Glenwood Boys Basketball Coach Todd Blakeman joined Springfield Morning News ahead of Glenwood's Final Four matchup Thursday night in Champaign.
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The IHSA Class 3A State Semifinals, that's your Final Four tomorrow night in Champaign State Farm Center. You'll find in that Final Four the Glenwood Titans, who won a big super sectional game over Troy Triad on Monday night.

They get the number one team in the state, DePaul College Prep, on Thursday night. We'll talk about that game. But first, we are pleased to welcome the head coach of the Glenwood Titans, Todd Blakeman. Coach, good morning. How are you? Morning, Patrick. How are you? I'm very well. Congratulations on your trip to state. I can only imagine the whirlwind between Monday night and where we sit today and still another 18 hours before the game. It's got to be a good whirlwind, though, right?

Yeah, no doubt. It's the first time our school's ever been to the Final Four. Myself, I've never been to the state finals, so it's a special time. But, you know, all the things that I didn't really realize yesterday, I sit in two, pretty much two-hour meetings, and it all, it took, everything we talked about was everything that had to happen in the next,

you know, 24 to 48 hours and after. And I just, I, there's a lot of stuff I didn't, you had no idea what we had to do, but yeah, we've been pretty busy the last couple of days, but again, glad we're doing it and a good, good problem to have right now. Well, we'll talk about your game tomorrow in a minute. I want to start with Monday night's game and I'm sure it's, that feels like a thousand years ago at this point, but, uh,

What an incredible game for you guys, tied in the final 10 seconds with a near buzzer beater to win. Tell me about how that game shaped up and shook out and how you guys were able to pull it out in the end.

Yeah, going in there, Troy tried. I think they've won 21 of their last 22, playing really well. They beat a good Centralia team coming in. And, you know, we're big, we're strong, we're physical, and we're kind of lacking on guard play. But at the same time, they were the same team. It was like looking into the mirror who we're going to play. But, yeah, I give all the credit to them. They came in and they did everything they could to take it away from us. But our kids just – we were resilient. We –

We played well, I thought, the first half. A lot of shots we had open we didn't hit. I think they ended up shooting eight for 13 or eight for 14 from the three-point line. I think they shot close to 50%. But we had a great fourth quarter. Cam Appenzeller had three big threes to tie it. And every time we'd tie it, they'd tie it and so on. But, yeah, we got down to that last play with the ball with 40 seconds to go. And,

Yeah, we just got to hold it for the last second shot. I think they had maybe at least one, possibly two fouls to give. But he was able to get in the lane and dump it to Johnny, and Johnny was able to make it with 1.4 or whatever was on the clock.

Be honest. How does your gut feel when that ball's in the air with time ticking down? I mean, you've seen a hundred of them, right? But this is the super sectional. This is the Elite Eight game. This is everything you've been working for. Is it just that, oh, my God, I'm going to throw up feeling? Or is it too fast to even know what's happening?

Well, a little of both. I mean, you know, I've been doing this a while, so we've been not in that game. We were actually in that game in 2013. We got beat, I think it was 54-48 or 56-48, something like that. So I'd been in that game before. But at the same time, man, the run that we made, I mean, we've been in close games all year. We've had, I think, seven overtime games.

um and we've just had to scrap and then we got into the sectionals it wasn't more intense than what the sectionals were and you just we just had to look at it like i mean every every game and you lose you're going home and this was just another one but that last second i mean you just we played that we ran that play before we knew what we were doing um but at the same time it's just you just get caught up in the moment but it's the same it it

you're just coaching and, and you know, at the end of the, at the end of the night, you're either, you're either celebrating or you're disappointed. And it's just what coaching is. Glenwood basketball coach, Todd Blakeman joins us here on 92, seven WMA. Why the Titans play in the three, a state semifinals tomorrow night in Champaign. Hey,

it seems you guys are, are, are totally ready for the close games coach. You've got, you had a, you know, obviously the, the buzzer beater against triad, but you had a seven point game against Mount Zion, a 10 point game against central, a five point game against land fear. I mean, it seems like you're battle tested and, and ready for whatever may get thrown at you on, on,

on Thursday. There's no doubt about that. I mean, I took over after stepping away for a couple of years, we took over with these guys and I, and we had two seniors leave after last year, but these guys were all coming back. Um, last year we were in a lot of close games and lost a lot of close. And it's just amazing how, I mean, it's maturity, um,

And it's just, it's coaching the same kids. They know what to expect. And this year, again, we've been able to come, I think we lost two or three, I can't remember, overtime games. But at the same time, we really had to scrap coming into regionals. We had one against Collinsville, one against SHG, where we fell behind.

And we just really had to fight to win those. I really think that prepped us for the postseason. And then these kids, a lot of these kids being seniors, man, they just didn't want to lose. And, you know, you get to that point, you're fighting for your last breath is what it is. And these kids have really fought. You mentioned, Coach, you stepped away kind of post-pandemic. Thank you.

and decided to come back, and now you're kind of seeing the fruits of that hard work in the state finals. Not to get too personal or anything, but talk about that journey of walking away. This is a tough job for not that much pay, right? I mean, you guys aren't making college basketball-level cash here. And, I mean, you guys work hard.

you know, a hundred hours a week, right? Especially during the season. You know, so, so from the time that you stepped away to now, just what does it mean to you?

Yeah. If you're getting in this for the money, I'd, you better be in it for the, for the love, the sport and the kids and everything, because man, it's, you're not getting compensated well, but it doesn't matter. Your heart leads you. And I stepped away a couple of years ago. It was the COVID year. I'd been doing this a long time. And anytime you're, you're after, you're after somewhere in a long time. It just, there were some things that I, that went on. I was, I was kind of, I think it was kind of ready to step away for what was going on, but

you know, I know the opportunity opened two years later and I was here and I thought, you know, I've got, I've got five, four to five years left in my retirement and to retire. And I thought, you know, I said, well, let's, we'll get back in it till the end and, and we'll see, we'll see what happens. But it has been a blessed thing. You know, I even started coaching, you know, you take something, you don't know if it's, it's right for you, but you take the risk anyway. And, and I'll tell you when, when things like this happen for you, you're, you're glad that, that it did. But,

You know, you got to give credit to all the coaches and the administration and the kids that have got us here. Just very proud of them. And like I said, we're a team. We always will be a team. And I'm in it for everybody. So it's just kind of the person I am. And about those kids, right? I mean, obviously, we can't have all 15 kids on your roster on the roster.

on a morning show. So, so you kind of get to be the face of the program, of course, but, but who are some of those kids folks should know that have had these, these, these great contributions through the, through the entire season? Oh yeah. I mean, we've got our starting five, Cameron Appenzeller, Gavin Simmons, Mason Newman, Jack Kerman, Matt Held. I'm missing. Yeah.

But anyway, all these guys, all these guys, they're just – have just put the time in. It's just – it's amazing that we're here. I mean, the guy from Quincy, he was right before the super sectionals that asked me. He said, I got to ask you the first question. How are you still here? I said, that's a valid question. It's one of those things where you just –

We got to the final four, or excuse me, the final regional, and we had Cameron Appenzeller get the fouls out with four minutes to go, and he's our ball handler. We were point guard by committee to get through the sectionals the way we did, and again, it is a valid question, how are you here? But all these guys, all these guys, and if I've left somebody out, I'm sorry, but at the same time, all these kids here have put the time in, and I'm just excited

extremely proud of them. You know, we'd always talk about the bench. You know, you watch the team, you watch how their bench reacts to everything. You'll tell you what type of team you have. And these guys are always up cheering. And I'm just, again, just extremely proud of everybody for the, in the program. And this is not just for these guys too, this final four run it's, it's for all the guys. I think we have a, we have a prideful program, very proud of our guys. I mean, I've been doing this a long time and that's one thing we talk about is pride and Titan pride and

Just very happy for the program, the community, the coaches, and all the kids. And they just really put the time in. Before we let you go, Coach, DePaul College Prep tomorrow night at 815. What do you guys got to do to win? What do we have to do? Score one. One more than they do. But, no, they're really good. They got pieces. They got three or four guys that can flat-out shoot the basketball.

And we just, you know, we've got to play our game. We've got to find a way to slow them down. It's just going to have to take a team effort like it has all postseason. But they're a really good team, and I think they won their super sectionals, I think, by 40. So they do strive on their defense, and they are quick. And like I said, we have to find a way to take care of the ball and slow them down and kind of get our pace.

Coach Todd Blakeman from the Glenwood Titans in the Final Four tomorrow night against DePaul College Prep. Coach, go get a win. Go bring home a state title. Make us all proud. All right. Thank you very much.