2021-22 Men’s Basketball Season Preview

2021-22 SEASON PREVIEW:

Lumberjacks focused on getting the job done

KEITH HAYMON

BY STAYSON ISOBE

When the going gets tough, the Northern Arizona men’s basketball team wants to get tougher.

If there is one area head coach Shane Burcar wants to see a massive improvement heading into the 2021-22 season, you won’t necessarily directly find it in the box score.

“We are not leaving the court without giving it everything we have,” said Burcar, entering his third season as head coach of the Lumberjacks. “We want to dominate teams, and I say that respectfully where we’re not worrying about our opponent or the scoreboard; we’re taking care of each possession. We have to be fierce in our preparation because toughness is getting the job done.”

After a 16-14 season – the program’s first winning record in five years – during Burcar’s interim campaign as head coach in 2019-20, the Lumberjacks slipped back to 6-16 a year ago. The COVID-19 pandemic definitely hindered NAU with the Lumberjacks navigating through two shutdowns, but Burcar makes no excuses.

Instead the challenges of the 2020-21 season will only make NAU tougher as it takes the next step in the development of the program under Burcar going into the new year.

That toughness that Burcar preaches was seen in March. With a two-week stoppage due to COVID-19 protocols in the rearview mirror, the Lumberjacks returned to action with a four-game stretch against two of the top three teams in the league, Weber State and Southern Utah. NAU suffered four losses, three coming by more than 20 points, but the ‘Jacks were anything but deterred.

NAU went up to Boise, Idaho for the Big Sky Tournament and immediately logged a program-building 77-66 first round victory over Portland State – the program’s first conference tournament win in six years. The following night, NAU gave eventual Big Sky champion Eastern Washington its hardest game of the tournament, falling just 66-60 in the quarterfinals.

The key in those two games was the Lumberjacks’ defense, which Burcar intends to become a bigger part of their identity.

“Defense travels and defense wins championships,” Burcar said. “You may win a couple of games in January because of your offense, but defense wins league titles and will lead to offense. With our personnel, we will protect the rim better this year. We have to finish possessions, we have to make sure we don’t give up easy baskets in transition and we can’t foul. Defense is that toughness we’re looking far in getting the job done.”

The numbers in Boise provide a blueprint of success for NAU. In the two conference tournament games, NAU’s opponent field goal percentage was only 37.6 overall and 23.7 percent behind the arc. That was a far cry from the Lumberjacks’ overall season stats of 50.1 percent and 37.0 percent respectively, but illustrates NAU’s focus on that end of the court.

All in all, the attention is on the new season which tips off in Tucson versus Arizona on Tuesday, Nov. 9. When the Lumberjacks take the court that night, they will do so with seven new players on the roster. They will bring more size than the program has seen in years and a steady leadership from redshirt juniors Nik Mains and Jay Green and redshirt sophomore Keith Haymon among a group of eight returners.

With a fresh culture and that toughness that the Lumberjacks are looking for, NAU’s stay in Boise in the spring could be a little longer.