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By David Boyce  |  Bearcat Basketball vs. Fort Hays State  |  Saturday, Dec. 20  •  1:30 p.m. (W), 3:30 p.m. (M)  |  Bearcat Arena  |  Maryville, Mo.
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MARYVILLE, Mo. - After a couple of conference games, Northwest Missouri State freshman Brett Dougherty knows that playing in the paint in the MIAA is a man's game.
 
Actually, Dougherty already knew that before tasting the physical action in games at Emporia State and Pittsburg State. Dougherty spent last year as a redshirt. He went to class, practiced and then watched the games on the bench.
 
"I think it helped a lot. I think coming in mentally with defensive rotations, offense and everything, I wasn't ready last year," Dougherty said. "It was really nice to sit back and watch some veterans, a really good senior group play and learn from that.
 
"After doing it, I am a huge fan of redshirt just because I think a lot of times people are in a hurry to get going, but to have that year to adapt, get used to school and how college is, coming into the next year, you are so much more comfortable with everything."
 
Like any freshman, Dougherty has had his ups and downs in the first nine games. But he has already proved he belongs. He enters Saturday's game against Fort Hays State at Bearcat Arena, fifth on the team in scoring at 7.1and third on the team in rebounding at 3.8.
 
"He is an extremely tough kid mentally and physically," Northwest coach Ben McCollum said. "He is very coachable. He is a great team guy as far as his unselfishness goes. He is as athletic a kid as we have. Once he starts to figure out the defense and the offense a little better, I think the sky is the limit for how good he can be."
 
The Bearcats, 7-2 overall, will need Dougherty and all the Bearcats to play well Saturday against Hays. Both teams are 1-1 in the MIAA.
 
Northwest bounced back Tuesday with an 89-53 victory over Iowa Wesleyan after losing 69-67 at Pittsburg State on Dec. 6.
 
It was good for the Bearcats to get a game in before returning to conference play.
 
"I think it was pretty important just so we could get a feel for it again because we had a lot of time off," Dougherty said. "You don't want to go into Fort Hays having that being your first game in two weeks.
 
"Those 10 days we used to get better and move on because we have a lot of room to improve. We can learn from it."
 
Dougherty's words shows how much he learned from last year just by observing and soaking in the pace of a basketball season.
 
A true freshman thrown into action that first semester might struggle with going to class, getting a different level of coaching in college, understanding the increase intensity of conference games and then having to take your first college finals in December.
 
It is usually overwhelming.
 
"When kids come in, 95 percent takes them so long to pick up the offense, pick up the defense on top of being coached differently than they were in high school," McCollum said. "There are good high school coaches who get after you, but we can get after you more in college just because we have more access.  They have to learn to accept that coaching on top of all the things they have to learn and that takes a whole year."
 
Not all the players McCollum recruits buy into his redshirt philosophy.
 
"We lose on recruits just because of the redshirt thing," McCollum said. "Some you can't talk into doing it.
 
"Our culture helps. I think when you have other guys who have redshirted and had success doing that, I think that helps quite a bit."
 
All you have to do is look at this year's team to find evidence it works. Northwest starting point guard Justin Pitts redshirted last year. A year of watching DeShaun Cooper allowed Pitts to learn without the pressure of performing in games. Pitts is playing at a very high level. He leads the team in scoring. He is averaging 16.9 points and is shooting 62 percent from the field.
 
Dougherty and Pitts will have four years where they see considerable action instead of three years and only playing 10 to 15 minutes, at best, the first season.
 
"A kid is better when he is 23 than when he was 18," McCollum said. "Every kid, when he is done playing, always wants another year. It is about being able to convince them and forcing them to see in the future and sacrifice for the greater good of the program."
 
It also helps that Northwest has a program where the juniors and seniors are willing to help the younger players.
 
"I have been really lucky to come into a program where everybody is great," Dougherty said. "All the upperclassmen will help you. You can come in and ask for help and they will help you out."
 
Dougherty is helping his teammates by playing strong in the paint when he enters the game.