With nine minutes left on the clock during Friday’s practice, Pima men’s basketball head coach Brian Peabody excused himself from the court. Peabody, who’s been coaching at Pima since 2013, went to the kitchen, turned on a small George Foreman grill and started cooking.
Three years ago, Peabody said he decided to make some hot dogs for the team at the end of a Friday practice. The following week, Keven Biggs asked Peabody if they were going to have Hot Dog Friday again.
And so a tradition was born.
“So we’ve been doing this for three years, every Friday,” Peabody said. “I go to Food City. It costs me $14.97 to feed our whole team.”
Biggs, a Cienega graduate who is in his third season with the Aztecs, said he really enjoys having a coach that makes an effort to feed a team. The Aztecs bond over dogs and buns.
“This is probably one of the closest teams I’ve ever played on,” Biggs said. “Everybody is close-knit, and we all get along.”
The team chemistry has been the best Peabody has seen for a while at Pima, he said.
But Peabody isn’t the only one being supportive of the team. Thursday night, nine players went out to the Catalina Foothills-Salpointe Catholic high school basketball game. Peabody’s son Carson plays for the Foothills squad, so the team wanted to show their support.
“They just do neat things like that,” Peabody said as he worked the grill. “Chemistry’s better than it’s ever been. They genuinely like each other … it’s not fake. They’re just a joy to be around, or I wouldn’t do stuff like this.”
And that same team chemistry is what allows the team to hold themselves accountable and continue to improve, Biggs said.
“We can communicate on and off the court, that just brings us closer on the court,” Biggs said. “So if somebody messes up, we can tell them. If somebody does good, we can tell them. Nobody takes anything seriously or personal.”
The communication has lead the Aztecs to a 16-2 overall mark. They boast an 8-2 ACCAC record, good for a No. 8 ranking in the most recent NJCAA Division II rankings.
The Aztecs are also leading D-II schools with an average of 108.7 points per game. Their opponents are averaging 67.4 points per game.
“Coach always tells us that we need to play fast and race to 100,” sophomore guard Isaiah Murphy said. “So, first one to 100 wins.”
The Aztecs are entering the home stretch of their schedule, and hope to repeat and improve on last year’s success. Pima won their regional championship and made it to the Elite Eight of the National Tournament.
Biggs and Murphy said the goal is to get back to the national tournament, and hopefully come back with a championship.
“I’m hoping (we do) better,” Peabody said. “We’ve learned a lot, I learned a lot. It was my first time getting to the national tournament, and now we know what to expect. I think this team is tougher than the team we had last year, we’re deeper than we were last year and the chemistry is really good.”
Before they can make it to the national tournament, the Aztecs continue their season Saturday, when they host Arizona Western College at 4 p.m.
Biggs said he’s expecting a good game Saturday.
“I know , is a really good team (and) we’re a good team, so it’ll be a battle of the dogs out there,” Biggs said.
