Ramon Montez
Fall practices went pretty well. We had a bit too much of guys getting on other guys…mostly verbal but a few minor physical instances. Overall our counselling following those was pretty successful, but sure as hell hoping we don’t see crappy attitudes out of these guys throughout the season.
We have 4 freshmen but decided not to redshirt any of them. We think game experience will be better at developing them than adding the extra year of practice. Our redshirt from last season, PF Jamar McKie, didn’t develop as rapidly as we’d hoped, but maybe we just gotta give him some game time and see how he does.
Here’s how our team shakes out to begin this season:
PG—The starter will be junior Brett Mosley. As a freshman he subbed at Texas A&M and did the same for us last season. He’s benefitted from the experience and should be able to step into the starting role, although we don’t expect him to be a star. His primary backup will be freshman Calvin Heard. Calvin has fantastic potential. He could challenge to start as the season progresses, but needs some maturing and college level experience. It’s likely a couple other guys will get a few minutes at the point, but we’re still evaluating who best can do it.
SG—Our only true SG on the roster is freshman Ray Richardson. He’s pretty polished but needs to familiarize himself more with our sets so we’ll begin the season by moving sophomore Chris Broussard, last year’s starting SF to SG and have him start…at least until Richardson seems ready to inherit the job. Broussard is a very good outside shooter who hit 52% of his FG’s and 38% of his 3’s for us last year and averaged 10.3 ppg.
SF—We’ve got some good SF’s on our roster which is why we’re able to shift Broussard to SG. So senior Johnny Lubeck is going to be our initial starting SF. Lubeck’s had an unusual progression. He started for us as a freshman, but due to other players winning the role, Johnny became a primary reserve for us the following two seasons. He’s not a real 3-point threat, but he’s a good shooter from a bit closer to the basket and knows how to attack the boards. Senior Julius Waterman who subbed as a freshman at Cornell but then started for us as a sophomore. His rebounding wasn’t as good as wanted, so he returned to coming in off the bench as a junior. In practice this year, his rebounding looked a lot better so it’s possible he will challenge to start. Freshman Martin Towers is going to be a good one. He’s a sweet outside shooter, but needs a lot of development so he’ll have to prove himself to get much playing time.
PF—Our initial plan was to have 7'0" senior George Zinn again start at C, but he has shown more affinity for getting off and hitting an outside shot, so he’ll start at PF but also put in time at C. He’s a proven scorer and rebounder but injury prone. Backing him up will be both sophomore Brian Valdez, who was a starter laesst season at Kennesaw State where he averaged 10.9 ppg and 5.7 rpg, and junior Jason Collier, who’s been a solid sub for us the past 2 seasons. Then there’s freshman (RS) Jamar McKie who we will toss in at both PF and SF to see how he does.
C—Junior Kirk Reeves won the battle to start at C. As a freshman he started for Portland (averaging 11 ppg and 7.4 rpg) and started half our games last season (averaging 9.2 ppg and 4.6 rpg). He’s a good inside scorer but doesn’t like to shoot from outside. Kirk will be backed up by Zinn primarily but also both Valdez and Collier.
I like our roster and our depth. We’ve been picked to finish atop the Conference F standings and I honestly believe we can do it.