Caught up with Coach Tom English at Dubuque Walhert to talk about Iowa commit Cordell Pemsl today.
Here's the video: https://vimeo.com/122438548
Transcript below:
Q: Okay, I'm here with Coach Tom English, who has led Dubuque Wahlert to back to back state titles now. First, take me back to Saturday, winning that state title, two in a row, what was that run like for you guys?
ENGLISH: Well, it was a great feeling obviously. It's very difficult to win a championship much less repeat it, so we were really happy with the end outcome of that game. It was a grind. That first half was really tough. LeMars did a great job of setting the pace of the game and frustrating us early, but we came back in the second half and the kids responded to the adjustments and played a great second half to pull out the victory. Real happy for the kids, especially the seniors who were able to get back to back titles.
Q: Iowa recruit Cordell Pemsl has been a big part of your success. Tell me about his season dealing with some adversity and what he went through this year.
ENGLISH: It was a tough year for him in that regard. He tore his meniscus right before the season started in an open gym, so he had to have surgery a little bit later on that. It was a successful surgery and he was able to come back fairly quickly. I don't know if he was 100% for a good long portion of that first half of the season and then it was determined that he was going to need some rest because he had some reoccurring swelling and just a little bit of soreness and stiffness in that knee that we didn't want to linger until the end of the season. So he missed seven games in that stretch and came back feeling a lot better. His knee was responding better to the treatment he'd had and he finished the year strong. You look back at his stats and he had about 19 points a game and 8-9 rebounds a game, which in this conference is saying quite a bit, particularly when you're not 100%, so real happy with the year that he had.
Q: Was he different as a player this year both physically and mentally with the game?
ENGLISH: Yeah, I think he's starting to mature a little bit. He understands the game very well and is a great passer and all of those things just keep getting better and better. He's worked on his jump shot and he had a pretty good three-point percentage for us this year. He's going to need that going forward obviously at the next level. So yeah, I think he's understanding the game and understanding what he needs to do to get better and he's doing that. He's been working hard trying to make that game more well-rounded.
Q: As you look at him finishing his junior year, where does he need to improve for his senior year and moving on towards college?
ENGLISH: I think he needs to get stronger, so he needs to keeping hitting the weight room and making sure that he turns that body into something that when he reaches Iowa and the Big Ten that he doesn't have to take two years to get that to where he wants it. So I think that's something that he needs to keep working on now. He needs to keep working on his facing the basket skills, handling the ball and shooting the ball because at that next level he's obviously not going to be a back to the basket guy all of the time. So those are the things I think he's continuing to work on and will need to and that will help us next year as well because then he'll be very versatile for us so we can use him at both the four position and the five position.
Q: Where do you see him two, three, four years down the road in college if you can project a little bit?
ENGLISH: Yeah, that's hard to project because it depends on where Coach McCaffery uses him. I would think early on he will be experimenting with him a little bit, what position he fits in and what part of the rotation he fits in, but hopefully a couple years into his stint at Iowa, he will have really matured physically and worked on that part off his game where he's going to be able to step out and play the wing and the four position a little bit at the University of Iowa.
Here's the video: https://vimeo.com/122438548
Transcript below:
Q: Okay, I'm here with Coach Tom English, who has led Dubuque Wahlert to back to back state titles now. First, take me back to Saturday, winning that state title, two in a row, what was that run like for you guys?
ENGLISH: Well, it was a great feeling obviously. It's very difficult to win a championship much less repeat it, so we were really happy with the end outcome of that game. It was a grind. That first half was really tough. LeMars did a great job of setting the pace of the game and frustrating us early, but we came back in the second half and the kids responded to the adjustments and played a great second half to pull out the victory. Real happy for the kids, especially the seniors who were able to get back to back titles.
Q: Iowa recruit Cordell Pemsl has been a big part of your success. Tell me about his season dealing with some adversity and what he went through this year.
ENGLISH: It was a tough year for him in that regard. He tore his meniscus right before the season started in an open gym, so he had to have surgery a little bit later on that. It was a successful surgery and he was able to come back fairly quickly. I don't know if he was 100% for a good long portion of that first half of the season and then it was determined that he was going to need some rest because he had some reoccurring swelling and just a little bit of soreness and stiffness in that knee that we didn't want to linger until the end of the season. So he missed seven games in that stretch and came back feeling a lot better. His knee was responding better to the treatment he'd had and he finished the year strong. You look back at his stats and he had about 19 points a game and 8-9 rebounds a game, which in this conference is saying quite a bit, particularly when you're not 100%, so real happy with the year that he had.
Q: Was he different as a player this year both physically and mentally with the game?
ENGLISH: Yeah, I think he's starting to mature a little bit. He understands the game very well and is a great passer and all of those things just keep getting better and better. He's worked on his jump shot and he had a pretty good three-point percentage for us this year. He's going to need that going forward obviously at the next level. So yeah, I think he's understanding the game and understanding what he needs to do to get better and he's doing that. He's been working hard trying to make that game more well-rounded.
Q: As you look at him finishing his junior year, where does he need to improve for his senior year and moving on towards college?
ENGLISH: I think he needs to get stronger, so he needs to keeping hitting the weight room and making sure that he turns that body into something that when he reaches Iowa and the Big Ten that he doesn't have to take two years to get that to where he wants it. So I think that's something that he needs to keep working on now. He needs to keep working on his facing the basket skills, handling the ball and shooting the ball because at that next level he's obviously not going to be a back to the basket guy all of the time. So those are the things I think he's continuing to work on and will need to and that will help us next year as well because then he'll be very versatile for us so we can use him at both the four position and the five position.
Q: Where do you see him two, three, four years down the road in college if you can project a little bit?
ENGLISH: Yeah, that's hard to project because it depends on where Coach McCaffery uses him. I would think early on he will be experimenting with him a little bit, what position he fits in and what part of the rotation he fits in, but hopefully a couple years into his stint at Iowa, he will have really matured physically and worked on that part off his game where he's going to be able to step out and play the wing and the four position a little bit at the University of Iowa.
