Owls Flying High: A Promotion / Relegation Dynasty

[jksander]

Wow! Norton candidates at such a small school. I'm impressed.

I had it happen with some past dynasties, but I don't expect they'll make the cut in January. Only the top 30 of 50 move on, so maybe Larue Ragin if he does well in some big pre-conference games or something.

I think I've had 20 or 30 Norton candidates over the years playing these games, and I have NEVER had anyone make the final cut lol ...

[jksander]

[jksander]

]September 25, 2022
Here's our schedule for the upcoming season!

November
14 – Alabama State
17 - @ Southern California
21 – Oregon State
24 – Iona
28 – North Florida

December
1 – Ball State
5 - @ Minnesota
8 - @ Alabama-Birmingham
13 - @ Georgia
19 – Northern Kentucky
26 – Richmond

January
2 – NJIT
5 – Louisiana-Monroe
9 - @ Marist
12 - @ South Dakota
16 – Morehead State
19 - @ Houston Baptist
23 – Delaware State
26 - @ Longwood
30 – Florida Gulf Coast

February
2 - @ Maine
6 – Chicago State
9 - @ Cal State Northridge
13 – Denver
16 - @ NJIT
20 - @ Louisiana-Monroe
23 – Marist

Pre-conference, our road game against USC on the 17th of November will be a real showcase of whether our upper classmen are as good as I think they are. Five of our first six games are at home, then we have the brutal road triplet of Minnesota, UAB and Georgia to test our mettle before getting the next four (including our two conference openers) at home. Houston Baptist on the 19th of January will be a real test – we are 0-3 against them in prior matchups. Beyond that we don't have much history against teams in the conference beyond a couple past matchups between teams that used to be Converence “V”.

Having two Norton candidates on our team is going to increase the scrutiny placed on us early in the season, and we're going to be expected to dominate the conference. Whether that's reasonable remains to be seen, but after last year anything is possible.

[jksander]

2022-23 Kennesaw State Roster
PG – Chris Earl (6'3” 215 lbs So) Tyrone GA (Sandy Creek HS) 3.4 GPA
SG – Reggie Lewis (6'4” 206 lbs Fr) Temple GA (Temple HS) 3.0 GPA
SF – Josh Griffin (6'7” 234 lbs Jr) Fayetteville GA (Fayette County HS) 2.6 GPA
PF – Kareem Roach (6'7” 197 lbs Sr) Fairburn GA (Landmark Christian HS) 2.9 GPA
C – Larue Ragin (6'10” 276 lbs Jr) Cumming GA (North Forsyth HS) 3.1 GPA

6 – Damon Christie (6'8” 196 lbs Sr) Lincolnton GA (Lincoln County HS) 2.6 GPA
7 – Nick Granberry (6'6” 241 lbs Jr) Gainesville GA (Gainesville HS) 2.9 GPA
8 – Karim Knight (6'5” 204 lbs Jr) Warner Robins GA (Warner Robins HS) 2.4 GPA (++)
9 – Jim Cullen (6'5” 195 lbs Sr) Suwanee GA (North Gwinnett HS) 2.9 GPA
10 – Michael Cage (6'6” 234 lbs Jr) Blackshear GA (Pierce County HS) 3.6 GPA
11 – Jerome McCaffery (6'9” 243 lbs Fr) Newman GA (Newman HS) 2.6 GPA
12 – Josh Chandler (6'8” 235 lbs Fr) Villa Rica GA (Villa Rica HS) 3.1 GPA
13 – Darryl Barron (6'0” 199 lbs So RS) East Point GA (Tri-Cities HS) 3.5 GPA
14 – Brett Dersch (5'5” 160 lbs Jr) Talbotton GA (Central HS) 2.3 GPA (+, ++)
15 – Ferron Massic (6'6” 210 lbs So) Dallas GA (Paulding County HS) 2.4 GPA (+, ++)

(+) Walk-on
(++) On academic watch

[jksander]

[jksander]

[jksander]

October 16, 2022
Reggie Lewis got into a fight with Michael Cage on the court during practice, and I had a private conversation with him that started out light but became combative when he refused to even acknowlege a problem. I am not a “fly off the handle” coach, but I had to do something. A one week suspension was in order, and I told him if he doesn't straighten out his attitude he won't have a starting spot in November, no matter how solid his skills are on the court. I could tell he was not pleased.


November 6, 2022
As we head toward the start of Coach Valvano's third season with the Owls, there's a lot to look forward to. The 27-year-old wunderkind has proven to be able to work with teams even from the depths of last year's 0-13 start, pushing that team to the brink of being added to NCAA dance cards before a 15-15 finish left us all looking toward this season. Add the pressure of national recognition (two Norton players, including starter Larue Ragin and sixth-man senior Damion Christie) and people are going to be expecting huge things from our Owls.

Last year I got mocked for predicting 15 wins. I certainly didn't think they'd come in the way we got them, but we got the 15 wins, so laugh if you want. This year we have a fairly cake home schedule, so it's gonna come down to the road schedule in the pre-conference season. I think we can easily go 11-5 in Conference “U” and make a run for promotion. USC should prove troubling, but if we can split our road games and run the table at home (something I fully expect) we'll be 9-2 at the start of the conference slate and run our way to at least 20 wins for the season.

And we'll be dancing in March. Call it, bitches.

[PointGuard]

Pretty aggressive pre-conference schedule! Good luck.

Geez...your dynasty report is already on PAGE 11 for me!!!!

[jksander]

Pretty aggressive pre-conference schedule! Good luck.

Geez...your dynasty report is already on PAGE 11 for me!!!!

For me too ... I miss how we used to be able to have it set for 40 posts per page. If that's still possible I can't find it lol

[jksander]

November 14, 2022
Alabama State (0-0) @ Kennesaw State (0-0)

We sold 2,000 season tickets this year for our home slate, and the KSU Convocation Center only holds 4,792 according to our most recent gym upgrades a few seasons before I got here. So add in the packed 1,000 seat student section, and we definitely are playing to bigger crowds this year than we ever have since I got here.

We got out to a 13-4 lead on Alabama State with 16:51 to play, but we let them stay close through the half, closer than I would have liked, and by the time we reached the break we were mired in a battle rather than leading the charge. Halftime: Alabama State 40, Kennesaw State 41.

Reggie Lewis opened the second half with a three that put us up by four with 18:15 to play. Alabama State fought back and kept the game in a relentless state of flux, but with 13:09 to go we'd expanded our lead back to five, up 53-48. We just needed to get back our defensive mojo. We'd go on a 7-1 run to open things wide over the next two minutes, We led 66-57 with 7:02 to go in the game but had trouble flat-out closing the door on our opponents. Opening game jitters, I suppose, but we clamped down an came out of this with the win which is more than we can say about last year, beating Alabama State 85-69.

Player of the Game: Larue Ragin (27 pts 16 reb 3 ast 3 stl 4 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Josh Griffin (16 pts 4 reb 4 ast 3 stl) Reggie Lewis (15 pts 4 reb 3 ast 3 stl 1 blk)