MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[jdubyadubya]

Amen!

[D-BAT]

SU Men's Basketball Preview: Changing Perceptions
Posted: November 15, 2012
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI


SU men's basketball coach Rob Pryor may have a lot of new faces on his roster, but he expects his Hornets to be competitive in their first year in the ODAC. SU returns just five players to its 19-man roster and will have 10 freshmen suiting up. (Photo by Jeff Taylor/The Winchester Star)



One of only five returning players, junior guard/forward Avery Green knows how important rebounding will be for an SU team short on height. (Photo by Jeff Taylor/The Winchester Star)


WINCHESTER — Technically, this is Shenandoah University men's basketball coach Rob Pryor's second season leading the Hornets.

But with only five returning players — and 14 new ones — you can understand why there's so much optimism at SU even though the Hornets are coming off a 5-22 season and they've been picked to finish last this season in their new league, the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.

"It's a huge difference from last year," said junior point guard Bryce Mitchell, one of two returning starters for SU and the team's lone captain. "The guys that we have here now are way more talented. There's a lot of hype, a lot of athleticism.

"Everybody's adjusted to Coach Pryor, all the guys that are new talked to him a lot in the offseason, so they knew how he was and how he worked things. The team this year is a lot closer than we were last year in terms of doing things on and off the court together. We relate better to each other, and our chemistry is very good for having a young team this early in the season."

SU will begin its season at 9 tonight against Patrick Henry in the semifinals of the Shenandoah Tip-Off Tournament at Shingleton Gymnasium. The loser will play in Friday's consolation at 6 p.m. against the loser of the Goucher-Centenary (La.) semifinal, which will take place at 7 tonight. Friday's championship game will be at 8 p.m.

The Hornets — who have no seniors and 10 freshmen — are hoping that the quick pace that they plan on bringing on a consistent basis gets them off to a quick start.

"On the court, we're really trying to focus on defense and being good defensively," Pryor said. "Our offense is going to be a little more up-tempo than it was last year, just because we have more athletes, so we're going to take advantage of that."

The Hornets — who were outrebounded by an average of 41-30 last year — still don't have a lot of height, boasting just two players taller than 6-4.

But the feeling is that their athleticism will help them play a little longer than what's listed on the roster, and that's going to help them make more plays in all phases of the game.

"We're not going to get killed on rebounding because we're a lot taller and more athletic," said junior guard/forward Avery Green, who led SU in points (15.7) and rebounds (4.5) last year. "That frustrated us last year. But this year we're going to focus on keeping our composure with that, and keeping our composure down the stretch."

Mitchell said the Hornets are particularly excited about showing what they can do on offense after last year's team averaged just 67.7 points per game, which ranked last in the USA South Conference.

"Everybody wants to shoot, and in our offense, you have to be able to shoot the [3-pointer]," said Mitchell (7.4 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists last season). "We have a lot of good 3-point shooters.

"Another thing is that a lot of guys like to get to the basket, and you have to penetrate in this offense. We can get to the rack very well, and a lot of guys here can finish well. And another big thing is backdoor cuts. You wouldn't think that a lot of guys would like to do that, but in this offense you get used to doing that, and you start to enjoy doing that because it's an easy way to get a basket, instead of working really hard to get a basket."

The Hornets certainly shot 3-pointers well in their exhibition game against NCAA Division II West Virginia Wesleyan, hitting 10 of 26 from beyond the arc. SU just couldn't get it done on any type of shooting inside it — the Hornets were 10 of 35 on 2-pointers and 4 for 12 from the free-throw line.

In addition to the outside shooting, another notable aspect of Friday's exhibition was the personnel that the Hornets put on the floor.

SU was without Green because of injury. (The Hornets hope to get him back tonight.) But SU got some solid contributions from its three freshmen starters, as forward Corey Bedford (6-4, 180 pounds) and guard Sharif Almulla (6-3, 175) scored 11 points each, and forward Shaquille Rodney (6-3, 185) had three assists.

Pryor said those three all have the shooting and driving prowess that he's looking for, and added that "Shaq is an unbelievable shot-blocker."

"Between those three guys, you've got a lot of versatility, a lot of flexibility, and some things that we weren't able to do last year that we can this year," Pryor said.

Among the other players who saw significant minutes against West Virginia Wesleyan were returning junior center Kevin Lescaint (6-7, 210), who began playing for the Hornets in the second half of the season after transferring, and sophomore guard Jared Carithers, a transfer from Lynchburg College who scored a team-high 17 points on 4-of-7 3-point shooting. Returner Xavier Alston (6-3, 200), a sophomore forward, had four rebounds, three assists and two steals in 25 minutes.

Pryor said Carithers could be a force off the bench in the mold of what James Harden — the NBA Sixth Man of the Year last season — used to do with the Oklahoma City Thunder before he was traded to the Houston Rockets just before the start of this season.

"He's an unbelievable scorer," Pryor said. "I think his potential is to be an all-league guy if his defense catches up to his offense.

"He's going to finish most games, if not all games, with the type of talent that he has. He's accepted that role very well and has kind of been the second point guard behind Bryce, and at times we'll play those two guys together."

The group of Hornets' newcomers also includes Kyle Murph, a 6-2, 190-pound guard and Handley graduate. Former Sherando center Terry Wood was also originally part of Pryor's recruiting class, but Wood decided to play for Mt. Zion Prep in Baltimore.

Though the Hornets are optimistic now, the key is going to be maintaining that once ODAC play begins. The Hornets went 0-8 against ODAC opponents last year, so they're not surprised that the rest of the conference has slotted them 12th in the 12-team league.

"We used [that preseason pick] as motivation," Pryor said. "We were picked last in the USA South last year. Not that the rankings matter to how we play, but I think it gives the guys a sense of how people feel about our program.

"People at this point don't have a lot of respect for who we are and what we do at this point. We're constantly working to change that."

— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at  rniedzwiecki@winchesterstar.comFollow on Twitter @WinStarSports1

[2RMCFans]

R-MC opens up at CNU tonight w/ lots of returning talent & some exciting new players.  Should be a really good game as CNU got quite a few Top 25 votes.

Best of luck to all the ODAC teams for a great season.

GO JACKETS!!! 

[jdubyadubya]

One of the reasons Shenandoah University is a perennial struggler is because of the deplorable gym they have to play in. You would have thought that with as much influence that exists on the Board of Trustees and elsehwere in the community that they would have had a sparkling new facility. Unfortunately, the reality is that basketball at SU is obviously not a priortiy. If it was they would do something about it. The perfect example is Virginia Wesleyan and the transition from the bubble to Lake Taylor HS to the incredible Batten Center.

[hasanova]

One of the reasons Shenandoah University is a perennial struggler is because of the deplorable gym they have to play in. You would have thought that with as much influence that exists on the Board of Trustees and elsehwere in the community that they would have had a sparkling new facility. Unfortunately, the reality is that basketball at SU is obviously not a priortiy. If it was they would do something about it. The perfect example is Virginia Wesleyan and the transition from the bubble to Lake Taylor HS to the incredible Batten Center.

I'd also put Randolph's gym as one that needs an upgrade, but the Wildcats have had their share of success so far.  Not an ODAC school, but Greensboro College is somewhat in the same boat as Randolph, having made the transition from all female to coed, but still playing in the dated gym.

[DeWayneCarter]

I wouldn't call SU's gym "deplorable" but it does need an upgrade, along with Randolph, Lynchburg, Roanoke, and Bridgewater's facilities, which all look like high school gyms.

[jdubyadubya]

Do any of you believe that facilities have an impact on a program's recruitment and success on the floor? I sure do!

[hasanova]

Do any of you believe that facilities have an impact on a program's recruitment and success on the floor? I sure do!

I do.  You want that "wow" factor when recruits, students and fans enter.

[jdubyadubya]

I think the most unusual gym may be the Quakers followed by CNU; HSC and RMC have nice facilities; the Batten Center is top notch; EMU is OK and fairly new; W&L and Roanoke are traditional; Bridgewater and Lynchburg are older; haven't seen Randolph's gym; E&H is OK but always too hot; SU is the smallest by far...seating on one side only and the walls behind the baskets are only a short concussion from the end lines. 

[hasanova]

I think the most unusual gym may be the Quakers followed by CNU; HSC and RMC have nice facilities; the Batten Center is top notch; EMU is OK and fairly new; W&L and Roanoke are traditional; Bridgewater and Lynchburg are older; haven't seen Randolph's gym; E&H is OK but always too hot; SU is the smallest by far...seating on one side only and the walls behind the baskets are only a short concussion from the end lines.

Randolph's gym seats maybe 400-500, all the seats are on one side and (unless you are sitting on the front row and can lean over the rail) the first 5-6 feet of the court from end line to end line is a blind spot.  I would compare it to watching a basketball game played at the bottom of a 12 foot deep swimming pool! It's not a good experience for fans. 

[hasanova]

One nice win, one tough loss and one bad call to start the ODAC season.  Lynchburg tops Methodist on the road, Randolph-Macon falls at CNU and the AD at Patrick Henry should never have taken the phone call from Shenandoah to schedule a game (96-23). 

[Seatfiller]

One nice win, one tough loss and one bad call to start the ODAC season.  Lynchburg tops Methodist on the road, Randolph-Macon falls at CNU and the AD at Patrick Henry should never have taken the phone call from Shenandoah to schedule a game (96-23). 

Perfect way to describe those games and big win for CNU I saw Macon play vs Richmond and Macon looked real good just couldn't score, on a side note why does Patrick Henry keep playing d3 teams? Obviously they need to stop playing ODAC teams

[hasanova]

One nice win, one tough loss and one bad call to start the ODAC season.  Lynchburg tops Methodist on the road, Randolph-Macon falls at CNU and the AD at Patrick Henry should never have taken the phone call from Shenandoah to schedule a game (96-23). 

Perfect way to describe those games and big win for CNU I saw Macon play vs Richmond and Macon looked real good just couldn't score, on a side note why does Patrick Henry keep playing d3 teams? Obviously they need to stop playing ODAC teams

I just looked at the boxscore ... 57-11 at the half.  PHC was 1 for 16 from three point range.  And let's face it, SU will probably take their lumps in the ODAC this season ... can you imagine if PHC played one of the top teams? 

[hasanova]

The Quakers pulled out a tough 71-67 come-from-behind win over Southern Virginia tonight.  I think we led twice ... at 25-24 and then in the high 60's.  GC will face William Peace University tomorrow at 3 pm.  The Pacers trailed Johnson & Wales (NC) 42-27 at the half but pulled out a 77-74 win for the first men's victory (and first men's game) in school history.   The SVU Knights will face the J&W Wildcats at 1 pm.

[FISHTANKFAN]

Congratulations to the Marlins on their first win of the season..Today they play a tough Cabrini team at 4 PM.  Should be a good match-up.  Good luck to all the ODAC teams today.