New look Saints nonetheless have a familiar look to Thurston County basketball fans

College basketball recruiting trends and hiring practices are unique. A community college and an NCAA Division II university can sit seven miles apart for years and never have a real connection.

Not so with South Puget Sound Community College and Saint Martin’s University.

When Alex Pribble, the former University of California player who lifted the Saints into the national rankings the past two seasons, left for an assistant coaching job at Seattle U, Saint Martin’s hired six-year Clippers’ coach Aaron Landon to replace him.

Why not?

It was Landon who coached Luke Chavez at SPSCC before the high-scoring guard became the centerpiece of the Saints’ resurgence. Chavez, a likely overseas pro career on hold this season while he recovers from ankle injuries, remains in Lacey as one of Landon’s assistants.

This season, Landon brought Demonte Malloy and John Moore with him from SPSCC as two of the Saints’ 10 new players.

“It’s incredible. Not a ton of Division II’s pluck out head coaches from lower levels,” said Landon of advancing in his coaching career without having to move. “Most often they’ll choose a guy who’s been groomed at their level as an assistant. To have Saint Martin’s, a school that’s had some recent success, do it their way was pretty cool.”

Landon had some recent success as well, guiding the Clippers to three straight Northwest Athletic Conference West championships. Chavez led the first title team, earning West MVP honors, before moving on to Saint Martin’s. Malloy led SPSCC in scoring last season with 16.9 points per game and shot 40.3 percent from beyond the three-point line.

When it came to picking a four-year school, Malloy decided there was no need to fix what wasn’t broken.

“I know the coach, I know the system. I didn’t want to change too much,” he said.

Moore, who played for the Clippers in 2017-18 but sat out last season, likes Landon’s system.

“The culture around him is good. He creates a hard-working environment,” he said. “We go hard every day. Everything we do is running, conditioning. I like that.”

With just two backups and a redshirt returning from the Saint Martin’s team that was ranked as high as eighth in the nation and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA DII tournament – Caden Smith, Marky Adams and Logan Rooney – Landon appreciates having familiar faces to help him establish a new program.

“Demonte and John have a real understanding of who we are as coaches. They’ve been able to play for us,” Landon said of himself and assistants Chavez, Tyler Velasquez and Dave Bocock. “We’re pretty open and transparent about everything. They’ve been able to have the difficult conversations that led to celebrations we also shared. They can reinforce that we’re going to tell the truth always and it’s going to lead to something better.”

Chavez, who followed the honors he earned in community college with an All-West Region selection as a senior on that powerful 2018-19 Saint Martin’s team, contributes both an understanding of the system and a playing experience unequaled by any current Saints player.

“He’s got the most credibility of anybody, including me, when it comes to perspective on the league. He can say ‘this is what it’s like’ to be on the court anywhere in the GNAC (Great Northwest Athletic Conference),” said Landon. “He knows our stuff inside and out. He was able to take the framework and insert a lot of his own creativity.”

The Saints aren’t shy when it comes to non-conference scheduling. They opened with a 92-71 exhibition loss at Seattle U last week and travel to Berkeley to meet Pac-12 opponent Cal on Wednesday night. UC-San Diego, transitioning from DII to DI, will be the Saints’ home opener on November 11.

“It’s super exciting. You grow up watching Cal on TV playing UW,” said Moore. “Being in that atmosphere is going to be super crazy for us.”

“It sets a different bar,” Malloy added. “If we play Cal close, when we come back to our own conference, the matchups will be different.”

Moore said the effect can last throughout a season.

“Knowing those are most likely the best guys you’re going to play against, when you go against your own division, they’re good teams, but you can say ‘wait a minute, I played Cal. I’ve seen better.’”

Against Seattle U, 6-foot-6 freshman Cole Alton led the Saints with 21 points and grabbed six rebounds. He drew eight fouls, converting 9 of 12 free throws. Landon considers Alton, from Boise High School, a Division I quality talent.

“I’ve always loved his game. We were lucky we were both on a unique timetable,” said Landon. “He hadn’t picked a school right away and I wasn’t coaching here until later in the recruiting process. We crossed paths at the right time.”

The 6-9 Adams, who appeared in only 13 games for the Saints last season, also impressed Landon, scoring 10 points and grabbing eight rebounds to tie 6-3 freshman guard Alex Schumacher, from Skyview of Vancouver, for the team lead against the Redhawks.

Landon sees contributions from Adams, who originally transferred from Peninsula CC, Malloy and fellow transfer CJ Jennings, from South Plains CC, as critical. The Saints don’t have a senior on their roster.

“Our juniors are going to have to lead the way,” said Landon, at 37 a relatively young head coach in the DII ranks. “There’s nothing I’d like more than a returning starter who’s seen the league up and down. But we don’t have that, we don’t have that perspective.”

Probably because of that lack of experience, the GNAC coaches picked the Saint to finish 11th and last in their pre-season poll despite last season’s heroics. In the Saints’ press release detailing the poll, Landon called it no more than a “cool tradition” that ultimately can be another “log on the fire” for motivation.

Malloy agreed.

“We’re going to work hard and prove everybody in the conference wrong,” he said. “They’re underestimating us because we’ve got a new coach and a new team.”