Coaches Corner for March 20th: Jocelyn Kovarik, DMACC Women’s Basketball

with us on Coach's Corner here in KWBG, fresh back from the national tournament. But Jocelyn Kavart joining us, the DMACC women, of course, qualifying for the first time ever to make the national tournament and went one and one while they were down there.

And first off, Jocelyn, congratulations. I know I know we just talked, but I thought it would be timely to get you back on again and just kind of talk about the experience and and then make you look back at what was just a fantastic season. But first off, congratulations again.

What a nice showing down there. Thank you, Ryan. It was so much fun. It was fun for, you know, just to be around the gals longer. It's a good team and we didn't want anything to be done. We want to keep playing. So it was fun to to make that trip and especially with them.

All right. So tell me about this, the experience first, because you kind of gave us the itinerary. I know last time we talked and when you and I have texted, just kind of thought about, you know, what was going on and how things went.

But tell us about kind of how things went once you guys got down to Hickory. Yeah, yeah. So the great drive, beautiful drive. And then down in Hickory, we practiced the night we got there. So we hopped off bus and literally just went straight to practice.

And the girls did a great job at eight hours on the road and then and then to the court and then actually we were the first shoot around team on Monday or on Sunday morning, which was a seven a.m. shoot around.

So we got off the court at about nine and back on the court about seven a.m. But it worked out great. We got in what we needed to during that time. A lot of good food. Holy smoke. They've got good food out there.

And then we played Monday beat Monroe and then played Tuesday, lost a very good team. But, yeah, yeah, great experience out there. What's the what's the facilities like there, Joss?

What you told me you had a chance to practice and then obviously your your two games on the main court. But tell me about facilities down in North Carolina. Yeah, the community college down in Hickory. Beautiful facilities. So, you know, it's and it was a great place for it.

There is, you know, restaurants, hotels, facility all right there. It was it was a really good set up. We could walk different places, great spots as far as we had.

I tell you, our families and and and all supporters of the first were, you know, they came, they made the trip, they drove, they flew, whatever they needed to do. But there was plenty of space there in that facility. And they did away and that can be college.

I mean, they did a wonderful job of of really setting us up nicely. And it felt like a national tournament. You know, it felt like you were doing something special. And and it was a really, yeah, it was a really neat set up. They did a great job.

What were the what was the girls kind of conversations and whatnot on the way home yesterday and the day before? I know took a couple of days to get back. But tell me about, you know, I know we kind of reminisce and talk about the season a little bit, too.

What did you what'd you kind of take away from the girls? You know, and it was overall, it was very positive. You know, you get past that loss on Tuesday and a lot of tears in the locker room and a lot of hugs and, you know, talking to the families afterwards is good.

But, you know, overall, just incredibly positive. And even on the bus on the way home, you know, we were cheering on Nyack and they're down there in Kirkwood Community College. A couple of teams from our conference are there. So it's fun to see the conference do so well.

And then, yeah, as far as our young ladies, I mean, our sophomores, I think seven, I think our sophomores could have been greater leaders, you know, and even on the bus ride home, just keeping things positive and having fun with each other.

And, you know, it's it's you have your downtime in there for sure, where you look back and say, we should have done this. We should have done this. Just like, you know, you always do after a loss. But I'm so proud of these gals. Their fight is unreal.

And they yeah, they deserve that trip to North Carolina. I'm so glad that we got to chase them. I know you just told me about, you know, and just mentioned about the fight when it comes to this this squad here this last year with the ladies.

But coach, you went through a little bit of a funk at the end of December, into January. I mean, that was a six game losing streak that this team could have went the other way. I mean, you could have been a low seed in the region 11. You could have got bounced in the first round.

Could have called it a season. What what brought these girls back together? What brought the ladies back together where this felt like, you know what? Let's get this back on the right track and let's go. Yep.

And I think during that time, towards the end of that slump, we started realizing we need to break it down a little bit more. You know, we kind of stopped doing some of the basic stuff you do at the beginning of the season.

You know, you get away from some of the shooting drills and the post guard break down. And you know, it's just all that little stuff. Even things you know about rebounds, overboard putbacks. What does that look like?

And so instead of focusing on the larger picture, like we had kind of started doing, you know, what team is next? What do we need to worry about with that next team? We kind of focus back in on ourselves and really got back to some of those basics.

Well, getting back to the basics work because, Josh, you guys won eight out of your next 10. You got had a couple of tough losses and I know to Northeast Nebraska and then Kirkwood. Yet you wrap things up, though, with Senior Day and then you go to the Region 11 tournament.

And all of a sudden, your defense really took over. That was something that was huge for you this year, wasn't it? It was. It was. We've I tell you inside and out, bigs and guards, great mix of defenders. You know, guards that want to get up and fix that can protect the paint.

And yeah, and they worked well with each other. You know, we you know, we work through details like screening action. You know, how are we going to guard that? What are we jumping? What are we back on? And they just really started clicking toward the end of the season.

They figured out who does what defensively, you know, and they could work with each other. And I tell you, we have a bunch of them at Jordan Valley up on the ball. I mean, she causes chaos up there and then Greeley Clayburg down in the paint. It's hard to get by.

It's hard to get by. Really, she's always in the right spot at the right time down there. But yeah, defense was it was huge for us. It was huge. Well, Joss, this is going to be a squad that we have five-year reunions, probably 10, 15, 20-year reunions.

So take me 15 years from now. How do you think you're going to remember this year's group? No, I love them. I love them.

I tell you what, I remember them as fierce competitors and a team that always came to every practice every game and gave it their all, you know, and they brought each other together when they needed to.

They weren't, they're not all best friends off the court, but on the court, they work hard together. And I just, I'm incredibly grateful to them and their families and, you know, the people that raised them too, because they did an amazing job with them.

So this is a conversation we didn't have to have last year because we had a big group of kids coming back. Now we have to have that conversation, Joss, because seven are going to graduate here in a couple of months and not be with the program next year.

So first off, talk to me about recruiting and what's coming in. You know, obviously, I know you can't tell me exactly who's coming in, but what's coming in to try to replace those seven? Yeah, yeah, we've got five signed for this next year. So we're doing okay.

We are still looking for some long athletic wings. We've got some bigs in there that we're really happy with. It's turning out nicely. We're definitely working hard over the next few weeks here to kind of finish up some of that.

And then, you know, things change quickly in JUCO World too. So we'll take that recruiting into the summer and probably still be looking for that last one as we enter that summertime before we really start pounding heavy on the 2027 recruit. Oh my gosh, it never ends, Joss.

I swear. And JUCO just never ends. Hey, speaking of, I guess that made me the last question to ask you here, Joss. But tell me, what was the reception like? You had to been hearing from recruits and families and former players and teammates and coaches.

I mean, that had to be fun here the last few weeks getting those text messages. Oh, so much fun. And I tell you, I know I'm surrounded by amazing people, but I just forget how many. How many.

And it was text e-mails and phone calls and family's friends, former players that I love to hear from our DMACC former players, you know, our senior athletes that reach out. And they're proud and I'm proud of what they've done previously to get us to this point.

You know, so it has. It's been a really fun journey and I'm incredibly grateful to everyone for what they've done for us. Did you get through all the text messages and respond? All of them is a question. Slowly, slowly. Well, Joss, congratulations.

This was such a fun season to follow you guys and just see what the ladies were able to do and what a neat end of the season.

I mean, there were so many first Joss, I felt like I was going to miss one of the first, but I mean, first Region 11 tournament championship, first district championship, first opportunity to go to the national championships. I mean, Joss, a heck of a season.

Congratulations again. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. You bet. Josslyn Kavarking and joining us DMACC women's basketball here in Coach's Corner.