Marcus Colbert
Marcus Colbert Leads Bobcat Cagers into Summer Practice Season
6/29/2015 2:57:00 PM | Men's Basketball
MSU senior welcomes new cast of characters to town
Long winter nights are on no one's mind in Bozeman as summertime temperatures heat up. Basketball is a fuzzy point on the horizon.
Unless you're Marcus Colbert, a senior guard for Montana State and noted gym rat. Colbert has spent the summer to date in Bozeman. With the arrival of most of the team's 2015-16 roster for the summer academic session and late-June basketball workouts, Colbert's presence is at once conspicuous and crucial.
"It's easy to see the difference in Marcus and Danny (Robison, the team's other 2015-16 senior, who continues to rehab from off-season elbow surgery)," says Bobcat coach Brian Fish, who is allowed to assemble his squad for formal workouts when summer school begins next week. "They are laughing and fun to be around, and they're showing great signs of leadership."
Colbert sees that as one of his primary functions. "I've been trying to lead by example, and vocally," the 2015 Big Sky Conference Sixth Man of the Year said through his trademark smile. "We have a lot of new guys. I've been under Fish for a year already and I kind of know what he expects, so it's on me to set an example, set the tone for the other guys."
A year ago, Colbert was part of a large cast of returners tasked with finding their way through the summer and fall, and into Fish's first season as Bobcat head coach, together and without mileposts. The numbers are smaller this year – Colbert and Robison are joined by only two other returners for summer workouts, with junior guard Steph Holm at home in Utah until the fall semester begins – but the senior from Post Falls, Idaho, notices the changes.
"The biggest difference is how hard we've been playing," he said of the informal off-season scrimmage sessions conducted in private last week. "The runs have been a lot better. That's been the biggest difference."
Another difference-maker, Colbert knows, is the work he and his mates get in during the summer months, when only a few are concerned with college basketball. "A lot of our season depends on how hard we work in the summer" he said, "how much time and effort we put in during the summer. This time right now is one of the biggest parts of the basketball player's (year) getting ready for the season."
More subtle than staying in shape and getting better as players is the notion of coming together as a team, forming the unit that will traverse the mundane yet grueling work of the next four months and the rigors of a long, grinding season. "We need to work hard this summer, get better, come together as a team," Fish said. "The tone will be a lot different from last summer. The decisions the guys make in the next few months will reveal their priorities."
Colbert said he believes he and his mates are ready for the task.
"These guys come in and are looking for people who have been here to show them around and stuff, so they want to be around you and all that," Colbert said. "It's nice, meeting new people and all that. Without a doubt, we're a fun group. Our talent level has jumped quite a bit to this year from last year. That will help us out tremendously, we just have to buy into the system Fish has for us and we'll be alright."
Unless you're Marcus Colbert, a senior guard for Montana State and noted gym rat. Colbert has spent the summer to date in Bozeman. With the arrival of most of the team's 2015-16 roster for the summer academic session and late-June basketball workouts, Colbert's presence is at once conspicuous and crucial.
"It's easy to see the difference in Marcus and Danny (Robison, the team's other 2015-16 senior, who continues to rehab from off-season elbow surgery)," says Bobcat coach Brian Fish, who is allowed to assemble his squad for formal workouts when summer school begins next week. "They are laughing and fun to be around, and they're showing great signs of leadership."
Colbert sees that as one of his primary functions. "I've been trying to lead by example, and vocally," the 2015 Big Sky Conference Sixth Man of the Year said through his trademark smile. "We have a lot of new guys. I've been under Fish for a year already and I kind of know what he expects, so it's on me to set an example, set the tone for the other guys."
A year ago, Colbert was part of a large cast of returners tasked with finding their way through the summer and fall, and into Fish's first season as Bobcat head coach, together and without mileposts. The numbers are smaller this year – Colbert and Robison are joined by only two other returners for summer workouts, with junior guard Steph Holm at home in Utah until the fall semester begins – but the senior from Post Falls, Idaho, notices the changes.
"The biggest difference is how hard we've been playing," he said of the informal off-season scrimmage sessions conducted in private last week. "The runs have been a lot better. That's been the biggest difference."
Another difference-maker, Colbert knows, is the work he and his mates get in during the summer months, when only a few are concerned with college basketball. "A lot of our season depends on how hard we work in the summer" he said, "how much time and effort we put in during the summer. This time right now is one of the biggest parts of the basketball player's (year) getting ready for the season."
More subtle than staying in shape and getting better as players is the notion of coming together as a team, forming the unit that will traverse the mundane yet grueling work of the next four months and the rigors of a long, grinding season. "We need to work hard this summer, get better, come together as a team," Fish said. "The tone will be a lot different from last summer. The decisions the guys make in the next few months will reveal their priorities."
Colbert said he believes he and his mates are ready for the task.
"These guys come in and are looking for people who have been here to show them around and stuff, so they want to be around you and all that," Colbert said. "It's nice, meeting new people and all that. Without a doubt, we're a fun group. Our talent level has jumped quite a bit to this year from last year. That will help us out tremendously, we just have to buy into the system Fish has for us and we'll be alright."
Players Mentioned
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