by CoachC » Sat Mar 30, 2013 8:09 am
Arenas, Ronnie JR 6'2 201 lb Guard
Walk-on. Will primarily be a practice player. Is athletic with quick hands, has a nice jumpshot and a very good passer and rebounder for his size and will challenge our guards while playing on the scout team. Could see some minutes if injuries or foul trouble dictate it.
Battle, Chris JR 6'0 189 lb Guard
Junior college transfer playing his first season at Boiling Springs. Has a deadly outside shot with lots of range. Athletic with exceptionally quick hands. Able to make some "are you kidding me?" passes. Should challenge Reggie Feeley as our starting Point Guard this season.
Bradley, Derrick FR(R) 6'7 201 lb Forward
Redshirt freshman is rather small for a 4, but has a big wingspan and excellent leaping ability. Along with his quickness and work ethic that could conceivably make him a good rebounder and lockdown defender eventually. Is athletic and has a good enough jump shot to see him get minutes at the 3 as well, which is where he may eventually find his niche. Right now his skills lag behind his raw athletic talent, and he's going to have to work hard to find minutes this season.
Brown, Josh JR 6'9 239 lb Center/Forward
Conference freshman of the year 2 years ago, he usually has a stabilizing effect on our front line, and pushes Josh O'Conner in practice. Has good leaping ability but needs to position himself better for rebounding and blocking shots. We'd also like to see him be a bit more of an offensive threat. His offensive game was developing nicely his freshman year, but last season unselfishly took a back seat to O'Conner in our offense. The downside is he became a bit too unselfish perhaps. Besides being capable in the posts he also has decent intermediate jumpshot. All things aside though, Josh usually gives us something in most games and is a hard worker. Whether off the bench as O'Conner's backup, or starting at the 4 he figures to be a key role player in our rotation once again.
Evans, Tony SR 6'3 185 lb Forward.
Voted team captain by his teammates, the affable and hard-working Evans gets the most he can out of his small size. Struggles often on nights when forced to go up against the bigger 3s, but has a good nose for the ball and rebounds well for his small stature. Doesn't look to score much because of the slow release on his jumper, but can hurt a team if they leave him open. When he's in a groove, he'll often be the one sparking our team with transition baskets out of our Amoeba Zone. A good team player, Tony doesn't complain about minutes, even when he saw them drop considerably last season. He still figures to be a part of the rotation, and on some nights, depending on match-ups may get some starts. He has occasionally played the 2 for us in the past as well and is a good passer and remains an option there as well.
Feeley, Reggie SR 6'1 200 lb Guard
Often inconsistent in the past, Reggie finally started to reach his potential towards the end of the season when we made our run to the conference championship. Has always been an excellent passer, and his ball-handling late last season finally stopped causing me to pull my hair out. Has a decent jump shot, but sometimes falls in love too much with the 3 which isn't his strength. Has quick hands and a good nose for the ball, which helps generate some transition offense too at times. All Reggie needs to do is play within himself and make good use of his natural abilities and he'll be fine. He looks to share most of the minutes at the Point this season with Chris Battle either as the starter or off the bench.
Felts, Jermaine JR 6-2 180 lb Guard
A junior college transfer in his first year at Boiling Springs. Has a laser accurate jumpshot and a scorer's mentality. If he can extend his range to the 3 point arc, and perhaps drive a bit more he can become a big time scorer in this league. He and fellow newcomer Ike Jeffers would appear to be the obvious choices to replace Rob Woods' minutes at the 2 for us this season. Is a good passer and ballhandler as a shooting guard, and may have the opportunity to play a bit of point on rare occasions.
Giesen, Brandon JR 6'7 229 lb Forward
Another junior college transfer in his first year with us. Not really strong enough to play the 4, he is very athletic, however, and has good defensive instincts at the 3 which is where he will get most of his minutes for us. With some hard work he can develop into a very good defensive and rebounding wingman. He needs to work some on his jumpshot though to keep the defense honest. He does have the ability to get his man in the air, and is likely to draw some fouls, and is a very good free-throw shooter. Will probably be mostly playing for the scout team this year, but will get some opportunities to work his way into the rotation if he uses them well.
Gilchrist, Lawrence SR 6'3 219 lb Guard
The most athletic of our guards, Lawrence's career has been riddled with inconsistency. He has the ability to be a decent Point Guard but is going to have to work harder to get more than a few minutes a game most nights. He is a clutch free-throw shooter, however, and has more often than not been on the floor for us in late-game situations. Some of Lawrence's best games for us have been when the guys ahead of him are either injured or in foul trouble and he was forced to step up and do something. As a senior, he certainly has enough raw ability and experience with our system now to be a part of the rotation and contribute, but he's going to have to want it.
Jeffers, Ike JR 6'5 217 lb Guard/Forward
Another JUCO transfer playing his first season with the Bulldogs. Like Jermaine Felts has a deadly accurate jumpshot and a scorer's mentality. He also has decent defensive ability. Ike will be sharing minutes at the 2 with Felts, but most likely is going to get minutes at the 3 as well. Whether he starts or comes off the bench, he is being counted on to be one of the key players in our rotation, and someone we are going to be looking to for point production this season.
Kerr, Brandon SR 6'8 232 lb Forward
Brandon showed a lot of improvement last season as our starting 3 on most nights. His size makes him a difficult assignment for many of the wing players we see in conference play. Is quick enough to guard many of the smaller 3s, although sometimes struggles with the quicker ones. He is a good complement to Tony Evans and Ike Jeffers allowing us the latitude to go with matchups. Most nights Brandon grabs us a fair number of rebounds using his size and excellent positioning, and also understands and plays well in the Amoeba and often is found initiating or finishing the fast break. Mostly a role player in our offense, he will, however, punish the opposition for leaving him unguarded, and is an excellent passer when they don't. He moves well with or without the ball and has a quick release. He is also one of the best slashers on our team. He gives us consistent minutes on most nights. He is also big and smart enough to play the 4 occasionally when we have called on him to do so. He can be expected to be part of our rotation again this year.
Landrum, Benjamin 6'8 196 lb. JR Forward
A walk-on, Benjamin isn't strong enough to be much of a factor inside. He does possess great foot speed though and uses it well to get to loose rebounds when he is out of position, which he usually is. Has great hands though, and a nose for loose balls, which challenges some of our more talented big men in practice to not put the ball on the floor in the posts. He'll be primarily on the scout team
Moore, Donald 6'7 235 lb. JR Forward
Probably our best defensive rebounder over-all because of his excellent technique and effort. Also one of our best post defenders, and has lighting fast hands that make him very dangerous when we trap out of the Amoeba Zone. Sets a good post, and has can shoot hit a jumper well with accuracy out to 18 feet. Doesn't have the ball-handling ability to drive or shoot off the dribble, but we'd still like to see him use his ability to draw fouls in the post to score a little more. He understands his job as a role player on this team though, and uses his abilities well in that regard. His rebounding and defense guarantee him a spot in our big man rotation, and he may well be starting much of the time because of those attributes. An exceptionally hard worker, we seldom have to motivate him in practice, and he does a great job of pushing everyone else.
O'Conner, Josh "Godzilla" 6'10 286 lb SO Center
Was able to beat out Lyles of Presbyterian for Freshman of the Year in the conference because of his excellent play down the stretch. When Rob Woods called him out last year, it was like a light went on with the big guy and he was a force the rest of the season. Towards the end of the year he began hitting the boards harder, and playing better defensively as well. By season's end he clearly was no longer playing like a freshman. Offensively he's a real treat to watch most nights when we are able to get him the ball enough, and there's almost no such thing as too often. We need him to keep it going for us this season, and continue to improve defensively and on the boards, because, quite frankly, as Godzilla goes, so goes the team this year. He'll be a marked man in our offense this year, and we hope he is able to rise above it.
Sheals, Billy 6'7 221 lb SR Forward/Center
Because of his size, he's often overwhelmed a bit in the pivot at both ends, but he adapted well to playing a large number of his minutes last year at the 4. More limited offensively than Brown and O'Conner because of a limited skill set in the post, he does have a decent jumpshot from about 12-15 feet. He's also a decent free-throw shooter when he gets to the line. On any given night, we don't know exactly what we are going to get out of Billy. Some nights he goes to the boards with abandon at both ends of the court, and gets us 8 to 12 pts on putbacks and short jumpers. Other nights, he looks like a deer caught in lights. He'll be part of our rotation again, but the number of minutes he gets will depend upon him becoming more consistent in his production, especially rebounding, which we badly need.
Our starting line-up starting the season will be:
PG Battle
SG Felts
SF Kerr
PF Moore
C O'Conner
with Jeffers, Brown and Feeley playing significant minutes off the bench. Evans and Sheals will get playing time as well, and need to be productive with it. Over-all, I'm optimistic going into the season opener, other than the rebounding situation. Hopefully we'll have a great season. Season ticket sales are at an all-time high of 2300, I've been told. I want to see a sell-out before the season is over. Interest in the program on campus and in the community are at an all time high after last season's NCAA appearance. We need to keep building on it. Maybe eventually the administration will become interested in us as well.