Tales of a Georgia Boy

[The Purple Emperor]

Even now the smell of peanuts takes me back to my childhood. Every three years, I'd be on my Grampa Kenny's farm, digging up the harvest from their underground home, the soil rich and dark under my feet. He always leaned against the fence, chewing his tobacco and overseeing my work. "Some folks try to plant them every year, Kenneth," he told me, "They don't understand patience and everything in its season." The intervening two years he planted corn, the ears pale yellow and noticeable to the touch as my girl Sally Jo's hair. Grampa Kenny did this to prevent disease among the peanuts. More memories. When he grew old and the farm too much to manage, he sold it and bought a small house in our quiet town in north-central Georgia. Daddy (Ken, always Ken) had no interest in the homestead and hated it growing up. He was at home with the cold, detached world of numbers, and owned an accounting business that wasn't as successful as it could have been because of how distant he was with everyone.

Not like Grampa Kenny, always warm and full of laughter. After he moved, he grew peach trees in his backyard. After another three years, they fruited. I remember the peaches with their soft pastel orange glow reminding me faintly of the basketball I carried everywhere since I was four years old, their fuzzy skin reminiscent of the beard I tried so desperately to grow but never could. I've never enjoyed large cities - they've always struck me as noisy, soulless, and dirty; dead places where you can't even hear yourself think. Not like the country. In those open spaces and among the trees, you can feel God like nowhere else.

In our tiny high school, I was a star guard. We won the state title for our level my senior year, and I received a full scholarship to play down at Valdosta State. Sally Jo broke up with me midway through my first semester for some engineering dweeb at Georgia Tech, which made me a Georgia Bulldog fan for life. The rarefied air I knew in high school disappeared in college. I did manage to be a two year starter, but was unremarkable. Grampa Kelly died of mouth cancer my junior year, a month after the first time he saw me as a starter. We lost to Shorter, but he hugged me after the game, said that he loved me and was proud of me. You see, I was the first one in my family to go to four year college. Half the town turned out for his funeral, because he had that way with people. He also told me every time I saw him, "It's not the smartest or the prettiest people who make it in life. It's not the nicest or the kindest, either. It's the folks who know how to talk folks." That advice is permanently burned in my brain - especially after seeing Daddy's bitterness at not being all he could be.

So I've been an outgoing person my whole life. After I graduated, I stayed in Valdosta as an assistant for a couple years, where my reputation as a recruiter spread almost immediately after we landed players nobody thought we could - guys who might have been fringe players at a minor D-I school were sold on the idea of becoming starters, if not superstars, for us. And so, at just 26 years old, I found myself contacted by a small college in South Carolina that'd heard of my exploits and felt I was the right one to lead their fledgling program. It didn't take me long at all to accept, because this was what I wanted - the chance to call the shots as a head coach. That it was in a town was so much the better. Mama was beside herself for days that I was leaving the state, but eventually resigned herself with a sigh and, "At least you're not going up north." Daddy, true to form, said nothing.

[PointGuard]

Welcome to the land of Dynasty Reports! Great start!!!

[The Purple Emperor]

Welcome to the land of Dynasty Reports! Great start!!!

Thank you.


Presbyterian College Blue Hose
Head Coach: Kenneth Appleblossom III
Conference: Big South (20 Prestige)
Team Prestige: 4
Overall Record: 67-150 (.309)
No Division I postseason appearances
Facilities: D
Academics: C

Elevated to full Division I status in 2012, Presbyterian made the NCAA Division II tournament four times (1996, 2002, 2003, and 2006), and made the D-2 Sweet 16 once, in 2003. Not exactly a lot of rich history for a school that began play in 1913-14. Presbyterian itself was founded in 1880 and is a small private liberal arts Presbyterian college of combined roughly 1,400 undergrad and grad students. The acceptance rate is around 57%, making them a selective admission school. They're most noted as being one of two South Carolina schools to have a Confucius Institute, focusing on developing economic and cultural engagement with China - including offering all levels of Mandarin. The School of Pharmacy, despite being in existence only since 2010 with accreditation in 2014, has won numerous awards and grants, and is a fast-rising program. The campus is also home to the largest bronze statue of a Scotsman in the world.

Clinton, South Carolina, where PC is located, is a small town of 8,600 whose biggest claim to fame outside of the college is their highly-regarded K-12 Science Olympiad programs.

I have a 3 year contract paying me $80,000 a year, with the goal of avoiding last place in the Big South. After meeting my players, that might be a tall order - we have 5 scholarships to fill and there's precious little talent on the roster.

Guards
Junior Darius Phillips is the clear starting point guard - He has good handles, is our best defender (though that says nothing), and has some stealing ability with great size at 6'5, 193. Ronny Newman is 6'4, 186 and listed as a point guard, but with his explosive athleticism and great handling, I like him as the starting SG. Our recruiting class was ranked #313 (out of 352), but I love Orlando Robisch's potential - if he lives up to it, he'll be the best player among our current guys by a magnitude of I can't even count that high. But he's very raw right now, so he's getting a redshirt year. That means I'll have to redshirt at least one, if not two, of whomever we bring in next year.

Wings/Forwards
We'll have to play a couple alleged 4s at the 3, because both our natural SFs are 6'3, and that just won't do. Senior Alan Ennis (6'8, 212) has good ability to draw contact and will get first crack at the 3. Fellow senior Marckell Berry is undersized at 6'8, 198, but will be the PF because he's the best rebounder on our team and has quality handles there.

Centers
The only noteworthy guy here is senior Kebu Isenhower, the only one who lives in the paint and with jaw-dropping ability to get trips to the line inside. He's also our most complete player, though short at 6'8, 254 lbs.

Starting Lineup
PG Darius Phillips (JR)
SG Ronny Newman (JR)
SF Alan Ennis (SR)
PF Marckell Berry (SR)
CE Kebu Isenhower (SR)

I haven't talked about any of our reserves because they're all awful players for this level. It's going to be a long, long season.

My staff is a trio of senior citizens who don't care at all about academics, whereas that's a top priority of mine. One of the conditions of my hiring was that I allow them to hold over from the previous regime. They'll be gone after this season.

Our players are most suited to the Man and 1-3-1 zone defenses, but I'm going to split our setup and training between the Man and 1-2-2 zone. On offense, the Motion is their top priority, followed by Princeton and Triangle in roughly equal awareness. The Triangle is my favorite, so we'll be running that exclusively when we have a set offense (half the time) with the other half of our offense in transition. I'm trying to keep things as simple as possible.

The first scholarship offer goes out to Denny Goree, a 6'8, 258 lb big out of Blacksburg, SC. He had initial interest in us and liked his visit. While his first ranking is low at #1345, he appears to have good scoring, shotblocking, and passing. Absolutely no athleticism though, and average in other areas.

A few weeks later, we offered to big man Del Oquin from Kentucky. He was a long shot, but I felt his size and skills were the perfect complement to Goree, who jumped up to #708 in the first rankings update. Forward Ladrick Harrington from Barnwell, SC became our third offer. I wasn't sold on him really, but he was an excellent rebounder and something told me there was more to him than what I was seeing. Plus, he was actually interested, and we needed to get bodies in here.

By the end of August, we were the #2 school on Denny Goree's list and #6 on Ladrick Harrington's. We'd also cracked the door on Marcelle Jefferson, a big man out of Tennessee who didn't hate his campus visit outright, so he became our fourth offer. The final offer was to small forward Nick Collins from Florida, who like Jefferson was a wedged open visit.

We locked up Denny Goree and Ladrick Harrington on verbals right after their first visit! Although Goree slid to #1332, Harrington stayed fairly steady at #574. It was a huge relief just to get a couple of commits on board. Del Oquin loved our talk about him getting to play lots early for us, but still wouldn't come and visit the campus. Nonetheless, we jumped up to #2 on his board. Marcelle Jefferson wasn't at all interested, so we pulled his offer.

Nick Collins chose South Carolina verbal over us, and a backup plan for Marcelle Jefferson opted for Mississippi Valley State. I couldn't believe Nick was going to a P5 school when he wanted to play right away, so I re-opened my pursuit of him. Del Oquin moved us to #1 and I felt sure we would nab him, too. We did, even as Nick Collins[./b] continued to reject us.

Commits At The Start of Practice
[b]C Denny Goree - #976 (Trending up) - 6'8, 258 - Blacksburg High School - Blacksburg, SC
- B scoring and blocking, C passing, F handling and athleticism - 14 points, 1.7 assists, 9.2 rebounds, 1.6 steals, 2.8 blocks - 6'8, 258 - Post oriented player, comes in with knowledge of 1-2-2 zone - 2.3 GPA
- Projects as a PF at the next level with strong shotblocking instincts and ability to pass the ball.

PF Ladrick Harrington - #956 (Trending down) - 6'6, 229 - Barnwell HS - Barnwell, SC
- High work ethic, B rebounder, A shooter, D defense and scoring - 8.1 points, 1.8 assists, 10.3 rebounds, 1.3 steals, 1.7 blocks - 6'6, 229 - 2.4 GPA
-Size and ability to hit the outside shot as an all-levels shooter suggests SF. Weak defender who doesn't look for his own shot enough, but his rebounding and effort have national rankings list putting him higher than his talent level suggests

C Del Oquin - #1424 (Trending down) - 6'10, 244 - Bulitt Central HS - Shepherdsville, KY
- High work ethic, knowledge of the 1-2-2 zone, B scorer, rebounder, and defender, C passing and handling, F athleticism, D FT shooting - 15.3 points, 1.8 assists, 9.1 rebounds, 1.4 steals, 1.9 blocks - 2.9 GPA
-Unclear why the national rankings have him so low. Looks like a solid all around big man with smooth hands inside and quality boarding and defense to go with perfect size. Could be the the Blue Hose's leading scorer when he develops. Probable four year starter.