‘Versatile’ Dressler Makes Strides in Senior Season
Grant Dressler has made a splash this season as he was just announced First Team all Conference. Photo courtesy of Chaminade Athletics.
Last season, Grant Dressler arrived at Chaminade from Sacramento State, a Division I university. He had a solid season, averaging 10.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game, and was named to the PacWest Conference’s Honorable Mention team as the Swords went 16-12.
This season, Dressler has made a splash by almost doubling his production in all areas. The 6-foot-7 guard is averaging 19.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.4 assists and is shooting 43.7 3-point field goal percentage.
“Grant has been amazing this year, he’s had one of the best senior years of any players that I have had,” said Chaminade men’s head coach Eric Bovaird, who has been at the school since 2011. “He can play any position offensively and defensively, he is one of the most versatile players that I’ve coached.”
Dressler is leading in the conference standings with 45.4 percent in 3-point field goal percentage and is second in the league with 19.8 points in PacWest games. He is also fifth in assists (4.5) and 12th in rebounding (5.9).
Dressler, who was named to the conference’s First Team Wednesday morning (along with teammate Tyler Cartaino), is leading a Chaminade team that is 22-6, its most wins since the 1986-87 season.
In making the big leap from his junior season to this season, Dressler explained that he didn’t do anything special over the summer before this year to upgrade his game. He mainly worked on specific areas of his game like shooting, dribbling, and conditioning.
“I think getting acclimated to a different style and a different system and also and getting used to a bigger role than he has had has changed from the past year,” Bovaird said.
Dressler has been consistently superb for the Silverswords. Dressler has scored in double digits for the last 17 games. He had a career-high of 34 points against second-ranked Concordia Irvine University, while also shooting a 5-7 from the 3-point range. He also scored the game winning 3-pointer against Azusa Pacific, then was announced the PacWest’s Player of Week, an honor he achieved four times this season.
“Some highlights of the year are definitely winning our hoops in Hawaii tournament,” Dressler said. “Being the highest ranked Chaminade team ever, being ranked most of the year, that is really memorable.”
The senior is on the 2018-19 watch list for the Bevo Francis Award, which is an award given to a non-Divison I men’s basketball player who has had a notable performance from team and individual execution as well as character on and off the court.
Dressler came to Chaminade in 2017 after transferring from Sacramento State. He explained that he wasn’t a great fit at Sacramento State and saw that Chaminade teams form of playing and coaching staff was more of his style. Since then, the 6-7 guard has contributed to pushing the Swords to a memorable season.
“I am happy I came here, it was a perfect fit for me and this season makes me feel like I made the right choice,” Dressler said.
Dressler has been playing basketball since he was a child and it has always been his favorite sport to play. The Environmental Science major expressed he would love to continue his love for basketball after college, but also explained that if the basketball career route doesn’t work out, he hopes to be a physician’s assistant.
His love for the game has pushed the Swords to the PacWest Tournament. The Swords will be playing sixth-seeded Holy Names on Thursday for the first round of the tournament that will be held in San Rafael, Calif. Tipoff is 10:30 a.m. Hawaii time. CUH swept Holy Names in both meetings this season. If the Swords win, they will play second-seeded Concordia, against which they went 1-1.
On Feb. 24, Chaminade was fifth in the NCAA’s West Regional rankings, setting the team up for a potential NCAA tournament bid next week.
“Going into the tournament we’re in a good position, but there is still a lot of basketball to be played,” Bovaird said. “We know we can beat any team, we have to play well, but we can beat any team in there, and I think our guys are excited that we’re playing everybody on a neutral court so the best team will win.”