On Feb. 21 the Alumni Gymnasium’s final buzzer sounded for the men’s and women’s basketball games against Hamline University, concluding each of their seasons. Despite landing short of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) playoffs, both teams have expressed deep appreciation for all this year has brought when reflecting on the close games and rewarding practices, guided by their new coaches Richard Glesmann and AD Donovan.
“It felt like a whirlwind,” Donovan said. “It’s hard to believe the season’s over.”
Given it was both coaches’ first seasons at Macalester and each team was predominantly underclassmen, it was difficult to predict how the season would unravel. Both squads knew they would need to emphasize working from the ground up.
“We were pretty aware that we were going to have a little bit of a rebuilding year,” women’s team captain Mary Daley ’27 said.
The men’s team shared a similar sentiment, with only three players still on the court from last season and nine first years.
“The mental part of it is always [hard]. It’s a longer season than any of the first-year guys have ever been a part of,” Glesmann said.
He also mentioned the weight of academics and the responsibility of playing more minutes than they had anticipated. He then explained that many players in the MIAC train endurance and work in the background during their underclassmen years, so they are well prepared to provide strong contributions in games as upperclassmen. This strategy wasn’t possible for the Scots this year; they needed first-year players on the court, whether they were acclimated to the pressure of collegiate basketball or not.
“The largest challenge is getting the players to trust their experiences and their skillset and step forward and be ready for the moment. … It’s a confidence thing,” Donovan said.
It’s true the first years haven’t had the same amount of reps at the collegiate level as upperclassmen, but they stand as skilled individuals with the potential for many impressive seasons to come.
As Donovan noted, the reminders of their potential, along with their prior experience as players, are crucial to combat the mental blocks between them and the results they want. With more time to settle into Division III athletics, the hard work of both teams is sure to shine through.
“All of the freshmen are more skilled than a lot of the guys in the league; they just need one more year to get their strength up, which I think they will [work on] in the upcoming months,” All-MIAC player Noah Shannon ’26 said.
The men’s team ended the season with a final standing of 7-18, and the women’s 3-21, indicative of a tough year in-game. While that isn’t how the Scots were hoping to end the season, there is more to take away than the record itself.
“We can go and look up the statistics and add up all the points and rebounds we lost, and that will never tell the whole story,” Donovan said.
The other part of the story is the work behind the scenes. Both teams came to each practice, ready to work towards the goal of getting one percent better every day.
“And there were definitely times where we did.” Glesmann said.
No matter what was going on outside of the gym, or against the opponent in game, the Scots came back to the gym, always receptive to the constructive feedback of their coaches and committed to the effort that was expected out of them.
“Overall, the players wanted to be coached and had a good team mentality,” Glesmann said. This coachability is what helped them build on technical excellence on the court as well.
Throughout the season, each team had distinct objectives for improvements in skills and style. The men’s team wanted to “be unselfish and play up-tempo,” which manifests in moving the ball quickly while forcing “our opponents to play faster than they want to,” Glesmann said.
If the players are too focused on individual stats rather than the team’s outcome as a whole, they miss opportunities for points. If they aren’t pushing the opponent to quicken the pace of the game, only the Scots are getting exhausted, which benefits the other team.
“Even in some of the games that we didn’t win, I think we [achieved] those goals,” Glesmann said.
As for the women, they similarly emphasized pace, but also “freedom of play.” When players are too conservative and scripted in their next moves, they lose finesse of the game, which makes them too tired and too nervous to make big moves against their opponent.
“It was about breaking out of habits that were potentially making us afraid to make mistakes,” Donovan said. “And there was a very distinct time of year where it clicked for a lot of the players.”
These technical improvements can be attributed not only to the new coaches’ dedication, but also the leadership and community among players.
“My goal was really just to keep the culture of the team the same, even if our games weren’t going well,” Daley said.
There is a level of poise and humility that comes with taking a difficult season and remembering why the players show up for one another every practice.
“It’s about taking the time each day to be human and to find joy in [the game],” Donovan said.
“At the end of the day, you’re with your friends playing basketball, and that’s not something everybody gets to do,” Shannon said.
The Scots have taken their challenging season as an opportunity to grow as players. Even as their win-loss trend remained constant, the in-game stats — such as three-pointers made, free throws made and assists completed — increased as the season went on. Enabled by positive coaching and teammate dynamics, the team morale remained high. Now that the rebuilding has begun, the Scots are hopeful to hit the court running next season and have their hard work pay off.
“We see it every day, we just want everybody else to see it on game day,” Donovan said.
While the players will begin their off-season work this April, we will have to wait till Nov. to watch the Scots begin again.
