CSU Courtside (January 20th)

Like a Rock Would

With the temperature outside hovering around nine degrees, Vikings center Laurel Rockwood took a seat inside the Cleveland State Student Center for the second segment of Monday’s weekly radio show.

Rockwood, of course, is from Henderson, NV and spent four seasons at UC Santa Barbara, so host Al Pawlowski didn’t waste a ton of time getting to the obvious issue at hand: “This really shows your commitment to basketball to Cleveland and to Cleveland State to leave that climate, which is just about ideal. And then you come here to Cleveland, which is a little bit different than Santa Barbara. Mentally, how’d you do that to say, okay, I’m going to give up Southern California and come out here to Cleveland?”

Laurel’s answer was about as tough as her last name.

“I’m all about experiences and trying new things,” she began. “I come from, like you said, Henderson, which is really hot. Go to Santa Barbara, [which is] a little bit cooler, almost perfect weather all year round. And then to the freezing cold. But I was like, why not just add another experience to the list? I’m not scared of anything.”

She certainly isn’t. After all, Rockwood was a regular starter for the Gauchos and averaged just shy of 20 minutes per game over her last two years in SoCal. At CSU, she backs up Izabella Zingaro and typically plays fewer than ten minutes each night, all while learning a new system.

So why throw away a comfortable situation and plunge headfirst into the freezing unknown? A lot of it had to do with the fact that UCSB, despite having a winning record in each of Rockwood’s seasons, never received an invitation to a postseason tournament.

“I had one more year and I was like, ‘You know what? Let’s just go all the way and get what I can out of my fifth year,’” she said. “Going [to the] postseason is one thing I’ve always wanted to do.”

“She wanted something different and is chasing it,” Chris Kielsmeier added.

For her part, Rockwood has steadily grown as the schedule has progressed, including 14 points and six rebounds in Sunday’s win over Robert Morris. With roughly six weeks remaining in the regular season, there’s still room for a few more significant performances during the chase for that elusive postseason bid.

“It’s definitely been challenging, but also rewarding,” Rockwood said. “I’ve gone through some of the hardest obstacles, but I’ve just grown so much as a person and as a player and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I’ll just feel like I’ve learned so much here and things that I’ll be able to use in the future also. So overall it’s [been a] success.”

Wrecking Ball

Outside of the Cleveland State community, Pawlowski is best known as the studio host for the Cleveland Guardians’ local television broadcasts. So perhaps it was inevitable that when he sat down with Kielsmeier – a die-hard Chicago Cubs fan who has also adopted the Guardians as a second team during his time in town – the two would dive into a bit of recent news that’s shaken up Major League Baseball.

Last week, the Los Angeles Dodgers signed free agent outfielder Kyle Tucker (formerly of Kielsmeier’s Cubs) to a four-year, $240 million contract, the richest annual salary in MLB history. The $60 million-per-year deal has set off an avalanche of discourse concerning the sport’s financial realities, and its lack of a salary cap.

As one example of imbalance, the Dodgers are now paying two players, Tucker and Shohei Ohtani, more than the combined salaries of the entire Guardians roster.

“Well, [Tucker] had like two home runs for the Cubs in the last two months, so that’s $30 million a home run or something,” Kielsmeier quipped.

The coach is ready to see significant structural changes, once MLB’s current collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2026 season.

“Lock them out in ‘27, tear this whole thing down,” he said. “It’s not going to get fixed until there’s some sort of parity, and small-market programs should not be boxed out from being able to sign a $5 million starting pitcher because of the structure and the setup that’s in play. It’s absurd.”

No Sleep Till Brecksville

Between the Cubs losing Tucker, and the inconsistent nature of the basketball team he leads, it doesn’t seem like Kielsmeier is getting a ton of sleep lately.

After beating RMU on Sunday, he mentioned a couple times that his dreams that night would revolve around the Vikings’ untapped potential.

“If I can get this group to play smarter, we’re going to become much better overnight, and I’ll dream about it tonight probably, because I’m trying,” he said at one point.

Then, later on: “If we can just play more consistent, you’re going to see a whole ‘nother gear to this team. We’ve got a whole ‘nother level that we can go to. And like I said, we’re going to keep working at it. Now I’m going to dream about it tonight, probably.”

By Monday, however, those dreams had evaporated into restlessness.

“What does surprise me [is] the continuous rollercoaster of 19 points [allowed] off of turnovers in the first half and then zero in the second half, same players, same team, like what are we doing?” he wondered on the radio show. “And so it’s causing me some sleepless nights to try to figure this thing out, as to how to get us playing better.”

“We’ve got a whole ‘nother gear in this,” Kielsmeier said shortly after, closely mirroring his line from the day before. “And I believe that you’ll see it. I wish I had a timeline on it. I can’t tell you it’s going to be this week, but it’s coming at some point, and fans will know when they see it. I think it’ll be pretty similar to what they’ve seen in spurts. It’ll just be a lot more consistent, and I’ll be excited when that happens. Maybe I’ll sleep a little bit more.”

Why Am I Open?

Macey Fegan has always been a high-energy player who can create winning moments through sheer effort.

Regardless, most around the program would agree that she wasn’t at her best last season, after injuries pushed her into starting at the two-guard spot for most of the year. She did as well as could reasonably be expected while playing out of position, but Fegan’s shot was a major hole. Overall, she hit 20 of her 78 three-point tries, a 25.6 percent success rate.

On Monday, she admitted that when opponents inevitably placed their defensive priorities elsewhere, it got to her a bit.

“Confidence is a big thing,” she said. “I would never say that I’m not really a good shooter. But last year when [opponents would] choose off of me, and even this year still, I’d think ‘uhhhh…’”

Pawlowski finished the thought: “Why am I so wide open?”

Fegan managed to finish 2024-25 with 3.7 rebounds per game, a respectable number for her position, while playing great perimeter defense.

“Growing up, I’ve just played with a lot of hustle and doing the little things,” she said. “And sometimes your shot’s not falling, so there are other things you can do. You can always rebound.”

With Fegan back in her more natural frontcourt spot this year, she’s not asked to shoot from the outside nearly as much. Still, she’s connected on half of her 12 tries from deep, including a pivotal triple against Detroit Mercy last Wednesday.

In other words, it’s safe to say that these days, when she does step outside, opponents have to respect it a little more.