"I'm afraid so son", replies Marek. "I guess he might have regretted being in such a good mood when he extended our contracts, and he figures this is how he might even things up."
A very tough first game of the season is scheduled against the Cincinnati Bearcats, and the Jaguars are mauled 79-56. Freshman PG Ramal Church is bewildering stuck at the bottom of the depth chart and does not see any game time, while fellow freshman SG Jermaine Owens is 6th man on the depth charts and is top scorer for the team from limited minutes.
Owens is made a starter for the second game against Fresno State, and responds with a 25 point player of the game effort that sees the Jaguars hold on for a 79-74 win. Church is moved up to 6th man, but only sees limited minutes.
Owens follows up with another POTG in a win against High Point, and then mounts a huge comeback on the road against Lafayette before ultimately falling short by a single point. Owens had 22 points including 4 from 6 behind the arc.
Hamish is starting to feel very vindicated with his scouting of Owens. He's hoping that Church starts blossoming and getting more of an opportunity soon as well, as these were the two that he really did think would make a difference. His friend Jules is also happy; he's still starting and Owens is starting to make his life easier as well.
This early surge of confidence brought about by the impact of Owens is translating into some good wins. The rather brutal non-conference schedule rolls on though, and disappointingly, the Jaguars are on a 3 game losing streak as they prepare for their home opener against Troy. Hamish feels like confidence and enthusiasm are ebbing again.
Looking at things positively, the Jaguars are entering the conference games with a 6-5 record and only need 4 wins to meet their goal for the year. Those 4 wins should hopefully be enough to also avoid finishing last in the conference, meeting their other goal.
Owens proves to be the difference. He almost single-handedly leads the Jaguars to an improved record in conference play (6-10), and they finish 12-15 overall. This is good enough for an 8th place finish out of the 11 teams, and they easily meet the AD's goals for the year.
Perhaps more importantly to Hamish, they get to play in the Sun Belt Conference tournament this year! This is just the sort of experience he was looking for to continue his education in being a coach. When he sees their first round matchup is against Georgia Southern, he can't decide whether this is a good or a bad thing though. He doesn't have to waste too much time contemplating it however, as the Eagles easily see them on their way out.
A disappointing end to the season in some ways, but the entire team is happy with their progress this year and they are looking forward to doing even better next year. The Sun Belt conference is a bit better regarded after the improved showing from a number of teams [P:31->33], but strangely people seem to keep focusing on the overall number of losses rather than the improved record for the Jaguars [P:15->13].
But the enthusiasm and energy around campus can't be denied, and it soars again when it comes to the annual conference awards dinner. Jermaine Owens is recognised for the huge impact he has had and is named SBC Freshman of the Year with 17.4ppg, 1.3apg, 3.5rpg, 1.4spg, and 0.3bpg. He's also named to 1st Team All-Conference side. He had 11 POTG and 8 POTW awards during the season.
Before the season wraps up, Marek and Hamish receive commitments, and ultimately signed LOIs, from SFs Andy Edwards and Donald Edwards, and C C.J. Murphy. Hamish likes both the SF picks because they are rated as good defenders, and Donald in particular might turn into something decent for the Jaguars.
Both SFs are also from out of state, so this is perhaps a sign of much better recruiting ability displayed than last year. He's still a bit non-plussed with why Marek would offer scholarships to players like Murphy who are scouted so lowly and with no discernible advantages for this team, but he continues to put it down under the category of "still need to watch and learn".
Overall though, Hamish thinks he still learnt quite a lot again this year. Again, mostly from his recruiting, but Marek involved him a bit more in training and game day this year and he felt he started to learn and improve in those aspects as well [D:19->21, R:37->43, S:9->11, and PD:46->47]. Mayce Tillman runs the practices, and since he probably knows the most about defense out of all of them, Hamish made an effort to pay close attention while he was helping out this year. He felt like it paid off.
And probably no more so at the very end of the year when he realised that he was starting to make a name for himself [R:8->9]. Well, the start of one at least. Other schools were taking a little more notice, and he was gob-smacked at some of the interest he got.
Best Offers -
2nd asst Campbell 23-8 (14-4) P:24, F:C, A:B-
2nd asst San Francisco 17-14 (10-8) P:18, F:C, A:B-
3rd asst High Point 19-11 (12-6) P:20, F:C-, A:C
The offer to move to the Big South from Campbell was tempting, as it was a full time offer and a step up in responsibilities at a more prestigious school (albeit a Baptist university that didn't really gel with Hamish's upbringing or view on the world).
Other offers by both High Point and Lafayette for 3rd assistant roles showed they appreciated those responsible for signing Jermaine Owens, the player who beat them single-handedly earlier in the season, but weren't really considered as they would be a step sideways.
Hamish decided to stay on for at least one more year (even with his friend Jules Abraham graduating and leaving), as he was excited to see what Owens would do next, and how his new recruits would do next year.
This would be the best test of all he'd learnt the previous year...
