Southeast coaches embrace summer rule

For the second straight year, Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Dickey Nutt and his staff will have a chance to work with their players earlier than in the past.

And now Southeast women's basketball coach Ty Margenthaler can also reap the benefits of an NCAA rule that allows Division I teams eight hours a week, up to a maximum of eight weeks, to work out with players who are attending summer school. Squads can begin the workouts on the first day of summer classes, which is today at Southeast.

The rule was implemented last year but only pertained to Division I men's basketball. This year Division I women's hoops was added to the mix.

"We're really excited about it," Margenthaler said. "It's extremely exciting for us to get this kind of jumpstart on the season, to be able to work with our players leading into the fall semester."

Teams are limited to a maximum of two hours per week of actual practice time on the court. The other six hours can be spent on areas like conditioning and weightlifting.

Prior to the rule, Division I coaches could not work with their players until the first days of the fall semester.

"I think it's been a great rule. It's one of the better rules they've put in. I thought it was a big help to us last year," Nutt said. "In the past we felt like we were helpless in the summer. We couldn't even go into the weight room. Coaches allowed to be around your players ... I think that's very important. I know from experience, being around your young people every day, it means so much more to your program.

"It's a long year. We don't want to overdo it, but it's a perfect time to get a lot of individual work in, and then we'll get some team work in. We're able to pick and chose what we want to do."

Nutt and Margenthaler said the rule is especially beneficial for their programs since virtually all of their players -- including the incoming recruits -- are enrolled in summer school.

All of Nutt's players are in summer school while 13 of Margenthaler's 15 players are taking summer classes here.

Nutt and Margenthaler both credited Southeast's administration, led by director of athletics Mark Alnutt and president Dr. Kenneth Dobbins, for allowing the players to be on scholarship in the summer.

"Every one of our players is in summer school. That's a good thing," Nutt said. "I'm really thankful to our administration. Mark Alnutt and Dr. Dobbins, they agree having all our players in summer school is very important.

"We started that a few years ago and I think we all see the progress, all the results that have been good."

Nutt's 2013-14 team will feature a nice mix of returning players and newcomers, including several who practiced with the Redhawks last season but were not eligible for games.

"It's beneficial for everybody. It helps them develop. Whatever your needs are, you're able to work on that," Nutt said. "Summer is very important, especially to get our new guys involved. They take classes, they have study hall every day, they work out. It gives them a nice head start."

In addition to the two hours per week of on-court time during the eight-week summer session, the players on both squads spend plenty of time competing on their own in various pickup games.

"They'll spent a lot of time on basketball this summer and they'll also spend time on academics, which is great," Margenthaler said. "Our coaching staff allowed to be around the players during this period, to spend time working with them, I think it's a win-win for everybody."

Noteworthy

* While Margenthaler's roster is set for the 2013-14 season, Nutt said he still has one available scholarship but is being judicious about filling it.

"We lost out on a couple of players that we had offered but we're still looking at some good players that are out there," Nutt said. "We feel like we can be very selective. We're taking our time on this."

* Nutt said forward Michael Porter, who has been hampered by injuries throughout his collegiate career, is progressing well in his current rehab. Nutt remains hopeful Porter will be able to significantly contribute in 2013-14.

Porter played in just one game last season due to a broken foot that he fractured twice. He also had hip surgery this year to hopefully rectify a problem that has plagued him for a while.

"I think Michael is healing up fine. We're very optimistic," Nutt said. "What we don't want to do is push him too quickly but his rehab has been going well."