MAYVILLE, N.D. — Comet Athletics sat down with Head Men's Basketball Coach Brandon McGruder to get an inside look at his vision and a preview of the upcoming season as he enters his fifth year leading the program.
With a clear blueprint for success, Coach McGruder and his staff are taking a proactive approach to the new campaign, making key structural shifts to ensure the Comets hit the ground running.
The Comets officially tipped off full-team practice on September 22nd, moving their start date up from their traditional October 1st launch. The strategic shift came directly from McGruder's evaluation of last season's trajectory.
"A big takeaway for me last season is that we were about two to three weeks behind," McGruder explained. "We started playing our best basketball a bit too late, so this year I wanted to get ahead of the curve since we have a large group of newcomers this year."
Mayville State enters the fall with 33 total players on the roster, including roughly 21 athletes actively battling for varsity jerseys. While depth is a defining feature of this year's squad, McGruder highlights the character and chemistry of the roster as its biggest strength. Rather than focusing solely on raw talent, the coaching staff conducted deep background checks to bring in athletes who fit the program's values.
"This year's team is different in a lot of ways," McGruder said. "We spent a lot more time as a staff really doing our homework on the guys we brought in. My staff did an outstanding job of asking potential recruits and their coaches tough questions to really find out how they are as a person and less about basketball. We got the kids we wanted and not the kids we could 'get'—and that's tough to do in today's recruiting climate."
Early returns have proven the approach successful.
"It's still early, but this year's group has been extremely hard working, very coachable, and we've had great leadership not only from the returners but our new guys as well," McGruder added.
"I really like our preseason schedule this year," McGruder said. "Five of our six non-conference games are at home and hopefully we can take advantage of that. Playing at Mount Marty on the road will be a big test for us as it will be our first road game against a team I think will be ranked near the top of the GPAC. Following that game, we have two big tests against two really good Division I teams before we open up conference play with Valley."
With talent spread throughout the roster, McGruder believes the team's ultimate ceiling hinges on selfless execution, bench impact, and physical board play.
"This year's group has a chance to be really competitive, but our season will come down to getting buy-in from everyone, specifically our second group and rebounding the ball," McGruder noted. "I do not think there is much of a fall-off, if any, between our first group and second. If they can understand their importance to our success in their role, I think we can have the season we expect."
Full schedule information can be found at: https://msucomets.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule
