The Big Blues of Bluefield State are coming off their best season in years after pocketing 16 wins and advancing to the semifinal round of the USCAA National Tournament before pandemic restrictions forced an abrupt end to their season.
BSC loses five players total from the 2019-20 team, including two graduating seniors and a couple transfers.
Fourth-year coach Ryan Bailey collected a sizable incoming class of recruits—eight in fact, ballooning the Big Blues’ roster to 20 players for 20-21.
It wasn’t his intention, but there were a couple of late editions that he told the college’s athletics director he just had to have.
The pinnacle of the class may just be one known to many Ohio Valley basketball viewers as Bellaire’s Division III Player of the Year dynamo Katrina Davis signed her name to head to the southern tip of West Virginia to play for Bailey.
She joins fellow all-Ohio and OVAC product Ashlie Louden of Beallsville, who made her announcement official in February during the regular season.
“We were down to a roster of 12, and I was really going to stop at 18. I went over to 19 because with one of the junior college kids we’re bringing in we wanted to give her teammate a chance to come with her. That kid averaged 16 and seven at the JUCO level. You don’t say no to kids like that.”
Davis averaged 28.3 points per game as a senior and finished with more than 1,500 points for her career. She was a finalist for the Ms. Basketball award. Louden was second-team all-Ohio after leading Beallsville to another Class A championship while scoring at a 17 ppg clip with 4.4 assists and 5.3 rebounds.
And the other?
“Then Kat texted me and asked does her offer still stand,” Bailey said with a laugh. “I called my boss and was like ‘we’re going to 20, I don’t know what to tell you. I’ve spent more (aid) money than I should, so I hope you’re okay with it. You don’t say no to Katrina Davis.”
Davis averaged 28.3 points per game as a senior in finished with more than 1,500 points for her career. She was a finalist for the Ms. Basketball award. She also collected eight boards and steals per game. Louden was second-team all-Ohio after leading Beallsville to another Class A championship while scoring at a 17 ppg clip with 4.4 assists and 5.3 rebounds.
From the Valley to Bluefield?
A quick look at the Big Blues roster and you’ll find a lot of players from southern West Virginia, nearby Virginia, and North Carolina. There’s presently only one fellow Ohioan, sophomore-to-be and post player Derricka Bramwell of Bishop Ready in Columbus.
So, what put not one, but two of the OVACs best on the Bluefield State coach’s radar?
For one, Bailey is an East Central Ohio native, growing up in Zanesville when the Blue Devils boys’ team was one of the premier teams around.
He’s an Ohio University graduate and had multiple coaching stops before arriving at Bluefield for the 2017-18 season.
A relatively hometown guy with multiple contacts still in the area, Bailey has worked to get players from Ohio down to Bluefield. Admittedly it wasn’t easy at first.
“I have my ties, and we’ve contacted a ton of kids the last few years,” Bailey said. “The hard part was getting them to (1) come to Bluefield and (2) getting them excited about coming to Bluefield.”
Bailey’s first season at the helm, the Big Blues won three games which was double the win total from the previous two. In 2018-19, the team won 11 games, just the fifth double-digit win total in the last 20 years. He improved that mark again this season, and it’s easy to see where things are headed. Bailey has won everywhere he’s been, and his players have bought into his philosophy.
“It’s tough to get kids excited when you’ve got three wins. When we had 11, it was a little easier, and they started to listen,” Bailey said. “With 16, they started to listen a little bit more.”
Bailey keeps in contact with the Ohio Valley Dragons AAU organization, South Central Ohio 50 Girls Hoops, and he’s close with Glen Dawson, a 1984 Bellaire High School graduate that coaches at Marietta High School but spent a number of years on the AAU circuit.
“I had liked Ashlie since her sophomore year of high school and started contacting her as a junior and talking back and forth once we were allowed to make contact. I got to watch her win the sectionals last year and be a big part of it,” Bailey said. “I thought Kat was a hidden gem (because of her height), and then people started tweeting about her left and right. I was like ‘hey people, shut up. I’m trying to get this kid. I know she’s hidden. Let’s keep her hidden.”
It’s Not for Everyone, Yet
Bailey admitted that Bluefield State isn’t for everyone. While the school broke ground on a new dormitory last fall, it’s not completed. Once it is, it will be the first dorm on campus. There’s no student housing. The school works diligently to help students find housing in town and the surrounding areas. But, on the other hand, if you’re the type that values their freedom and doesn’t want forced into a dorm your freshman year, it is an option.
Athletic-wise, the Big Blues are an independent Division II basketball team. That means no conference affiliation and no automatic big to the NCAA tournament. Bluefield State was a member of the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, but when it ceased to be when the majority of its members helped form the Mountain East Conference, Bluefield did not. It presently does not have football, nor does it have men’s’ or women’s’ soccer. Both soccer programs are a requirement for MEC membership. For a school to be included without offering football, it needs to have 12 championship-eligible programs offered. Bluefield at present has nine, so in addition to both soccer programs, one more would need added.
“There’s a lot of talk about getting back into a conference, whether that’s the MEC or CIAA,” Bailey said. “We’ve explored just about everything. We had a consulting firm tell us that our two best fits would be the MEC and CIAA. Well, neither are accepting new schools. Then Urbana closes its doors, the MEC has to be accepting somebody.”
Bailey is hopeful, but he’s focusing on what he can control, which is his team and beefing up its schedule difficulty to keep the program moving upward.
Twenty is a Lot of Players
The number of players on the roster could be a little daunting to a fresh face coming in with hopes of getting court time early.
But Bailey’s style lends itself to utilizing a lot of players. They play fast and aggressively on both ends of the floor. Any one player can catch the hot hand on a particular night. He likes to have the multiple options, so his team doesn’t get too reliant on one particular player or another.
He admitted he’s adopted more of the Brad Stephens-style of coaching philosophy. In preseason, in practice, that’s where Bailey is most hands on. His players put in the work. But he trusts them to know what to do in the moment, so once the game itself starts, he takes more of a hands off-approach and lets his players play.
If they players are capable of doing so, they flourish. If not, he puts in someone who is capable. But it shows a level of trust and commitment that not all coaches offer.
“Least amount we played in a game was 11 last year,” Bailey said. “Every kid we have was a starter for most of their high school career, if not all four years. Everyone was a 1,000-point scorer. Our post players were kind of dominant this year, but we don’t have that one kid who goes out and drops 18 a night, every night. But they are all capable of it. Once they not only understand their role, but embrace it, that’s when things start to happen.”
Bailey noted that with while Davis and Louden are both capable scorers, it’s their defense that really caught his eye.
“What’s the phrase? Kat knows what flavor of bubblegum you’re chewing. And Ashlie is the same way,” Bailey said.
Bailey’s team gets after it defensively and he feels that is where his steam sets the tone for its success. It was eighth in Division II in rebounding margin and in the Top 25 in steals and turnovers forced per game.
Sounds right up Davis and Louden’s alley. They should fit in nicely.
