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On Mar. 21, 2011 Ron Hunter walked through the doors of the Student Center Ballroom and accepted the job as Georgia State's men's basketball head coach. There, he boldly proclaimed that he would reverse the Panthers losing culture and take the program to places it had never been. He'd never lost as a player at Miami (Ohio), as a coach at IUPUI and he made the same promise to Georgia State's hibernating fan base. The future appeared bright—but it wasn't supposed to arrive so quickly.
Most transformation projects take a few recruiting cycles to truly take effect. Conventional wisdom says that a new head coach requires a grace period to install a new style of offense and defense. Hunter appears to have done the bulk of his work in three games.
After going winless during a three game tip-off tournament in Seattle, Hunter tweaked the defense before the home opener against McNeese State.
"With the new staff and the system that we're putting in, you only have two and a half weeks to practice before you start playing," says Hunter. "We played some good basketball teams that are well established and all in all, I think we needed that."
When the team was 0-3, this story would have been about Hunter's Panthers crashing down to Earth.
Instead, the outlook hasn't been this bright since Georgia State was an upper-tier member of the Atlantic Sun Conference. Since the winless start, the Panthers have rocketed into the stratosphere and allowed just 47 points per game en route to their longest winning streak since the 2003-2004 season. That team won seven in a row. Georgia State is currently in the midst of a six-game winning streak and appears poised to continue it. These Panthers are the 29th best defense in the nation and first in the conference.
The differences between the Rod Barnes coached Panthers and Hunter's first season has been staggering to witness. Even after Barnes' 8-6 record in January of last season, there was an underlying sentiment that the team was playing below its potential.
Throughout their current six-game winning streak, the Panthers have been closing out games strong, which is a complete 180 from last season when the team would regularly fall flat in the waning minutes. Fortunately, the Panthers closers during their winning streak have been their walk-ons as they've won each game by a comfortable average of 23 points per game.
After struggling to win on the road during Barnes' tenure, the Panthers set a new school record for margin of victory on the road in a 31-point thrashing of South Carolina State.
The Panthers first road win of the season was a hard fought, 55-47 win over the Samford Bulldogs. Last November, the Panthers allowed the same Samford team to rally back from a seven-point deficit with 1:10 remaining in regulation. The Bulldogs escaped the Sports Arena with an overtime victory.
On Saturday, in Hunter's CAA opener, the Panthers nearly doubled William & Mary's point total in a 66-34 victory. The defensive effort came one-point short of breaking the Georgia State record for fewest points allowed. The defensive pressure was swarming so quickly that William & Mary often struggled to cross half court or to beat the shot clock and the Tribe didn't make their first shot from inside the three-point line until the second half.
By comparison, in their lone meeting of last season Georgia State was dealt a five-point defeat. It may also be time to throw out the low pre-season expectations about the Panthers. In the CAA Preseason Poll, Georgia State was picked to finish 11th, the William & Mary Tribe was sixth.
The most obvious difference from this season to the last has been the team's blistering pace. While Hunter's affinity for up-tempo offense has been a popular topic, the defense has been the primary component of their early success. Recently, Hunter has called this the most athletic team he's ever coached, and that athleticism has been on display in their full court press and on the resulting fast break opportunities.
Following the Panthers win over FIU, Hunter proclaimed that he'd never had a team play defense like this in 18 years of coaching. According to Hunter, the core values of his teams at Georgia State will be defending, rebounding and running, in that order.
"Our offense is created by our defense. You can't run and score points if you don't get stops," Hunter says.
As the consummate showman, Hunter has changed everything including which side of the court the team's bench is on. He's also introduced the idea of the arena going dark during player introductions.
"It's something I've wanted to do," says Hunter. "I want it to be an event. When the students walk in there, I want them to feel excited."
A side effect of Georgia State's success has been the awakening of the fans as attendance and crowd intensity are both up. The rowdy no-sitting student section led by super fan Nick Bray has ruffled the feathers of opposing fans but has earned the admiration of Hunter and the team, who celebrate with them after every win.
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