I can, you know, not get scored on and be able to be there for my team on defense. So what are your major and what are your plans after college if you figure that out yet? Yeah. Major's financial management kind of took a while to figure that out. But as I've learned more and more about finance, I've been enticed by it.

And I have an internship coming up this summer where I'll get real world experience. And what I'm thinking now is that I want to be a consultant, management consultant. So just kind of doing the steps it takes to become one of those. And are you planning on staying in Michigan or do you want to move outside? Where's home for you? I'm from the Chicago area. So going back there is probably the best option with all the businesses there and opportunities. So during the short media timeouts, what are the usual talks about coaching adjustments, that kind of stuff?

It's a lot about defense. Coach Bradley's really big on defense, so that's always the first thing he addresses, whether it be media timeouts, in between halves, end of game, before game. It's always defense first. And then we go over what set we're going to run coming out of the media timeout. Again, Coach Bradley, another thing he's big on is sets, set plays, and he has probably a hundred in right now. So he cycles through, he sits there on his paper, eventually finds one. It's probably the most stressful part of the media timeout is that last 10, 15 seconds where we're waiting for him to call something and make sure that we know the set, too,

because there's 100 of them. And so outside of games and practice, what is something that your team does to encourage chemistry off of the court? Yeah, we absolutely, like, do everything together. So whether that be team meals or Coach Bradley will organize some gatherings at his house and his wife, they host us and they make food and all the coaches, all the players come together and we have like Secret Santa. We did Thanksgiving together because we couldn't go home. But yeah, honestly, we all live together. We all do things together. I mean, we take classes together. So pretty much every aspect of life, we're bonding, forming some sort of chemistry.

Who got the best Secret Santa gift? It sounds selfish and like, self-obsessed to say that I gave the best gift, but it was voted on. And I gave Connor a pretty good gift, but I think Jacob Meyer also gave a good one. And I think those were probably the top too. So you had a great play against Lake Erie College. Can you kind of walk us through that play? Yeah, absolutely. So what I remember most about that game is having to play the five and their best players, their five. And so I kind of took a lot of ownership and trying to do my best and do whatever it took. And that's not really a play that shows up on the box score is throwing it off the guy who's standing out of bounds to get an extra possession, extra offensive rebound. But in the moment, I was just thinking like, wow, I'm not going to get to

this. So the next logical step was throw it off of him and it just wound up going off his head and kind of looked pretty funny. But it was a play that, you know, gets you, uh, it, we categorize it as like a winning play in film. And so I was super proud of that to kind of as someone who comes off the bench, make an impact in some way and contribute. Before games, do you have any sort of pregame routine that you have? And if so, what is it? Like, what are the things that you have to do in order to get in the right headspace before a game?

And if you don't do them, like, are you messed up? Yeah. I think I've gotten less superstitious as I've got older. But on our team, we definitely have a lot of superstitions. And I think one that I have is I always wear the same things every game day, like down socks, underwear, and, beyond like everything is the exact same i got to wash it the night beforehand i was going to say i hope it's clean yeah got to so that's probably the biggest one and then as far as a routine um

it really doesn't start until like right before the game um i used to do coffee but i don't think it really helped me that much so i got away from that and instead probably 10 minutes before we do the team talk upstairs i go down into the locker room and i like splash my face with cold water couple times and I sit in my locker and like stare and visualize what I need to do to, you know, just be there for my team and contribute to winning and kind of address the main topics that I think are important for me that day or that game. And then after that, I'm good. I feel mentally focused and that's kind of something I got in the habit of doing to feel, I guess you could say, locked in for each game. As a team, how do you balance two point and three point

shots during game? Well, we always want to get pressure on the rim. So if we can get two point shots all game layups, post touches, transition layups, we're obviously going to take that first. But three point shots are usually a product of that. So everything with us starts going towards the rim and then getting better looks from three and late shot clock getting the best possible three pointers. We obviously don't want to force three point shots and we want to get the best looks available. If you're talking to, let's say, a potential recruit, what would you tell him is the most significant and memorable aspect of the basketball program at Hillsdale and what sets Hillsdale apart from other programs? I'd say for the most memorable part, I think the bonds between coaches

and players are something you don't forget because they are so unique. Everyone's personality fits together and we have a really interesting culture where we have a lot of dynamic personalities he's coming together, always joking around. And what separates us, I think, kind of goes hand in hand with that. And then in addition to, you know, the culture of the team, you add in just the obsession over winning and how we've had so much success in the past with coach Roundy Tharp and his energy. And now Coach Bradley's honestly an extension of him, you know, not as flamboyne as a personality, but definitely as winning obsessed and as locked in and he's going to give you everything.

And it's just a culture where you want to do your best for the team because you feel that obligation and you feel that the coaches are giving everything for you and you got to give everything for them and your teammates beside you. Although you weren't able to come out with Victory Thursday's game versus Walsh, there was a clear difference between the team's first half and the second half. So what caused that big shift? Yeah, honestly, in college basketball, weird starts like that happen. And sometimes you can't really explain it.

And we just, it felt like there was a lid on the rim in the first half. And I think the shift was kind of realizing how they're guarding us a lot differently than teams have in the past and a lot differently than we've ever seen. And so addressing that at halftime and kind of slowing them down on offense a little bit because they ran wild with it in the first half. Kind of those halftime adjustments was probably the biggest thing. And I think they kind of cooled off a little bit too. I think they barely missed in the first half. And of course, they're going to cool off a little bit in the second half. So that helped too.

So you guys had a big win this last weekend. What does a conference win against such a great team mean? Yeah, those are huge. Every single conference win feels like a lot bigger than any other game should. Because everyone in the league, whether that be our league or any other leagues around D2, is so even. And you have to work really hard each game because anyone can beat you. on any night and winning in the conference is hard to come by.

Winning is hard in general. So you obviously have to celebrate that every time, especially against a team Kentucky Wesleyan that beat us last year, you know, and are capable of winning the league even. They beat Louisville earlier, which is a D1 team. So just goes to show how good the teams are. And each time you beat a team like that, it's really big. And you got to hold on to that for a little bit,

but obviously you got to move on to the next one. So it's kind of a cyclical thing. Okay, so talk to me about for a little bit, if you've ever been through something like this, before college, in college, what was a challenge mentally or physically during your basketball career that you've faced? And what did you do to overcome that? Probably the biggest challenge was in high school. I, like, totally blew out my knee, and it was a long recovery process.

And the biggest challenge of it was just getting back to normal speed. I felt so slow. But working through that was just doing a bunch of exercises that I've never even heard of, you know, strengthening rehab, a lot of lower body-based stuff to strengthen. It's more about movement, honestly, laterally, vertically. And that was honestly really annoying to do as a 15, 16-year-old kid. But I think I appreciate it now and can really just look back and just look back. And I'm glad I did all that stuff because that helped me continue to get to where I am in my career. And it was probably the first hurdle and probably the biggest hurdle that I had to get over.

So you got to redshirt your freshman year. What does that look like as a basketball player? And how did you learn during that time? Yeah, the redshirt process was something I'd like vaguely heard of before coming here. And then at this school typically, historically, freshmen really don't play. It's a lot of redshirting. and that process is super beneficial and I completely understand why so many people choose that route after doing it. It's because, you know, the college game is so much different.

I mean, you go from playing against kids that are smaller than you, slower than you, to grown men that are quicker than you, stronger than you. And you have to take that year to really work on your body and you do extra lifts, harder lifts than the rest of the team because obviously you're not playing in games. So I think we were lifting probably three times a week and trying to gain weight. I know our athletic trainer, Tyler, he got me on creatine that year to put more weight on. And you really run the scout team in practice. So you get to work more on your skills.

They encourage you when you get the ball and you're trying to score to work on things that are going to translate next year. And so it's a really beneficial process overall. And so finally, talk to us a little bit how you balance. between being a student at such an academically rigorous school like Hillsdale with also being an athlete for the school. Yeah, you really become more efficient with your time, I think is the biggest thing. Like in high school, I don't think I was as diligent about just working through the homework as soon as I could and getting it out of the way. Because in college, you kind of have that set schedule every day and you get to a point where it's technically free time.

But the best use of that time is to get your homework out of the way. And I think, honestly, just that the time management and making sure that when you miss, because you're traveling, you miss classes or if there's exams coming up, is just communicating with professors. So luckily, they're, like, very flexible at our school and they care about you. So that's the biggest thing is just making sure you communicate with professors because you will have times where you need to kind of be catered to in a way, but they're very nice about that,

and that's probably been what's helped me the most. Well, that's awesome. Thank you so much, Garrett, for joining us. Thank you for having me. And thank you for listening. This is the Charger Rundown on Radio Free Hillsdale, 101.7 FM.