Lindenwood University Basketball Talk with Coach Kyle Gerdeman

Gary (00:01.529)
Welcome to Basketball Talk with Lyndenwood University men's basketball coach Kyle Gerdeman, where each week Coach Gerdeman talks men's basketball and much, much more. We'll talk about future games, past games. We'll talk about players, the Ohio Valley Conference, the NCAA academics, careers, and many other interesting topics. Hi, my name is Gary Stocker, and we're starting off with our first player guest of the podcast year. We welcome Jeremiah Talton.

For joining us today, Jeremiah, welcome to the podcast.

Kyle Gerdeman (00:32.46)
Haha, appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me.

Gary (00:35.151)
My pleasure and it's a great opportunity to talk with you and I think for you just to have a chance to kind of use some of today's technologies to talk to the world. So let's get right to the questions, Jeremiah. What's the best part of being a Lindwood student in the year plus that you've been there?

Kyle Gerdeman (00:51.33)
You know, being here for two years, think the best part for me has been just getting to know new people. The schools, it's not as big as like Tumazoo or like just other big schools, but it's big enough to where you can make great friendships and relationships. And the professors are really nice here. I've made a lot of good friends from different teams. It's a lot of sports here. So being here for that's my second year, I've made a lot of good relationships that I think are going to last.

Gary (01:18.095)
So of course when you ask the best part, it's only fair to ask what's the worst part of being a Lindwood student?

Kyle Gerdeman (01:23.426)
You know, there's not too much negatives I would say about Wynwood, but I'd say one thing I guess is just the food, honestly. There's not a lot of food choices. So being here my second year, me and my teammates that been here, we joke about, always getting the same stuff over and over again, but yeah.

Gary (01:40.894)
That's interesting. So I'm guessing that when you chose to come to Lindenwood, Jeremiah, you had other options. What are some of the factors that led you to join Coach Gertruman?

Kyle Gerdeman (01:52.462)
So like when they recruited me, they were just telling me that my role coming into this team would be shooting the ball. And that's what I did really well in my first year in college. And so I wanted to go somewhere that I would be able to fit and excel at my role. And I felt like coming here, playing for Coach G and Coach Bean and all the rest of staff, I feel like I was going to be able to excel and be at my best.

Gary (02:16.623)
So the practice season has been a big part of your role, both summer practice sessions now that Lyndenwood is D1, and of course the early fall sessions. What are some of your early takeaways with the new team members that have come in this year, the ones that are coming back from last year? What are your early takeaways,

Kyle Gerdeman (02:33.202)
I think one of the things that stood out to me is they came in, the new guys came in, and they really jelled with us together. So our chemistry, we were really already super close. We hang out a lot outside of practice and just meetings like that. So I think we're all super close and excited. everybody, the young guys came in really hungry to work hard and try to figure this thing out. And I think that's been the most exciting part about this whole thing so far.

Gary (02:57.935)
And of course, know deep, deep down, Jeremiah, that you played basketball for four years in college, and then you're gonna go, I have to go out into the world, right? At some point, you're gonna have to go out into the world, right? So what are you looking at in terms of a major right now?

Kyle Gerdeman (03:02.83)
Mm-hmm.

Kyle Gerdeman (03:11.742)
So, you know, I'm thinking about going into business logistics, supply chain, moving different supply around like that. It's kind of something I've thought about kind of last year a little bit and this year I think, you know, it's something that I want to do after basketball.

Gary (03:25.593)
So let me ask you a tough question here. You get to pick the first job. You say, is the job I want. You're going to get it. What would be that first post-college job you'd like to have?

Kyle Gerdeman (03:36.654)
I guess the first thing I would want to start at maybe a small business, kind of work my way up, learn from the top guys of the business and kind of just at some point be able to take their spot and do what they do.

Gary (03:52.367)
And I got to you a story. Our daughter ran the Chicago Marathon this past weekend, and we went up there to watch. You want to talk about logistics. It was fascinating. And here's the most interesting observation. I'm going take a couple minutes here. Is they had snowplows blocking every major intersection where the route ran. Do you want to guess why they had snowplows there?

Kyle Gerdeman (04:10.659)
Wow.

so nobody could go in, go in and out.

Gary (04:14.649)
keep the bad guys, like has happened before at long races and other events, to keep bad guys from driving on to the route. They had dozens of snow plows along that 26.2 mile route and they were rusty and old but there wasn't anybody going to be driving through those snow plows. And logistics goes everywhere. I mean, this was a race. Just fascinating to watch. I'm always fascinated with how folks organize things, which is really what logistics is. So...

Kyle Gerdeman (04:29.689)
wow.

Kyle Gerdeman (04:40.558)
Mm-hmm.

Gary (04:41.583)
Somewhere down the road, there's going to be a 15-year-old or 16, 17, 18-year-old listening to this podcast. They're going to be thinking about playing D1 basketball, maybe just college basketball. They may even be thinking about Lyndenwood University. So Jeremiah, what's the top piece of advice you would give to that teenager playing basketball who's thinking, talking with his family about maybe playing college basketball in a few years?

Kyle Gerdeman (05:05.762)
You know, I'd say, you know, just keep working hard. You know, don't really worry about what the next person next to you is doing. But you you got to focus on yourself and get and work hard every day. Get in the gym, you know, and excel at what you want to be good at. Because, you know, once you get to college, you know, there's always somebody trying to take your spot. There's always somebody going to be better. So that's one thing I really realized, like, you know, you got to work hard every day.

Gary (05:29.025)
Interesting interesting and a nice perspective for you. So final question. So I'm guessing Jeremiah that it is likely that your family will listen to this podcast at some point And so this is your chance to say whatever you would like to say to your family as they listen to the podcast in the coming days and weeks

Kyle Gerdeman (05:40.654)
Yes,

Kyle Gerdeman (05:47.662)
I'd like to say, Mom and Dad, I appreciate you for everything you do for me. They're my biggest fans. My whole family is my biggest fan. So I appreciate them. My younger brothers, I love you all too. I tell you all a lot, but just keep working hard and it'll pay off someday.

Gary (06:03.475)
Well, my guest for Coach Gurdemann's show today has been Linda Wood, basketball player Jeremiah Talton. Jeremiah, fine set of answers. You're an impressive and mature young man, so thank you very much. We look forward to seeing you on the basketball court. And when you play basketball in the men's games, I sit on the front row, directly across from the bench. And I'm there, I'll be willing to give you guidance, but for the most part, I'm there to provide guidance to the referees.

Kyle Gerdeman (06:13.816)
re-check.

Kyle Gerdeman (06:19.246)
Okay.

Kyle Gerdeman (06:25.838)
I appreciate you, appreciate you. You too.

Gary (06:28.633)
Alright, show them my, take care bud.

Kyle Gerdeman (07:11.566)
All right.

Gary (07:13.113)
Well, that was an impressive young man. Impressive, impressive young man. Yeah, very, very cool. And just for I track everything. So we had about 30 folks listen to the first podcast. So whatever you're doing, whatever Justin did, he got some nice distribution on that. So that's, that should be about the baseline. We'll see how that is. And you want to push this to anybody anywhere you can. I think I asked Justin to see if can't get it on the signature blocks.

Kyle Gerdeman (07:16.024)
He's a good man. Yep, good guy. Yeah, he's a good person, man. I love him.

Kyle Gerdeman (07:28.119)
Okay.

Kyle Gerdeman (07:32.926)
Yeah, we'll have to keep pushing it. Yeah.

Gary (07:42.765)
you and your staff so that's available to every email that goes out.

Kyle Gerdeman (07:45.251)
yeah, yeah, yeah, I need to follow up with him on that. Yeah.

Gary (07:47.855)
Okay, okay. And then I've killed question six on community activities. How about if I throw in the OVC media days from yesterday and just say, know, the Ohio Valley Conference media days from yesterday, what's the takeaway from a coach typically for those annual events? And of course, it anywhere you want. You okay with that?

Kyle Gerdeman (08:06.446)
Yeah, I mean it was a little different this year because we did it virtually which was kind of disappointing but it's still media day I guess. Yeah, it's fine. Yeah.

Gary (08:14.721)
Okay, you're okay with the question though? Okay. And then of course all this stuff, while I was waiting for you all to edit all that kind of stuff out. There'll be no edits to Jeremiah's stuff. He was just smooth as cake on that kind of stuff, so we're good to go. He had an interesting major. He's thinking about logistics. Supply chain, that's, there's some monster.

Kyle Gerdeman (08:31.682)
Yeah. Yeah, he's he's he's different. You know, he's got a tremendous focus on what he wants to do and what he wants to be and wants to be a good basketball player. I mean, he just. You don't see a whole lot of them anymore. Unfortunately, like that. Yeah.

Gary (08:37.098)
I was telling him, our daughter.

Yeah, that's cool.

Gary (08:51.247)
All right, well we already got the podcast going, so there's no need to do the introduction. It was a standard introduction. When we're done, I'll take it out, take us out like we always do. Get my notes here in front of me. And so we'll start timing this is going to be nine minutes.

Gary (09:09.049)
So coach, second podcast episode for the 2024-2025 season. Let's jump right to the first game. What, less than two weeks away, three weeks away, something like that? How are you preparing? I mean, it's getting close. Got to be getting kind of nervous there.

Kyle Gerdeman (09:20.31)
Yeah, gonna be here before we know it. Yeah.

Yeah, it's been fun because I think we scrimmaged this Saturday and you always get to a point in the preseason where guys are ready to go play somebody else. And we try to time it about right and we're just about right on when we're gonna do it. So we're excited about the scrimmage and that kinda gives us our first, like I said, test against another team. And those are always great for you early in the year. And like I said, as much as anything because it kinda breaks up practice because when you get done with the scrimmage,

really really close to your first exhibition game or your season opener. So time tends to move a little quicker after we get done with this game on Saturday.

Gary (10:06.959)
And of course your season opens with what I call a power of 4.5 team because nobody knows about the Pac-10. How do you prepare for such a high level team for that opening game?

Kyle Gerdeman (10:12.899)
Yeah.

You know, I think what we try to do is we've tried to be consistent with this, you know, over the years. And I think that what we, you I think in general what we try to do is prepare the same for every team that we play.

regardless of their name, regardless of their level. If it's a non division one team or if it's a power five team or if it's conference game, we really try to stay consistent with our mentality and the way that we prepare every night. I've never been big on, hey, this is a big rivalry game this week, so we really gotta be focused. I think you should always be focused and I think we should put in the same preparation every day of practice and with our film study that we always do. So I think that's where we start with our prep.

preparation.

Gary (11:01.295)
When you get to those Power of 4.5 schools, they've got a bigger venue. You'll be at OU and Mizzou and think Mississippi somewhere. Do your players take something away when they get in those bigger venues?

Kyle Gerdeman (11:08.739)
Yeah.

Kyle Gerdeman (11:12.718)
You know, I think that they want the challenge. know, I think that they really...

they get excited because that's a level they want to play with and against. And, you know, I think like we got, you know, we played two games last year to start the year we were at Nebraska and they had an, it was their first game. had an incredible environment there. And then we went to Iowa state, which is one of the best environments in the country. And so those are eye openers. I don't know if they enjoy those experiences as much at the end of the day as they thought they might've, but I think it gives them a true sense of, of,

college basketball and the appreciation that we all have for it. And you know, I think that when we go to a place like Oklahoma, I think that, you know, they're going to be excited for that. They're going to understand the challenge of it. And I do think that they, take away a little bit of the thought that, we just competed against, you know, one of the best schools in the country. You know, Porter Moser is a great coach. They probably don't know that, but I do, you know, and I look at that and go, man, I'm going to coach against Oklahoma and one of the best coaches in the

the country. And they're going to probably know some of the players and feel the same way that, you know, hey, we competed against, you know, I competed against this guy in AAU and he was a five star recruit or I played against this guy in high school. So there's a lot of connections there that I think everybody puts together.

Gary (12:35.873)
Interesting. And I guess at the other end of the college spectrum, you've got an exhibition game, I think in less than two weeks, against Hannibal Lagrange. And I used to tease my kids when they were going through youth sports about the cocky disease. Is there a risk of that at the college level when you're playing teams who may not bring the same skill level that you have?

Kyle Gerdeman (12:55.586)
Yeah, always. And I think probably what coaches, what probably keeps us up at night the most when you're heading into those games. And I that's why a lot of the time that we try to keep that consistent message on the way we prepare. Because it could be a non-division one game, or you could get into some conference games, for example, and maybe you're playing somebody in the conference that's eight and one.

and maybe you're playing somebody in the conferences one and eight. And I think we always have as a coach, we always have a thought of.

what are our players thinking? Are they thinking they can win if they're playing the first place team? Are they thinking that because these guys are one and eight or they're nine division one that this is gonna be easy? And I think human nature would tell you that they think it's gonna be easy, right? And so we just try to really take that side out of it and really be as real as we can with them on what our expectations are. And really don't get too far away from our accountability that they have on offense and defense.

the things that they're expected to do, which, you and we'll talk about the same thing with Oklahoma. You know, we spend a lot of time just talking about playing every possession, taking the scoreboard out of the equation, which is way easier said than done. But I do think we've been able to get some teams to do that and for maybe not all of the game, but for portions of the game and just get lost and playing the game. And, you know, at least if that doesn't work, at least I feel better about it once the game starts. So.

Gary (14:31.309)
And let's take a minute to look ahead at the Ohio Valley Conference. Those games won't start until late December. And you had the Ohio Valley Conference media day yesterday. Talk about how you assess the overall strength of the OVC and even Lindowood's place, Lindowood's men's basketball's place.

Kyle Gerdeman (14:38.434)
Yeah.

Kyle Gerdeman (14:51.212)
Yeah, well, I think that, you even I think every year we've seen that this is a very competitive conference. I think the thing that has changed a little bit year to year and especially going into this year is there's so much turnover on everybody's roster up and down the conference. You know, there's a lot there. And, know, and then you look at, you know, Tennessee Martin has a new head coach, Morehead State has a new head coach. You know, those things are always factors. And, you know, so I think that creates

Gary (15:08.727)
Interesting.

Kyle Gerdeman (15:21.088)
even more unknown this year. But I think what it does is it's still at the same time. I think it creates a really competitive league. They asked me at media day about who I thought was the best teams. And I think that the teams with the three best.

Senior guards, I think, the best three teams in the league. And that's Western Illinois, Little Rock, and SIU. think they have the three best returning guards. If I'm missing somebody, I hope I don't offend anybody. But I don't know how you go past that, because everything else, there's just so much unknown. I think for where we're at, I think we're probably, from a media day perspective, they picked us ninth out of 11. And that's probably where we're at.

think that we're at the point, probably moving into year three that you gotta win some games. We need to prove ourself a little bit better. We finished eight in year one and not missed the tournament last year. And I just think that's the challenge for us is to get more consistent in the league. And I think that when you win some league games, you'll get ranked in a different spot. And I think that's what we need to do.

Gary (16:32.727)
talk about how important guards were we saw that last night with Sabrina UNESCO and that 30 footer with one second left.

Kyle Gerdeman (16:37.9)
Yeah. How about that? know, the coaches work all those days on their last second plays, right? And then they just, you know, kids just end up dribbling the clock out and shooting a three at the buzzer and it goes in and you win. you know, probably shows you how important coaching really is.

Gary (16:50.575)
That's never happened to you though, has it?

Gary (16:56.42)
You mentioned the Portal and I don't think we've talked about this before and it's clearly a fact of life and it's a relatively new fact of life. Talk about the players that you brought in to Lindenwood this year from the Portal and kind of your thought process as you put that Portal plus team together.

Kyle Gerdeman (17:14.188)
Yeah, you know, I think that, you know, we tried to piece together a roster that, know, really, you know, I think we balanced out our classes.

And I think gave us the best balance that we could find. We've got three kids out of the portal, but we also have, I don't know why my phone keeps going off, We took three kids out of the portal, but we also signed three freshmen. And that's a lot anymore to say that you signed three freshmen, but we're happy with those freshmen. I think as we went through it, when we got to the kids in the transfer portal, a lot of the thought was these guys need to fit a specific need. And we need to be confident that,

they're going to be impact players, because I think what you see in the transfer portal is most of these guys are older. majority of them have one year left, a couple might have two, least the guys that we're going to be involved with. And so they're going to have an expectation of what they want out of their last year, their last two years. And we can show them an avenue that we can provide what they want. They're going to have to come in and meet our expectations as well. It's a two way street there. And so I think that

I think we did a good job of that. I think when you look at the guys that we got, like Markeith Browning from Milwaukee, he's a fantastic athlete and a talented guy. And I think most nights, I don't care who we're playing, he may not be the best athlete on the floor, but I don't know if anybody's gonna have one much better than him. And so he gave us a specific need as a guard athlete. And Nias Futrell is kind of a different path.

transferring from a Division II school, but a really good player and a kid from St. Louis and he had a great year last year at the Division II level and everything that we saw just never made us think that it wouldn't translate to the OVC. And I think we feel the same way watching him in practice right now. And you finish that up with a guy like Reggie Bass who's a junior, so has two years left.

Kyle Gerdeman (19:18.592)
And he's just, we're looking at a point guard, at a combo guard with tons of experience playing in the Mac, which I coached in. It was a very competitive basketball league. And so I think his talent and experience and the things he can bring to us, like for those three guys, it all made sense. was, think, like I said, I think what they brought to the table is what we needed to finish and fill our roster with. And that's kinda how we kinda maneuver through it. I think what you don't wanna do and what we try to avoid to kinda wrap that up.

is what I don't want to do is just grab players. You don't just want to take guys for no reason and I don't want seven or eight guys out of the transfer portal because I don't think that's a good recipe. So I think if you can find two, three, four a year that really come in and impact your program, then I think we're on the right track.

Gary (20:08.783)
Fundraising. know for better or for worse that fundraising is always part of a college coach's job description. How do you approach that coach at Lindenwood?

Kyle Gerdeman (20:17.548)
Well, I think in a couple ways now, which I think is a positive for us. We've always had our one roar club that we started when I first got here.

six years ago now. And you know, I think we try to generate, you know, we try to generate donations through that from anybody, you know, from alumni, you know, we've tried to do a good job of connecting with all alumni, but specifically our basketball specific alumni, because, you know, Lindenwood is a unique place, obviously, but from a sports standpoint, specifically because, you know, we've changed so much over the years, you know, we have basketball alumni that were in AI players, we have basketball alumni that were division

two players. Now we have basketball alumni that were division one players. So and then much less a lot of guys that played for different coaches. know so trying to reel all that in sometimes is a challenge but what I found with with our basketball alumni is they're all really supportive and they're always excited to come back. So you know I think that's an important aspect of it. You know we also you know will generate you know some some donation through local businesses and people in the community. Obviously it's it's open for anybody to you know to donate to.

So that's always been good for us. And what we've always been able to do with that and what we kind of sell it as is just a way for us to take that money and give our players a better experience. It helped redo our locker room two years ago. It helps us with better nutrition. It helps us with better travel. So what we wanna make sure that everybody knows is we're not wasting it.

just dropping in a bucket of money and it's paying for uniforms. It's not that, it's to enhance the student athlete experience and that's the most important thing. But quickly, I think the other thing that's important to talk about is now that the NIL market is out there in a lot of places and it's in our league and it's active and so we haven't rolled it out just yet but this might be a good way to do it is we're gonna kick off this year the Lions Legacy Fund, which will

Kyle Gerdeman (22:30.17)
be a basketball specific NIL fund for our players. And I think that it's going to be interesting to get started on. we're going to roll some stuff out and really explain what we feel the positives are and the benefits are of it, why we feel it's necessary. Because I think that's what people have some concerns on at times. But it's really a big part of, I think, moving our program forward at the division level. And it's going to be a great thing for us and our student athletes.

Gary (22:33.679)
Which

Gary (22:59.723)
And then, Kyle, one of the last things I like to do on many of our podcasts is kind of personal question and this one will be easy one. Tell us about the Kyle Gooderman family.

Kyle Gerdeman (23:09.762)
Yeah.

It's busy right now, can tell you that. But I I grew up in Wright City, Missouri, just a few minutes west of here. And my mom and dad still live there. Both of them worked in the school system. My dad was a coach. He was my high school coach. He was a successful coach for many years, retired from the school system and coaching. And so I think being back in this area and being around them is one.

Gary (23:13.554)
Hahaha

Kyle Gerdeman (23:41.792)
something that's really special to me and our family. And then in our house, it's, you know, I've got an older daughter actually that's already graduated college. So she still lives in Michigan. She's an interior designer and doing really great up there, Alyssa. And, you know, we're excited for her to, you know, only be out of school, college for a couple of years and already have a full-time job. And she's, she's living life as a, as a real adult, I guess you would say, you know, and so that's, that's been enjoyable to watch her grow and, and, and take those steps forward.

Gary (24:05.081)
Hahaha

Kyle Gerdeman (24:11.648)
You know that I've got a son who's 16 years old Carson and he's a Southmore at st. Charles West and stays active with basketball and golf and Everything else that high school kids do and then our youngest Is is Harper and she's in the she's in the fifth grade And she's doing a little bit everything she's playing some basketball some soccer some cheerleadings and whatever a lot of video games on the iPad Seems to take up a lot of her time anymore, but but it's it's enjoyable and then you know

wife Angie, she kind of just takes care of everything. So she's in charge of me, the kids, the schedule, makes sure that we know where we're supposed to be. Probably makes sure I know where I'm supposed to be more than the kids. But without her, don't know, we'd be pretty unorganized. So we definitely need to make sure that we talk about her importance in the family.

Gary (25:03.535)
Amen. you know, coach, I'm a little disappointed I didn't hear the sport pickleball mentioned in any of the activities that you or your children do.

Kyle Gerdeman (25:11.682)
You know, I think we're all a disappointed in that to be honest with you because during COVID and I hate going back to that, me and my son played a lot. Now we didn't know what we were doing. We were playing one on one, which is a two on two sport, I guess. And you know, so in frequently he will ask and you'll like this though. His friends play quite a bit.

Gary (25:15.523)
You

Gary (25:32.047)
Interesting,

Kyle Gerdeman (25:32.096)
So like over the summer they would go to the park at night and they would they got into pickleball. So one of his classes, I'm not sure if he needs this class, but it's some type of PE class where they play different sports. They've already had like a two week segment where they went to chicken and pickle for pickleball in the mornings. So he is into it, just not as much as I am.

Gary (25:52.675)
That's good to hear. Coach, let's call that a wrap for on this podcast episode. And for those listening, I encourage you to share the podcast link with other students, college students, high school students, your friends, your family, and others. And of course, we'll be back next week to continue our basketball talk with Lindwood University head men's basketball coach, Kyle Gerdeman coach. Always a pleasure. We'll talk again soon.

Kyle Gerdeman (26:15.982)
Thanks, Gary. Appreciate it.