Results starting to show in Year 2 under Monson

When Dan Monson took over for Larry Reynolds as the men’s basketball coach last season, he knew he wasn’t getting himself in over his head.

To many, the opportunity wasn’t particularly tempting. A team that had just been purged of all of its talent, led Long Beach State to it’s first NCAA Tournament in 12 years and was on the brink of being slapped hard with recruiting sanctions is not exactly the most appealing team to a potential head coach — especially to a coach that had come from two well-known programs like Gonzaga and Minnesota.

But this is Monson’s niche. Building programs from the ground up is what he is good at. This is what Monson knows.

Monson knows that blueprints must sometimes be altered. He knows that sometimes it isn’t so much getting a team on a track, but rather, building the track as you go.

“I think the biggest thing is that you need to change the culture off the court before you change it on the court,” Monson said.

That culture has made an obvious change. The 4-3 record the 49ers have posted is already different from their 6-25 record they ended with last season in that it’s a winning record — something the team was unable to enjoy at any part of the 2007-08 season.

“Last year, coming in, it was difficult to change the whole culture of the program,” Monson said. “Despite our record last year, I think we made a lot of good strides to try and get where we want to go. Now, this year it needs to filter onto the court a little bit more than it did last year.”

One of Monson’s essential building blocks has been Donovan Morris. Morris could almost be considered a gift that was dropped in Monson’s lap. Morris’ stats could top many of those on the 49ers’ single-season chart by the season’s end. His performances last season were so dominating it would have been a crime not to vote him first-team All-Big West.

Morris continues to lead the team in nearly all offensive categories, but help has definitely come this season in the form of Stephan Gilling and Casper Ware.

Gilling is averaging 10.4 points per game while Ware has chipped in 10.3 per game.

“Our chemistry is ridiculous right now,” Morris said. “It’s so close you’d think that we had been playing together for two or three years.”

The defense has also stepped up. Cornel Williams’ 36 rebounds leads the team while Arturas Lazdauskas, one of just two remaining players from the 2006-07 Big West Conference championship team, has upped his rebounding average from 3.3 to 4.6 and also adds 12 steals to that résumé.

“I think we were pretty athletically overmatched last year,” Monson said. “I think all of them have improved, I don’t think any of them are the same. They didn’t know what they were supposed to do last year.”

Last year was one Monson and the 49ers would probably like to forget about more than learn from. But who could forget about Monson kicking Artis Gant and Darnell Porter off the team, two of the top scorers at the time? Or the many large deficits they failed to overcome?

But this year is different, Monson said, because his guys are here for the right reasons.

“You just don’t know if guys are there for the right reasons,” Monson said. “You just don’t know. Are they there because it was too hard to transfer or because they can’t afford to go anywhere else? Or are they there because they think they’re going to be the star? I do know what their reasons are for these guys this year, and I really like their attitudes and why they’re here and what they are going to accomplish.”

So after one year, does Monson feel he has this program back on the track that he had planned for them?

“I think where coaches get into trouble in these situations is when they have an actual timeline,” Monson said. “That’s where coaches get into problems, they cut corners. I think this year is predicated on — for us to be successful is going to depend on — how competitive we are in the Big West.”

The Big West as a whole is experiencing what LBSU experienced last year. Monson believes his selfless and highly motivated group is capable of winning this year. However, in his own words, winning is something one is unable to coach.

“You can’t coach winning,” Monson said. “You can teach it. You can talk all you want about it but it comes from within, it’s a life experience. And it becomes a habit.”