Yesterday I attended the Pre-Season media Day Banquet in Salem, VA which was hosted by the Salem Rotary Club. The Salem Rotary Club does an outstanding job of hosting the ODAC Men’s and Women’s Basketball tournament. It is run in a first class manner and is conference tournament where the hosts and the participants are genuinely looking excited to see each other because of the quality of the event.
Yes, we were a pre-season pick at #7 for this upcoming season by the coaches in the ODAC. This is about where I had predicted us to be picked when you look at the six student-athletes which were Seniors last season (Kris Cecil, Michael Oblitey, Rob Rice, Michael Scorsome, Justin Reavis, and Rob Rice). We not only need to fill the “void” of their points, rebounds, and assists but also, the intangibles (toughness and grit) which they brought to the table for us last season.
Collectively, though with our returners and newcomers we hope to fill that “void”. This season’s captains (which were selected by their teammates) are the Seniors - Dominic Trawick, Segar Jordan, DJ Billups, and Jake Johnson. These guys did a nice job of leading the team in the pre-season and have since carried their leadership responsibilities over to our practices. Dom returns after leading the team in scoring and a 2 nd team all –ODAC selection, DJ returns a 7 ppg avg , Jake avg 3ppg until the final four games he avg. 14pts. Segar Jordan returns in the best shape of his BC career due to the hard work he put in this past summer.
Our Junior class consists of Rick Maloney, Drew Maynard, Kyle Hammond, and Mark Gibbs. These guys have been working hard in practice day in and day out. We as a team and staff are waiting and looking forward to these guys to contribute in many ways when called upon throughout the season. Drew had a very good summer in the weight room which he added about 10lbs to his frame. Kyle has been more assertive on the offensive and defensive end so far in our early practices – we need him to continue to be assertive on both ends of the floor this season. Mark and Rick are showing more confidence around the basket and have been looking more comfortable with some of their post moves which can be connected to the work which they both did over the summer.
Cody Griffith and Justin Brake are the only two which are in our Sophomore Class. Cody and Justin worked extremely hard over the summer. Cody has used last year to adjust to the college game from a guard’s perspective and returns with a stronger mentality and more confident for this upcoming season.
Our Freshman class (Lyndon Humphries, Russell White, Kordero Thompson, and Joey Geary) has been adjusting to the “college Basketball” practices. The level of play, quickness, competitiveness and intensity which has to be brought consistently not just to each practice but to each possession (offensively and defensively) in order to successfully adapt to the “college game”. They all are doing very well with this and our upper classmen have been remarkable with helping these youngsters to understand that the college game is just as much mental preparation as physical preparation. Joey and Kordero are “mixing it” up with several returning gds while Russell and Lyndon are competing day in and out with the forwards on the team.
Recently, we added several walk-ons which made the team after having a two day tryout. Adam Utz, Zach Dishman, Joshua Woody, and Tucker Kirby. These guys work hard and bring a very positive attitude every day to practice.
Last but not least , Matt Ross our Student – Asst. Coach. Matt is a Senior from Richmond , VA who is preparing himself to be a basketball coach in the future works very hard and represents our program in a positive manner.
I told are guys being picked 7th – we can be as good as we want to be. We have to have several guys to step into roles which they have not been accustomed to in the past. If they can accept their new roles and perform at the level which is expected of them on a consistent basis then we will be able to compete this season within our conference.
Have a safe Halloween weekend.
