READY FOR PRIME TIME?

[PointGuard]

POST SEASON TOURNAMENT RESULTS

Selections:

MD-Eastern Shore 4th seed, South
Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 2nd seed, South
Alcorn State, 12th seed, West

NIT:

Round 1:

Arkansas-Pine Bluff (21-9)-97, Detroit Mercy-94 [OT] (Kwame Mickens-26 pts, 7 reb, 5 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk; Chris Betts-18 pts, 13 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk)

Stony Brook-75, MD-Eastern Shore (20-9)-66 (Frank Davis-15 pts, 5 reb, 1 stl, 1 blk)

Round 2:

Arkansas-Pine Bluff (22-9)-78, Dayton-76 (Kwame Mickens-23 pts, 5 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk; Damian Carrington-19 pts, 4 reb, 6 ast)

Round 3 (Quarterfinals):

Arkansas-Pine Bluff (23-9)-103, Fresno State-79 (Kwame Mickens-17 pts, 11 reb, 11 ast, 1 stl, 3 blk; Chris Beggs-26 pts, 4 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 2 blk; Jaraan Daniels-17 pts, 9 reb, 1 stl)

Round 4 (Semifinals):

Arkansas-Pine Bluff (24-9)-95, Missouri-88 (Kwame Mickens-26 pts, 5 reb, 4 ast; Dan Jefferson-20 pts, 1 reb, 4 ast, 1 stl)

Round 5 (Championship):

Akron-84, Arkansas-Pine Bluff (24-10)-68 (Dan Jefferson-16 pts, 3 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk)

NCAA:

Round 1:

Duke-81, Alcorn State (24-7)-72 (Craig Brown-23 pts, 2 reb, 4 ast)

Championships:

CIT: Marquette
CBI: Notre Dame
NIT: Akron
NCAA: Arizona

[PointGuard]

AWARDS:

Conference U:

Chris Betts, Arkansas-Pine Bluff—Conference U Defensive Player of the Year
Dontell Spencer, Arkansas-Pine Bluff—Conference U Coach of the Year
Kwame Mickens, Arkansas-Pine Bluff—Conference U 1st Team All-Conference
Will Friel, Alcorn State—Conference U 1st Team All-Conference
Dan Jefferson, Arkansas-Pine Bluff—Conference U 2nd Team All-Conference
Gabriel Atwood, Alcorn State—Conference U 2nd Team All-Conference
Chris Betts, Arkansas-Pine Bluff—Conference U 2nd Team All-Conference

Conference V:

Craig Grant, Western Illinois—Conference V Freshman of the Year
Romolo Pantini, MD-Eastern Shore—Conference V 1st Team All-Conference
Guillermo Cabrera, Western Illinois—Conference V 2nd Team All-Conference

[PointGuard]

Recruiting Results:

Ramon Montez at Alcorn State:

We had two seniors graduating and filled the scholarships they had been filling.

B. J. Jefferson is a 6-10 PF from Noxapater, MS who averaged 10.0 ppg and 8.9 rpg this past season. He’s the #840 ranked recruit and we rated him as a B-. His biggest strength is his recruiting but he shoots well form both inside and outside, but doesn’t shoot enough. Defense is definitely a work in progress, but he’s a hard worker so we’ll work on that.

Jermaine Wheeler is a 6-6 SF from York, ME. Strengths are his shooting, rebounding, and athleticism. A weakness is his defense. He’s a great leader and a hard working kid. We rated him as a C+ and he was #1441 in the recruit rankings. This past season he scored 10.0 ppg and hauled down 4.7 rpg for his high school team.

Dontell Spencer at Arkansas-Pine Bluff:

We filled both scholarships that were available.

Randy Kickert, a 6-8 SF from Greenland, AR was a recruit we rated as a C+. His recruit ranking was #1486. His biggest strengths are his shooting, particularly from outside and his rebounding and he has a good work ethic. Defense is a weakness. He averaged 11.3 ppg and 5.5 rpg for his high school team this season.

Delvon Palmer is a 6-8 PF from Jacksonville, AR. We rated him as a B- recruit and his recruit ranking was #1256. We most liked his inside scoring and athleticism and overall level of skills although defense is not a strength. He doesn’t cause problems and has been injury free. This season he averaged 14 .3 ppg and 7.4 rpg at his high school.

Mike McMillan at MD Eastern Shore

Our recruiting sucked in the summer and fall but even though we were out of recruiting money, we were able to fill one of our four scholarships this spring and it was a home run.

Jibran Hale is a 6-5 SF from Sykesville, MD. He’s ranked as the #52 best recruit and as a 4-star recruit we rated him as an A. He scored 15.7 ppg, picked off 7.4 rpg and dished out 4.1 apg as a senior. He’s a great scorer inside and also shoots well from outside. He’s an excellent rebounder and is very good defensively. He’s a good passer and very athletic. He’s not a good student and his SAT scores barely exceeded our minimum which is low, so we’ll need to get him tutors.

Since we have 3 vacant scholarships, we’ll see if we can pick up some transfer players this summer.

Ken Yamoto at UC-San Diego

We filled all 4 of our scholarships this year.

Brad Sanders is a 6-7 PF from Sutter, CA who scored 15.5 ppg and grabbed 11.0 rpg this past season. He’s a very good rebounder and scores well inside. We’ll need to work on his defense. He was in the top 25 at the Las Vegas Revue and is ranked #594. We rated him as a B-.

Jared Keating is a 6-6 PF from Atherton, CA. He’s a good shooter from outside, but excellent from inside. He’s not yet a good rebounder. This past season he averaged 13.7 ppg and just 2.7 rpg. He was ranked #1233 but we rated him as a B-.

Lance Rhodes is 6-0 PG from Culver City, CA. We have been impressed by his passing and ball handling skills and he shoots well from outside. Defense is a weakness, though. This season he averaged 12.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, and 5.9 apg. He’s exhibited some attitude problems but doesn’t cause problems. We rated him as a C+ and he was ranked #1562.

Brad Young is a 6-4 PG from Placer, CA. He’s an excellent shooter from outside and averaged 17.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg, and 3.5 apg for his high school as a senior. His biggest weakness is rebounding. He’s athletic and doesn’t cause problems. We rated him as a C+ and his recruit ranking was #1596.

Terry Morillo at Western Illinois

We had 6 scholarships to fill and got 2 recruits early and 4 recruits in April.

Larry McClain is a 6-8 C from Ferndale, MI where he averaged 14.2 ppg and 7.7 rpg as a high school senior. He’s ranked #1269 but we rated him as a B-. We really liked that he’s a strong leader. He’s an excellent inside scorer and also a solid rebounder. He doesn’t know how to spell “defense”, so that’s something we will have to work on.

Mohamed Ammons is a 6-5 SG from Wilmette, IL. He’s ranked #1500 and we rated him as a C+. But he has a sweet shot from outside, is a very good ball handler and is very athletic. His major weakness is rebounding. This past season he averaged 16.9 ppg, 3.8 rpg, and 3.0 apg. He doesn’t cause problems but could work harder.

Charles Jones is a 6-7 PF from Shawnee Mission, KS. This past season he averaged 11.9 ppg and 7.0 rpg. He scores well from inside and is a good rebounder. We rated him as a B- and he was ranked #906. His defense needs work.

Martin Dixon is a 6-5 PG from Johnston City, IL. He was only ranked #1789 and we rated him as a C, but we liked the way he passes and handles the ball and he shoots well from outside. He’s an extremely hard work but has had some attitude issues. Defense is a weakness. He averaged 9.2 ppg, 5.1 rpg, and 3.6 apg as a senior in high school.

James Johnson is a 6-7 SF from Verona, WI. He averaged 16.6 ppg, 6.4 rpg and 4.4 apg this past season. He’s a very good shot from outside and can get inside and score as well. He’s a good passer and strong defensively. We rated him as a B- and he was ranked #634.

Jonathan Bailey is a 6-2 PG from Chicago, IL. As a senior he averaged 11.5 ppg, 4.6 rpg, and 4.1 apg. He’s a hard worker. His a sharp shooter from outside and has very good passing skills. He’s weak defensively but is a hard worker so we’ll work to improve that.

[PointGuard]

Staff Hiring

Ken Yamoto at UC-San Diego hired two new assistant coaches. Mack Redd will be his 1st assistant coach and his scouting coach. Rodney Williams was hired as his 3rd assistant coach and will handle practice.

Terry Morillo at Western Illinois hired Tyler Berry as his 2nd assistant in charge of practice and Marvin Tackett who will handle scouting as the new 3rd assistant coach.

Dontell Spencer at Arkansas-Pine Bluff negotiated a new contract with his 3rd assistant coach Bill Schafer to keep him from departing.

[PointGuard]

Discussion during a meeting of the 5 coaches:

Ken Yamoto: Hey, you guys really put together good seasons.

Ramon Montez: You did well also Ken. You were on target to finish high enough in the standings to earn the team a promotion, and even though your team slumped late in the season, you just barely missed out on that.

Terry Morillo: It’s pretty impressive that 3 of you will be moving up to higher conferences next year. Congratulations, Dontell, Mike and Ramon!

Ken Yamoto: Dontell, your getting your team to the championship game in the NIT Tournament was tremendously impressive.

Dontell Spencer: I think we’re all just finally getting our feet on firm ground in the collegiate ranks. Our recruiting is getting better too.

Terry Morillo: Well all of your recruiting efforts are getting better. I was only able to fill one of four scholarships.

Ramon Montez: But the guy you got is a 4-star. None of the rest of us was able to pull that off. And I bet you get some good transfer players also.

Mike McMillan: Hey, what’s up with college boards of directors? We have good seasons and the only one of us able to get our requests approved was Ken.

Ken Yamoto: Yeah, actually I was extremely surprised that mine accepted my plea for an upgrade to our facilities. I’m really happy that they’ll go up from was I graded as a D to more like a C.

Dontell Spencer: While I’m happy for you, Ken, I’m pretty unhappy that three straight years of gaining promotions for the team haven’t gotten my board to approve an increase in our budget, which we really need to be able to competitively recruit.

Ramon Montez: Yeah, my also continues to say you seem to be doing just fine with the budget you already have.

Terry Morillo: Did you request a facilities upgrade like I did…and get refused, Mike?

Mike McMillan: I sure as hell did and the board told me they want a big increase in our level of prestige before they will approve any upgrades.

Dontell Spencer: Bottom line is all our teams are being much more successful that they were before we started coaching, we’re increasing home attendance which means our schools are raking
in more money, and our boards just aren’t supportive.

Ramon Montez: I’m willing to give it another year or two, but if I can’t get support from the university, there are other schools who are showing interest. I’m sure that’s the same for all of us. There’s always a lot of movement in the collegiate coaching ranks each year.

[PointGuard]

2035-2036 SEASON

Promotion/Relegation

(Top 4 in the standings in each conference are promoted to the next higher conference; bottom 4 in the standings in each conference are relegated down to the next lower conference...with the exception of Conference V for which just the last place team is relegated and the Independent team with the best record is promoted into Conference V)

Relegated to Conf B:
Virginia
Notre Dame
Kansas State
Arkansas

Promoted to Conf A:
Butler
Texas
Louisville
UCLA

Relegated to Conf C:
Marquette
Seton Hall
Creighton
Purdue

Promoted to Conf B:
Baylor
St. Bonaventure
Georgetown
Nebraska

Relegated to Conf D:
Oklahoma State
Wisconsin
Tennessee
Syracuse

Promoted to Conf C:
Texas Tech
Vermont
Cincinnati
Pittsburgh

Relegated to Conf E:
Missouri
Iowa
Temple
Iowa State

Promoted to Conf D:
Southern Methodist
Nevada-Las Vegas
Miami (FL)
Penn State

Relegated to Conf F:
Arizona State
Belmont
Saint Louis
Mississippi State

Promoted to Conf E:
Yale
Central Florida
Rutgers
Houston

Relegated to Conf G:
Stanford
Indiana
Murray State
Wright State

Promoted to Conf F:
Old Dominion
Oregon State
Illinois State
Wake Forest

Relegated to Conf H:
Mississippi
Western Michigan
Washington State
St. Mary’s

Promoted to Conf G:
Fresno State
Nevada
Harvard
Louisiana Tech

Relegated to Conf I:
DePaul
New Mexico State
South Dakota State
Western Kentucky

Promoted to Conf H:
Wyoming
Missouri State
Marshall
Furman

Relegated to Conf J:
LaSalle
East Tennessee State
Drake
Green Bay

Promoted to Conf I:
Northern iowa
Louisiana Lafayette
Weber State
Middle Tennessee

Relegated to Conf K:
Hofstra
Georgia State
Stephen F. Austin
Texas Christian

Promoted to Conf J:
Chattanooga
Stony Brook
Northeastern
Sam Houston State

Relegated to Conf L:
Rider
Texas Arlington
Hawaii
Wofford

Promoted to Conf K:
Morehead
MD-Baltimore County
Towson
Princeton

Relegated to Conf M:
Charlotte
Cleveland State
Air Force
Bucknell

Promoted to Conf L:
Central Michigan
Colgate
Eastern Michigan
Florida Gulf Coast

[u]Relegated to Conf N:[/u]
IUPUI
Ball State
Abilene Christian
South Alabama

Promoted to Conf M:
Georgia Southern
Coastal Carolina
Austin Peay
Rice

Relegated to Conf O:
Oakland
Albany
Texas-San Antonio
East Carolina

Promoted to Conf N:
San Diego
High Point
Portland
Florida International

Relegated to Conf P:
UC-Riverside
Cal Poly
Niagara
South Dakota

Promoted to Conf O:
Texas State
Youngstown State
Northwestern State
Jacksonville State

Relegated to Conf Q:
American
Denver
Cal State Bakersfield
Cornell

Promoted to Conf P:
Norfolk State
Long Island
Loyola (MD)
Northern Kentucky

Relegated to Conf R:
Saint Peter’s
Gardner-Webb
Delaware
Troy

Promoted to Conf Q:
Fairleigh Dickinson
Texas-Rio Grande
Tennessee State
Lamar

Relegated to Conf S:
Fordham
Canisius
Northern Colorads
Columbia

Promoted to Conf R:
Incarnate Word
Jacksonville
Western Carolina
Lafayette

Relegated to Conf T:
Tennessee Tech
Hampton
Bethune-Cookman
South Carolina Upstate

Promoted to Conf S:
Chicago State
McNeese State
Bryant
St. Francis (NY)

Relegated to Conf U:
Jackson State
Massachusetts-Lowell
Saint Francis (PA
Prairie View

Promoted to Conf T:
Alcorn State
Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Seattle
Central Arkansas

Relegated to Conf V:
South Carolina State
Central Connecticut
Merrimack
North Florida

Promoted to Conf U:
MD-Eastern Shore
Kennesaw State
Presbyterian
North Alabama

Relegated to Conf Independent Status:
Binghampton

Promoted to Conf V:
NJIT

[PointGuard]

[b]Recruit Class Rankings[/b]

Western Illinois--#73
MD-Eastern Shore-#111
UC-San Diego--#130
Arkansas-Pine Bluff--#270
Alcorn State--#318

[PointGuard]

Transfers

The transfer rules have been greatly liberalized. Since transfer players won’t have to sit out a year after transferring, it’s expected that many more players will opt to try to hook on with new division I programs this summer.

Terry Morillo, Western Illinois: We had a full roster with 13 players on scholarship and 2 walk-ons when May 1st rolled around. We need more talent at the guard positions, though.
Two players then entered the transfer pool. William Byams, a sophomore C with a lot of potential but still needing a lot more development felt there were just too many ahead of him on our depth chart. SG Mike Noyola, another sophomore, also didn’t play much last season and while he would have been competing for a starting job, he decided to try his luck elsewhere. We really need a strong SG and either another guard or a big man with the remaining scholarship.

Mike McMillan, MD-Eastern Shore: We approached summer with just 10 scholarship players and one walk-on player on our roster, but I like who we have.
Whoa! We were already short on players and 3 of our guys opted to transfer away. Junior SG Ewald Leitenberg played about 10 minutes a game but had yet to develop to go beyond that. Frank Reed is a senior who started and played very well for us last season, so he’ll be tough to replace. Sophomore SF Jair Jupiter only got into one game last season and was unlikely to get a great deal more playing time this season. So during the transfer sessions we have 6 scholarships available and really need guards plus a C.

Ken Yamoto, UC-San Diego: On May 1st we had a full roster of 15 players with 13 players on scholarship. Talent-wise there’s some to be desired.
When we found out about who was transferring, we weren’t surprised. We lost our starting PG sophomore Kevin White and senior forward Charles Williams who played very little for us. White never really clicked with the rest of the team. Williams did but just wanted to see if he could latch on somewhere where he could play more. I’ll be looking to land a very good guard and the best other player at any position during the transfer period.

Dontell Spencer, Arkansas-Pine Bluff: While I’d like to see an improvement at PG and SF, we’re fortunate that we had 13 scholarship players and 2 walk-ons on our roster on May 1st.
But then we learned that 3 of our players will be transferring away from us. Jamar Brown is a senior PF who did a good job for us coming off the bench last season, but wants to get a lot more playing time in his final year of collegiate ball. Antony Gunn, a junior SG, was a disruptive force on the team and played very little for us. Paul Marley, is also a junior SG who played little last season. We need 2 guards and a SF from the transfer pool.

Ramon Martez, Alcorn State: Our May 1st roster consisted of 13 scholarship players and one walk-on. We’re stronger inside that at the perimeter.
Two of our players are transferring to other programs: sophomore SF Darrick Grace who played very little last season and wasn’t expected to do that much more this season; and sophomore C Jarrett Dudley who also only played a few minutes last season and wasn’t part of our plans for this season. We need to land at least one guard and then either a guard or SF with the other available scholarship. Jamar Brown is a senior SF who was a good sub last season.

[PointGuard]

Transfer Results (part 1 of 5)

Ken Yamoto, UC San Diego: The transfer period was frenzied. It took us a while to get our players, but we ended up filling all of our scholarships. We missed out on some guys but midway through the period, we picked up two new players for our team. We needed a SG and we got one when Stephan Perry accepted our scholarship offer. He’s a 6’1” SG from St. Mary’s, PA. Perry will be a senior so we’ll only have him for this coming season. He played for Howard where he was a sub averaging under 10 mpg. He wants more playing time. He’ll get it with us since right now he’s penciled in as a starter. He’s a good rebounder for a guard but isn’t likely to be a big scorer. Our second new player will be 6’9” C Michel Woodward. He’s a junior from Rochester, IL and played for SIU Edwardsville previously. I like the way he attacks the boards. He needs to shoot more, particularly since he’s got a good feel for getting the ball in the hoop inside. I think we’re a little stronger when comparing who we lost and who we gained due to transfers. But we’ll just have to see how things go when the season gets underway.

[PointGuard]

Transfer Results (part 2 of 5)

Mike McMillan, MD-Eastern Shore: I absolutely LOVE the greatly expanded transfer arrangement. We hit the jackpot. We had 6 vacant scholarships and filled every one of them. Not only did we get quantity but we got good quality as well so our team will be much stronger when these 6 players start playing for us. So here’s who we added: PG Lamarr Ramage, a 6’2” sophomore from Elaine, AR who transferred from Central Arkansas where he did a good job coming into the games from the bench as a freshman. He’s a good passer and ball handler who will provide good depth for us at the point. We added a second PG when 6’0” sophomore Lataryl Brown who is from Mineola, TX came to us after starting as a freshman for Prairie View. He’s a good scorer, passer, and rebounder. We also picked up 2 new SG’s. The first is Marcos Santini, a 6’5” sophomore who came from Argentina and played as a freshman for Loyola (MD). He’s a very good scorer and rebounder. The other new SG will be Travis Temple who is a 6’1” senior from Durant, MS. As a junior he was a starer where he averaged 21.6 ppg and hit a high percentage of his FG’s, FT’s and 3’s. He’s also a pretty good defender. Besides the 4 new guards, we will have 2 new big men. 6’10” sophomore C Geordie Johnson from Portsmouth, VA. He didn’t get a lot of playing time in his freshman season and William & Mary. He’l be a good backup at C for us this coming season. The final transfer player we landed was PF Terrance Minor, a 6’8” junior who previously played for Ball State after coming from Dayton, OH. He started every game as a freshman and sophomore and averaged 12.0 ppp and 5.0 rpg over those 2 seasons. He’a good scorer, rebounder, shot blocker and gets his fair share of steals. It was a very good haul and will make us a lot stronger inside this year. At least 2 of these transfer players will start for us and all 6 will get a good amount of playing time.