by fudal » Mon Aug 19, 2024 8:07 am
Before I met the players, I had a meeting with my assistant coaches, who have already been practicing with the players over the summer. My assistants are all first time coaches at the college level, so we’re all learning as we go. Jimmy Langhurst is my recruiter, and he’s 34. Herschel Jenkins is my scout, and he’s 30. Finally, Jason Karys is in charge of practice, and he’s 27. After a short meeting, we agreed that this was going to be a difficult season, and we were unlikely to see much success outside of a few wins in conference. Being a fairly new program to division 1, wins are going to be few and far between. We are just hoping for progress game by game. Next, I met the players, and I realized what difficulties I was in store for. After a few scrimmages, I drew out the starting 5 like this:
PG: Freshman Greg Gomez (2*/3*), a great outside shooter and athlete. He has some work to do defensively, but is our best option in terms of ball handlers and passers. He does have 4 full years with us, so I’m hoping he can develop in that time into a decent player.
SG: Sophomore Antawn Blackwell (1.5*/2.5*), a true sharpshooter from the 3-point line. He’s below average at everything else, but not horrible. He should be a reliable option for a year or two in the starting 5.
SF: Senior Deveren Kelly (2*/2*), another good outside shooter. I thought about putting him at the point, because of how solid of a ball-handler he is. However, I wanted a player I could develop there.
PF: Senior Keith Sawyer (2*/2*), a very good rebounder and defender. He can shoot from deep, which suits our 5-out offense. Everyone in this starting 5 can get hot from the 3.
C: Junior Anthony Palmer (2*/2*), who I see as a very similar player to Sawyer, just a little better offensively, and a little worse defensively. He’s incredible at drawing fouls, and he’s a great free throw shooter for a big man.