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Friday, June 27, 2008
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BHS grad transferring closer to home Stanfield to play basketball at St. John's in the fall
Landon Stanfield liked playing basketball for the Coe College Kohawks and made many friends his freshman year at the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, school.
About the only thing he didn't like was Coe's distance from Brainerd, more than 400 miles away. That's the primary reason he has decided to transfer to St. John's University in Collegeville this fall and play hoops for the Johnnies.
"I just kind of had a hard time being so far from home," Stanfield said Wednesday. "It's not that I regret going there at all. I made some good friends, but at times I would be down there three months without being home.
"Also, with basketball, it was kind of weird to go from my dad being at every game to him being down there a handful of times.
"I had a great coach. The biggest thing was the distance. Going there was more than just a hop in the car after work and driving down."
Stanfield's dad, Scott, a Brainerd Warriors assistant boys' basketball coach and hoops junkie, got to see his son play five times last season. His son's decision to transfer closer to home has left him nothing short of ecstatic.
"I think it's great because now I can get out of our practices and head down there in about an hour, instead of a six-hour one-way trip that takes up two days," Scott Stanfield said. "I'm glad to have him close. I'm going to be able to see him and I know a lot of other people - other coaches and people around town - are, too."
Stanfield will play for legendary Jim Smith, who has coached the Johnnies for 44 seasons. Smith enters the 2008-09 season 15 wins shy of 700 for his career. All of his wins have come at SJU. He is the winningest collegiate basketball coach on any level in Minnesota, with a 685-475 career record (.591).
"Smith has been there a long time," Scott Stanfield said. "Obviously, he's doing something right.
"I think Landon's walking into a pretty good situation. It's a great school, that's most important. He liked it (at Coe), he really liked it there, but with the distance and gas money, at $4 a gallon it cost me about $300 to go down and back. That was part of his decision too."
Landon Stanfield hasn't had much contact with Smith or his staff yet. He considered attending St. John's after graduating from Brainerd High School in 2007 but decided to attend Coe.
"He hasn't really made any strong promises, and I don't expect him to," Stanfield said. "He said they were definitely looking forward to having me down there.
"I'm comfortable playing the point or off-guard. It's all up to them. I would rather play the point but I'm not going to argue with them if they think I'm better off playing somewhere else."
One of seven Brainerd Warrior boys to score 1,000 points, Stanfield had a solid season at Coe. He was named the Kohawks' freshman of the year and their most improved player. He also was named freshman of the year in the Iowa Conference.
He scored 184 points (6.8 per game), which ranked fourth on the team. He shot .401 from the field (61 of 152) and .682 at the free-throw line (30 of 44). He was second on the team in 3-point field goals made (32) and third in minutes played (18.6 per game).
"I think the biggest thing was just going in where nobody knew who you were, starting all over, making a name for yourself - that was the part I enjoyed the most," Stanfield said of Coe. "In high school, you kind of like see the same thing over and over - not that I disliked that or anything.
"I think (Coe) was just a new experience, being that far away from home, dealing with different things on your own, not having a coach you know real well to communicate with. Other than that, I made some great friends down there. The seniors were really good guys. They accepted us."
Stanfield played in all 27 of Coe's games, and made one start.
"The first game of the year I played (four) minutes," he said. "The second game, the next day, I ended up playing 19 minutes and scored nine points. Since that game I kind of took on the role of sixth man, the first one off the bench."
MIKE BIALKA, sports editor, may be reached at mike.bialka@brainerddispatch.com or at 855-5861.
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