OMARI

[PointGuard]

Awards:

Lonnie Robertson—SWAC Player of the Year

Lonnie Robertson—SWAC Defensive Player of the Year

Lonnie Robertson—SWAC 1st Team All-Conference

Correy Parker—SWAC 2nd Team All-Conference

Both Correy and Lonnie deserved their honors. I wasn’t surprised by Lonnie being named to the 1st Team All-Conference but really didn’t expect him to land both the Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year awards. He came to us as a junior since he played 2 seasons of JC ball, so we’ll have him for just one more year, but I’m sure glad we were able to recruit him. Correy came to us from Chicago-Illinois after playing their one season so he’ll be back with us for 2 more seasons.

[PointGuard]

End of Season Issues

Our performance in the NCAA Tournament caught some eyes. Several schools showed interest in having me as their head coach. I was tempted, particularly by Louisville and DePaul. Both are in serious need of development. I decided to remain at Grambling to see how if I can get the Tigers on top in the SWAC this coming year. After finding out my request for a budget increase was denied, I had second thoughts…but too late for this coming season, although the board’s failure to provide support to the program might make me seriously consider job offers next year.

I’m keeping all my assistant coaches. Our budget is insufficient to go after more highly qualified assistants.

We had 6 or 7 players consider transferring. I tried to encourage them all to stay at Grambling. I can’t say my arguments were at all persuasive. But ultimately, for whatever reason, none of them decided to transfer. While I was happy to have everyone returning, when I looked at some of the players available in the Transfer Portal, I considered cutting a player or two so that we could possibly make a quick upgrade on our roster. But ultimately I decided to forego the temptation since all my players had recommitted to Grambling plus our program’s prestige would decline and cutting players could negatively effect team chemistry and other player’s attitudes.

[PointGuard]

3rd Season Coaching at Grambling

Recruiting

We have 5 players (PG Josh Williams, SG Lonnie Robertson, PF Anthony Erwin, PF Adam Scott, and C Etan Benton) graduating so recruiting to fill those 5 upcoming vacancies with our limited budget will be a severe test. Ideally I’d like to see us land 2 big men, a SG, a PG, and the best player we can get regardless of position). Due to our limited budget we will have to focus in-state and within the region. Since we have so many scholarships to fill, I wouldn’t mind us getting 1 or 2 JC players to balance out the class structure on our roster and bring in some experience that goes beyond playing high school ball.

[PointGuard]

Summer & Fall Recruiting Results

Lots of effort…No success. We had a tough time getting recruits interested. We made several scholarship offers, but were repeatedly spurned. We now will turn down our effort and expenditure of money on recruiting until March/April. In the meantime, we’ll simply make some phone/text contact with recruits remaining on our list to try to incrementally build interest.

[PointGuard]

On the cusp of the season

Fall practice has concluded and our first game of the season is right around the corner. Our pre-conference schedule has us playing 9 away games and only 2 home games.

Practices ran smoothly. I was most impressed by how our two freshmen SF’s (Keith Bowie and David Heyward) quickly became confident with our sets and look to be ready to play well on the collegiate level. We’re pretty solid throughout our lineup and have good depth. Here’s how we’ll start the season:

At PG—Mario Kelly will start with Josh Williams as his main backup. Hayden Conrad and Brad O’Neil will also get some playing time at PG.

Our starting SG will again be Lonnie Robertson with Brad O’Neil serving as a strong backup plus also playing a bit at SF and PG. Hayden Conrad is likely to also get some time on the court at SG.

Keith Bowie will begin the season as our starting SF but David Heyward has been showing about equal skill so both will get plenty of playing time.

On the interior, Etan Benton and Correy Parker will again start at PF and C, respectively. Etan will be our main backup at C with Mark Hartsfield also getting time backing up at C. Anthony Erwin, Adam Scott and Brody Rowland are all solid backups at PF and will get substantial playing time.

We’ve been picked to come out on top in the SWAC standings this season. I think we can do it if we don’t have a letdown during the season or serious injuries.

[PointGuard]

WEEK #1

Nov 15: Grambling Tigers (0-0) @ LeMoyne Dolphins (0-0)

We won this game 79-76. The game was close for the first 25 minutes with 9 lead changes. We then went on a run that put us up by 18 with 9 minutes. But we squandered that lead and the Dolphins edged closer all the way up to the end of the game as we barely held them off. We shot well (49%) except on our 3’s (24%), were +9 on the boards, but we need to control the ball (19 turnovers) better. SG Lonnie Robertson tossed in 19 points and PF Etan Benton had 12 points and 7 rebounds. SF Keith Bowie took a hard blow to his arm…the injury won’t keep him from playing in our next game and should fully resolve by next week.



Nov. 18: Grambling Tigers (1-0) @ Long Beach State 49ers (0-1)

We blew the 49ers off their court, stomping them by a final score of 104-87. At halftime we were up 54-37. Our lead grew to 23 points in the 2nd half as we were never seriously challenged. Although I wasn’t pleased with our defensive effort, we totally dominated with our offense (59% from the field including 57% on our 3-pointers) and totally crushed Long Beach State on the boards (44-24) plus did a much better job controlling the ball (just 11 turnovers). C Correy Parker played great (25 points, 10 rebounds, 5 blocks). SG Lonnie Robertson scored 13, PF Etan Benton had 12 points, SF Keith Bowie hit for 11 points, and SG Brad O’Neil added 10 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and a block.



Three other SWAC teams (Florida A&M, Alabama A&M, and Prairie View) went 2-0 also this week.

SWAC Awards: Eddie Bellairs of Alabama State was named the SWAC Player of the Week and Derrick Correa was the SWAC Freshman Player of the Week.

[PointGuard]

WEEK #2

Nov. 22: Grambling Tigers (2-0) @ Western Carolina Catamounts (0-1)

We suffered a tough loss 75-71. We were in control of the game throughout the first half and early in the 2nd half, but the Catamounts overtook us with 11 minutes to go. We came up just short in a comeback in the final few minutes of the game. Western Carolina shot a little better than us (54% to 48%) which was the difference. Our bench was outscored 30-16…which I guess was an even bigger difference. SF Keith Bowie topped our scoring with 20 points. C Correy Parker put in 14 points while SG Lonnie Robertson had 11 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists.



Nov. 25: Grambling Tigers (2-1) @ Merrimack Warriors (1-2)

We won another close game, 72-69. After battling through 11 lead changes and 6 ties plus trailing 32-27 at halftime, we held onto a small lead throughout much of the 2nd half and kept the Warriors from overtaking us at the end of the game. Our bench scored 30 of our 62 points. Out top scorers were SG Lonnie Robertson with 12 points and SF Keith Bowie who scored 10 (and pulled down 7 boards).



SWAC Awards: SF Keith Bowie was the conference Freshman Player of the Week. In our two games this week, Keith scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. The conference Player of the Week was Vernard Prato of Prairie View.

Last year’s conference bottom dweller, Prairie View, is unbeaten this year with 3 straight victories.

[PointGuard]

WEEK #3

Nov. 29: Grambling Tigers (3-1) @ #11 ranked Louisiana State Fighting Tigers (5-0)

Surprise! We stopped unbeaten LSU on their court 73-59. After trailing the first 10 minutes, we slipped ahead and carved out a 32-27 halftime advantage. We outplayed the Fighting Tigers in the 2nd half and silenced their big crowd. A combination of excellent D and domination on the boards were keys to our success. C Correy Parker was our sparkplug with 20 points and 17 rebounds! SG Lonnie Robertson contributed 17 points.



Dec. 2: Miami (OH) Red Hawks (4-0) @ Grambling Tigers (4-1)

Finally we had a home game. We whipped our 2nd straight unbeaten team.is ..this time by a score of 83-68. We never trailed in this game and ran away in the first half to take a 47-31 lead to the locker room. We simply held the Red Hawks at arm’s length in the 2nd half with a double digit lead the entire 20 minutes. We outshot Miami 52% to 48% (and 41% to 25% on 3’s), were +10 on the glass, and made 4 fewer turnovers. SG Lonnie Robertson poured in 23 points plus recorded 7 rebounds and 3 assists. SF Keith Bowie had 16 points, C Correy Parker had 14 points and 7 boards, and SG Brad O’Neil came in to add 11 points. Keith Bowie sprained his ankle. While it probably won’t keep him from playing, his effectiveness and durability will likely be decreased for a couple weeks.



Our 5-1 record is the best within the Southwestern Athletic Conference thus far.

SWAC Awards: C Correy Parker was named the SWAC Player of the Week. Correy had 34 points, 24 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and a block in our two games this week. The Freshman Player of the Week was Alcorn State’s Lee Mahorn.

[PointGuard]

Player evaluation

We’re now midway through our pre-conference schedule. Here’s my evaluation of how our players have performed thus far:

Starters:

PG Mario Kelly—C (doing OK on assists but offensive production has been low)
SG Lonnie Robertson—A- (would be an A except his shooting percentages, particularly on 3’s, needs to improve)
SF Keith Bowie—A- (same comment as for Robertson)
PF Etan Benton—B+ (strong on the boards and hitting high percentage of his shots…just needs to shoot more)
C Correy Parker—A (doing great; very strong performances in 5 of our 6 games)

Subs:

PG Josh Williams—B (shooting well but needs to put up more shots; strong on assists and rebounds)
PG Hayden Conrad—N/A (not enough playing time yet to truly assess the level of his play)
SG Brad O’Neil—B (doing well except that his shooting percentages need to improve and then he needs to put up more shots)
SF David Heyward—A- (very strong offensively and on the boards; defense needs some work)
PF Anthony Erwin—B (has performed well but needs to go to the hoop more)
PF Adam Scott—A- (good start offensively and on the boards earning him more minutes)
PF Brody Rowland—B- (playing well, but has skills to do even better)
C Mark Hartsfield—N/A (too limited amount of playing time to do a good evaluation)

Overall Team—Scoring offense—A-; FG%--B+; 3P%--B; FT%--C-; Rebounding—A; Assists—C-; Defense—B- (its run hot and cold).

[PointGuard]

WEEK #4

Dec. 6: Grambling Tigers (5-1) @ Georgia Southern Eagles (2-4)

Quite a game with a series of ups and downs that caused it to go to OT where we escaped with a 95-91 victory. The Eagles’ first SEVEN possessions resulted in 5 turnovers and 2 offensive fouls and we turned that into a 12-0 lead. It took over 5 minutes for Georgia Southern to score. By the end of the half we were up 45-32 which was smaller than it should have been due to crappy foul shooting by us (hitting just 11 of 23 foul shots). Georgia Southern made 16 first half turnovers. Our lead had shrunk to just 2 points with 12-1/2 minutes remaining in the 2nd half. While not really turning around the Eagles’ momentum, we were at least able to staunch it and score the next 6 points. Georgia Southern tied the game with 6:51 remaining. Then over the next 4 minutes we’d go up by 2 or 3 and the Eagles would quickly re-tie the game. With 2:43 left we fell behind and the Eagles were in command until SF Brad O’Neil hit a 3 from the corner with 8 seconds on the clock to put us ahead by a single point. We made a stupid foul on our full-court press, but Georgia Southern made just 1 of their 2 shots to tie the game. We lobbed up a prayer but it wasn’t close and the game went to overtime tied at 79-79. We were able to put fresher legs on the floor for OT play. We used that edge to go on an 11-0 run in the first 3 minutes of OT. From there we just held them off to win by 4. SG Lonnie Robertson had 23 points, 5 boards, 6 assists, and 4 steals. SG/SF Brad O’Neil popped in 16 points. C Correy Parker scored 15 and pulled down 9 rebounds. PF Etan Benton dropped in 13 points.



Dec. 9: Grambling Tigers (6-1) @ Lafayette Leopards (2-4)

Our road journey left us tired and it looked like it as we lost 73-57. We never were in the game and just seemed to walking through the motions, much to the delight of the large number of Leopards' fans attending the game. Our only two players to score well were SG Lonnie Robertson (21 points) and SF Keith Bowie (12 points).



SWAC Awards: SG Lonnie Robertson deservedly was named the conference Player of the Week based on his 44 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, and 5 steals during our two games. He’s now averaging 17.4 ppg this season. The Freshman Player of the Week for the 2nd straight week was Lee Mahorn of Alcorn State.