Alex Kock article
Jan 26, 2007 20:13:33 GMT -5
Post by Raider Country on Jan 26, 2007 20:13:33 GMT -5
TWO GRAND: Kock, Ganton approach same milestone, focus on same goal
By PAUL SIEGFRIED Sports Editor
When Steve Platt talks about reaching scoring milestones, he knows what he’s talking about.
As a basketball player at Huntington College, Platt scored 3,700 points, the highest mark in Indiana collegiate history. Now as coach for Huntington University, Platt has developed three other players who have scored at least 2,000 points in their careers, and he’s about to have two more join the club.
Seniors Alex Kock and Kyle Ganton are each on the brink of crossing the rare barrier, with Kock currently at 1,950 points and Ganton sitting at 1,934. The only difference between the two is that Kock has reached his HU total over 94 games in just three years after playing his freshman season at NCAA Division I Wright State, while Ganton’s is a four-year total in 129 games.
But the individual achievements mean little to Kock and Ganton in relation to their team goal of leading the fifth-ranked Foresters to an NAIA Division II national championship, which they narrowly missed grabbing just a year ago, falling to Ozarks (Mo.) in the title game.
“I just wanted to come here and win, be on great teams with good teammates. I didn’t really have any individual goals,” says the soft-spoken Kock, who has already been Mid-Central Conference player of the year twice and was a first-team NAIA All-American a year ago. “You have individual things you want to do, but I don’t think I ever thought about being one of the best players ever to come through Huntington. That’s for other people to decide.”
Ganton, in fact, didn’t even know how many career points he had.
“Am I close to 2,000? I didn’t even know that,” says Ganton. “I really don’t consider myself at the level with those great Huntington players, or as good as Alex. It hasn’t sunk in yet, and I don’t know when it might.”
Kock, too, doesn’t really want to address anything that might single him out.
“I know there have been great players who have come through here. It’s humbling to hear when people talk about it,” he says. “I think it will sink in more when my career’s over here when I can look back and be proud of it. But I don’t think about it too much
when I’m playing just because we have so much we need to do right now.”
Downplaying their own achievements and focusing on team goals is part of why Platt wanted to bring the two players to Huntington.
“That doesn’t surprise me,” says Platt. “That’s just the kind of kids they are.”
COMING TO HUNTINGTON
While both joined the Foresters for the same reasons, Kock and Ganton arrived in different ways.
Kock was a big-time high school player at DeKalb High School, and achieved a prep player’s dream with a scholarship to the Division I level. But despite being in the Wright State starting lineup nearly his entire freshman season, Kock felt out of place, and starting shopping for a new home.
In high school, Kock had played against Chase Verba, Jared Yoder and Seth Lochmueller, all of whom were then at Huntington.
“I just wasn’t real happy at Wright State, and some things just didn’t work out there,” says Kock. “When I transferred, I really wasn’t thinking about what division I would play at. I knew a lot of the guys here, and that definitely had an influence. I came to visit and talked to Coach Platt, and I thought it would be a good fit for me.”
Platt was more than willing to have someone of Kock’s ability want to join his program.
“The success of our teams had a lot to do with Alex landing here. If you’re going to leave a Division I program — which everyone thinks you’re half nuts for doing in the first place — then you’re definitely going to go on that’s pretty good. He came and visited, then I called him on his cell phone, and he was really low-key and quiet like he is. He said ‘Coach, I think that’s where I’m going to go.’ It was just that easy.”
Kock said it didn’t take long for him to know he had made the right decision. He never felt leaving Division I for the NAIA Division II.
“I knew I wanted to come to a successful program. Talking to the people here got me excited about playing basketball again,” he says.
Ganton was also a standout high school player in Coldwater, Mich. He was described as a sharpshooting farm boy, the same type of words used on Platt’s scouting sheet when he was on of Huntington County’s all-time greats at Union High School.
Platt had an interesting first encounter with Ganton when he went on a recruiting trip to Coldwater.
“This older gentleman saw me and he told me, ‘Coach, I don’t know anybody in your program, but if you just want a good old boy that can flat shoot the basketball, you’re going to love this kid,’ “ says Platt.
But that wasn’t the only odd episode on the trip. After the game, Ganton came out of the locker room to meet Platt taking swigs from a gallon jug of apple cider.
“I asked him what he was doing,” says Platt. “He told me the coach of Hope College had brought him this jug of cider, and he said, ‘You know, coach, I’m pretty thirsty.’ I really liked Kyle’s personality. I just thought he was somebody special.”
When Ganton came to Huntington to take a look around and check out the campus and the coach, he also had a bit of an unusual experience.
“I came here on a visit, and Coach Platt wasn’t here. He was with his grandkids. That meant a lot to me, that he was with them instead of a recruit. That told me what kind of person he was,” says Ganton. “It felt right. I got to meet some of the guys, and they were my kind of people. It just clicked. I decided to come here, and I haven’t looked back.”
PUTTING UP NUMBERS
As a 6-5 freshman shooting guard with the Foresters, Ganton was part of a deep rotation. Platt had five players average double figures in scoring, with Ganton almost there at 9.8 points a game. Despite the typical struggles most freshmen go through, Ganton did show his trademark prowess at the free throw line, where he led the team by making 90 percent at the stripe.
A 6-foot-6 forward, Kock joined the program the next season as a sophomore, along with freshman Doug Sheckler, an Indiana All-Star from Columbia City. The Foresters struggled with consistency, but Kock was still named MCC player of the year and second-team All-America after averaging 18 points. Ganton averaged 14 points a game and was honorable mention All-America.
The Foresters qualified for the national tournament those first two years, but HU made early exits both times. Last season, though, it all clicked for Platt’s team, led by Kock and Ganton.
Kock averaged more than 21 points and eight rebounds, with Ganton hitting for 18 points a game and again finishing among the nation’s leaders in three-point shooting and free throw shooting.
Reaching a new level of confidence, the Foresters did not lose in 16 home games, and steamrolled to Branson once more for the national tournament. This time, Huntington reached the final game, falling to Ozarks in the final.
Kock was named MCC co-player of the year and was a first-team All-America choice, the fifth first-teamer in the Platt era. Ganton was second-team all-conference and also second-team All-America.
It might have been easy for Ganton feel like he’s playing Robin to Kock’s Batman, but he doesn’t mind that Kock has been a little more in the spotlight.
“Alex gets a lot of attention, and you know what? I kind of like it. He’s the one getting the double-team, and I’m the one left wide open,” says Ganton. “You see in the NBA all the time the jerks who want the ball all the time, but he’s not like that at all. He’s a humble guy. I’d gladly give up the ball for him to shoot. There’s no jealousy at all. He’s a great guy, and I can’t think of anybody better to lead a team.
“What people don’t see is how nice of a guy he is. He isn’t cocky and doesn’t talk trash. He’s just a good guy and a great role model for kids.”
Kock says having two great players means teams can’t really key on either one.
“I think we play real well together,” he says. “With me being down in the post more, if teams double down, I look to kick it out to Kyle for a jumper, and that’s a pretty high-percentage shot for him.”
The presence of two elite players can sometimes tear a team apart with their egos. That doesn’t exist in this situation, says Platt.
“Alex is probably going to be a three-time player of the year in the conference, and Kyle’s still trying to make first team. If Alex wasn’t here, I truly believe Kyle could have been player of the year or a first-team All-American,” he says. “But when Alex came in, I don’t think anybody appreciated him more than what Kyle did. He knew the two of them together made us a better team.”
It’s that team concept, even from two of the greatest individual scorers in school history, that has taken the Foresters to elite status in the country.
“Of the 4,000-plus points they’re going to score between them, I cannot think of one selfish offensive move or shot that either one of them ever made, just to try and get two more points,” says Platt.
EYES ON THE PRIZE
After losing in the championship game a year ago, the Foresters became singularly focused on getting that final win this season. That’s why Kock and Ganton have barely even given passing thought to their individual achievements.
“It’s definitely something we’ve all been thinking about. It wasn’t too much fun watching Ozarks celebrating, so we all have that picture in our minds,” says Kock. “It was a tough way to end the season, but I think it’s given us that much more incentive this year to have a good year and go out to Branson and get one more game.”
Both players are quiet, and never show much emotion on or off the court. Kock says that calm demeanor works to the benefit of the Foresters.
“None of us are real fiery guys. We’re pretty even-keeled, and I think that helps us more than it hurts us,” he says, “Experience goes along with that, too. You can’t get too high when you’re doing well or too low when you’re down. You just have to keep working and playing your game.”
That’s not to say the players don’t have confidence. With nearly 100 wins in his four-year career, Ganton says he has no reason not to expect to win when he walks on the court.
“I’d definitely say we’ve got a swagger about us. Huntington has a tradition of playing basketball and playing basketball well,” he says. “At the same time, you can’t just expect to show up and have the other team lay down. We’re not a cocky team, but we don’t brag about any accomplishments. We step out on the floor and we know what we can do.”
Platt, who is never hesitant about voicing his feelings while prowling the sidelines, understands what is smoldering just under the skin of his two stars.
“With their maturity and their humbleness, it might come across as it’s not life or death, but as their coach, I know how bad they want it,” he says. “So whatever happens, win or lose, I’ll know that there’s nothing more they could have done.”
Kock and Ganton are both finishing up teaching degrees and are currently doing their student teaching. Ganton is looking becoming an elementary school teacher and might possibly coach. Kock may hold of on teaching and look at continuing his playing career overseas.
Platt holds a unique place in Huntington history. As the school’s greatest scorer and coach of the other three 2,000-point scorers, perhaps he alone is in position to assess the legacy of Kock and Ganton.
“Everybody’s been different. If I could start a dream team, of course you’d have Jeff Shepherd, Gabe LaGrange, David Porter. Some guys like Brodie Garber and Ryan Thwaits were just winners. It would be awfully hard for me to rank the top four or five, but obviously both Alex and Kyle are in there,” says Platt. “If I was pushed to pick the best player I ever had the privilege of coaching, I won’t say he’s No. 1, but I’d say if Alex Kock isn’t the first guy I thought of, he’d definitely be the first one or two. If you just add up everything about him, he’s just awfully good. He was just truly a gift.”
Thirty years removed from his own outstanding career, Platt also understands how the passage of time will allow Kock and Ganton to appreciate their individual achievements.
“When you can walk out knowing you were a great player and accomplished a lot on the basketball floor, those are things you’re going to think about the rest of your life,” he says. “While you’re going through it, you might not think about it, but someday down the road, they’re going to think, ‘Two thousand points, that’s an awful lot.’ “
www.h-ponline.com/articles/2007/01/26/sports/001twogrand.txt
By PAUL SIEGFRIED Sports Editor
When Steve Platt talks about reaching scoring milestones, he knows what he’s talking about.
As a basketball player at Huntington College, Platt scored 3,700 points, the highest mark in Indiana collegiate history. Now as coach for Huntington University, Platt has developed three other players who have scored at least 2,000 points in their careers, and he’s about to have two more join the club.
Seniors Alex Kock and Kyle Ganton are each on the brink of crossing the rare barrier, with Kock currently at 1,950 points and Ganton sitting at 1,934. The only difference between the two is that Kock has reached his HU total over 94 games in just three years after playing his freshman season at NCAA Division I Wright State, while Ganton’s is a four-year total in 129 games.
But the individual achievements mean little to Kock and Ganton in relation to their team goal of leading the fifth-ranked Foresters to an NAIA Division II national championship, which they narrowly missed grabbing just a year ago, falling to Ozarks (Mo.) in the title game.
“I just wanted to come here and win, be on great teams with good teammates. I didn’t really have any individual goals,” says the soft-spoken Kock, who has already been Mid-Central Conference player of the year twice and was a first-team NAIA All-American a year ago. “You have individual things you want to do, but I don’t think I ever thought about being one of the best players ever to come through Huntington. That’s for other people to decide.”
Ganton, in fact, didn’t even know how many career points he had.
“Am I close to 2,000? I didn’t even know that,” says Ganton. “I really don’t consider myself at the level with those great Huntington players, or as good as Alex. It hasn’t sunk in yet, and I don’t know when it might.”
Kock, too, doesn’t really want to address anything that might single him out.
“I know there have been great players who have come through here. It’s humbling to hear when people talk about it,” he says. “I think it will sink in more when my career’s over here when I can look back and be proud of it. But I don’t think about it too much
when I’m playing just because we have so much we need to do right now.”
Downplaying their own achievements and focusing on team goals is part of why Platt wanted to bring the two players to Huntington.
“That doesn’t surprise me,” says Platt. “That’s just the kind of kids they are.”
COMING TO HUNTINGTON
While both joined the Foresters for the same reasons, Kock and Ganton arrived in different ways.
Kock was a big-time high school player at DeKalb High School, and achieved a prep player’s dream with a scholarship to the Division I level. But despite being in the Wright State starting lineup nearly his entire freshman season, Kock felt out of place, and starting shopping for a new home.
In high school, Kock had played against Chase Verba, Jared Yoder and Seth Lochmueller, all of whom were then at Huntington.
“I just wasn’t real happy at Wright State, and some things just didn’t work out there,” says Kock. “When I transferred, I really wasn’t thinking about what division I would play at. I knew a lot of the guys here, and that definitely had an influence. I came to visit and talked to Coach Platt, and I thought it would be a good fit for me.”
Platt was more than willing to have someone of Kock’s ability want to join his program.
“The success of our teams had a lot to do with Alex landing here. If you’re going to leave a Division I program — which everyone thinks you’re half nuts for doing in the first place — then you’re definitely going to go on that’s pretty good. He came and visited, then I called him on his cell phone, and he was really low-key and quiet like he is. He said ‘Coach, I think that’s where I’m going to go.’ It was just that easy.”
Kock said it didn’t take long for him to know he had made the right decision. He never felt leaving Division I for the NAIA Division II.
“I knew I wanted to come to a successful program. Talking to the people here got me excited about playing basketball again,” he says.
Ganton was also a standout high school player in Coldwater, Mich. He was described as a sharpshooting farm boy, the same type of words used on Platt’s scouting sheet when he was on of Huntington County’s all-time greats at Union High School.
Platt had an interesting first encounter with Ganton when he went on a recruiting trip to Coldwater.
“This older gentleman saw me and he told me, ‘Coach, I don’t know anybody in your program, but if you just want a good old boy that can flat shoot the basketball, you’re going to love this kid,’ “ says Platt.
But that wasn’t the only odd episode on the trip. After the game, Ganton came out of the locker room to meet Platt taking swigs from a gallon jug of apple cider.
“I asked him what he was doing,” says Platt. “He told me the coach of Hope College had brought him this jug of cider, and he said, ‘You know, coach, I’m pretty thirsty.’ I really liked Kyle’s personality. I just thought he was somebody special.”
When Ganton came to Huntington to take a look around and check out the campus and the coach, he also had a bit of an unusual experience.
“I came here on a visit, and Coach Platt wasn’t here. He was with his grandkids. That meant a lot to me, that he was with them instead of a recruit. That told me what kind of person he was,” says Ganton. “It felt right. I got to meet some of the guys, and they were my kind of people. It just clicked. I decided to come here, and I haven’t looked back.”
PUTTING UP NUMBERS
As a 6-5 freshman shooting guard with the Foresters, Ganton was part of a deep rotation. Platt had five players average double figures in scoring, with Ganton almost there at 9.8 points a game. Despite the typical struggles most freshmen go through, Ganton did show his trademark prowess at the free throw line, where he led the team by making 90 percent at the stripe.
A 6-foot-6 forward, Kock joined the program the next season as a sophomore, along with freshman Doug Sheckler, an Indiana All-Star from Columbia City. The Foresters struggled with consistency, but Kock was still named MCC player of the year and second-team All-America after averaging 18 points. Ganton averaged 14 points a game and was honorable mention All-America.
The Foresters qualified for the national tournament those first two years, but HU made early exits both times. Last season, though, it all clicked for Platt’s team, led by Kock and Ganton.
Kock averaged more than 21 points and eight rebounds, with Ganton hitting for 18 points a game and again finishing among the nation’s leaders in three-point shooting and free throw shooting.
Reaching a new level of confidence, the Foresters did not lose in 16 home games, and steamrolled to Branson once more for the national tournament. This time, Huntington reached the final game, falling to Ozarks in the final.
Kock was named MCC co-player of the year and was a first-team All-America choice, the fifth first-teamer in the Platt era. Ganton was second-team all-conference and also second-team All-America.
It might have been easy for Ganton feel like he’s playing Robin to Kock’s Batman, but he doesn’t mind that Kock has been a little more in the spotlight.
“Alex gets a lot of attention, and you know what? I kind of like it. He’s the one getting the double-team, and I’m the one left wide open,” says Ganton. “You see in the NBA all the time the jerks who want the ball all the time, but he’s not like that at all. He’s a humble guy. I’d gladly give up the ball for him to shoot. There’s no jealousy at all. He’s a great guy, and I can’t think of anybody better to lead a team.
“What people don’t see is how nice of a guy he is. He isn’t cocky and doesn’t talk trash. He’s just a good guy and a great role model for kids.”
Kock says having two great players means teams can’t really key on either one.
“I think we play real well together,” he says. “With me being down in the post more, if teams double down, I look to kick it out to Kyle for a jumper, and that’s a pretty high-percentage shot for him.”
The presence of two elite players can sometimes tear a team apart with their egos. That doesn’t exist in this situation, says Platt.
“Alex is probably going to be a three-time player of the year in the conference, and Kyle’s still trying to make first team. If Alex wasn’t here, I truly believe Kyle could have been player of the year or a first-team All-American,” he says. “But when Alex came in, I don’t think anybody appreciated him more than what Kyle did. He knew the two of them together made us a better team.”
It’s that team concept, even from two of the greatest individual scorers in school history, that has taken the Foresters to elite status in the country.
“Of the 4,000-plus points they’re going to score between them, I cannot think of one selfish offensive move or shot that either one of them ever made, just to try and get two more points,” says Platt.
EYES ON THE PRIZE
After losing in the championship game a year ago, the Foresters became singularly focused on getting that final win this season. That’s why Kock and Ganton have barely even given passing thought to their individual achievements.
“It’s definitely something we’ve all been thinking about. It wasn’t too much fun watching Ozarks celebrating, so we all have that picture in our minds,” says Kock. “It was a tough way to end the season, but I think it’s given us that much more incentive this year to have a good year and go out to Branson and get one more game.”
Both players are quiet, and never show much emotion on or off the court. Kock says that calm demeanor works to the benefit of the Foresters.
“None of us are real fiery guys. We’re pretty even-keeled, and I think that helps us more than it hurts us,” he says, “Experience goes along with that, too. You can’t get too high when you’re doing well or too low when you’re down. You just have to keep working and playing your game.”
That’s not to say the players don’t have confidence. With nearly 100 wins in his four-year career, Ganton says he has no reason not to expect to win when he walks on the court.
“I’d definitely say we’ve got a swagger about us. Huntington has a tradition of playing basketball and playing basketball well,” he says. “At the same time, you can’t just expect to show up and have the other team lay down. We’re not a cocky team, but we don’t brag about any accomplishments. We step out on the floor and we know what we can do.”
Platt, who is never hesitant about voicing his feelings while prowling the sidelines, understands what is smoldering just under the skin of his two stars.
“With their maturity and their humbleness, it might come across as it’s not life or death, but as their coach, I know how bad they want it,” he says. “So whatever happens, win or lose, I’ll know that there’s nothing more they could have done.”
Kock and Ganton are both finishing up teaching degrees and are currently doing their student teaching. Ganton is looking becoming an elementary school teacher and might possibly coach. Kock may hold of on teaching and look at continuing his playing career overseas.
Platt holds a unique place in Huntington history. As the school’s greatest scorer and coach of the other three 2,000-point scorers, perhaps he alone is in position to assess the legacy of Kock and Ganton.
“Everybody’s been different. If I could start a dream team, of course you’d have Jeff Shepherd, Gabe LaGrange, David Porter. Some guys like Brodie Garber and Ryan Thwaits were just winners. It would be awfully hard for me to rank the top four or five, but obviously both Alex and Kyle are in there,” says Platt. “If I was pushed to pick the best player I ever had the privilege of coaching, I won’t say he’s No. 1, but I’d say if Alex Kock isn’t the first guy I thought of, he’d definitely be the first one or two. If you just add up everything about him, he’s just awfully good. He was just truly a gift.”
Thirty years removed from his own outstanding career, Platt also understands how the passage of time will allow Kock and Ganton to appreciate their individual achievements.
“When you can walk out knowing you were a great player and accomplished a lot on the basketball floor, those are things you’re going to think about the rest of your life,” he says. “While you’re going through it, you might not think about it, but someday down the road, they’re going to think, ‘Two thousand points, that’s an awful lot.’ “
www.h-ponline.com/articles/2007/01/26/sports/001twogrand.txt
