Friday link and other basketball musings

May 02, 2008

By Drew Champlin

Here is what I wrote on Troy moving towards a new multi-purpose facility and at the end is hoops signee information. The BOT voted to move towards it, though that was pretty much a formality.

What I did learn was the proposed cost and what Troy needs to get there - and right now, that’s $9 million. How long it takes them to raise that, and remember A.D. Steve Dennis is a fundraising guy, will be how long it takes to get started.

Don’t know when it will be built, but I sure hope Don Maestri and David Felix have some visible part of the facility named after it - be it the arena itself or the court. I’m guessing Maestri/Felix Court at (name your corporate sponsor) Events Center/Arena. This is a multi-purpose facility, so it’s likely going to be called a “Center” like the Mitchell Center in Mobile and the Curb Events Center at Belmont.

Speaking of basketball signees, Maestri mentioned over and over again about how the four new guys make sound basketball decisions. That’s what Troy needed (6-foot-9, 250 pound guys don’t grow on trees and the ones that do don’t come to Troy to play basketball). Last year’s recruiting class really missed the boat on guys like that and it didn’t matter how many points per game they averaged in junior college. Point guard Mike Vogler was the exception and I believe he can be a very good SBC point guard. Guys like Trayce Macon, Kenny Ware, and Mario Telfair are all good athletes but raw and you’ve got to hope they’ll make some kind of transformation in the offseason. Every now and then, one of the three would have a good game followed by some bad ones and several “lost” moments. Then there’s 7-footer Tom Jervis, who struggled last year with confidence and that’s got to change.

From my experience covering Troy, most of them have gotten better as basketball players in their careers although it has yet to translate into winning basketball in the Sun Belt. They’re at a recruiting disadvantage and trying to find out ways to work around that.

If I had to guess, I’d say next year’s lineup will look like this

PG - Mike Vogler (Jr.)
SG - Richard Delk (Jr.)
SF - Antywan Jones (Jr.) or Kenny Ware (Sr.)
PF - Trayce Macon (Jr.)
C - Chris Leggett (Jr.) or Tom Jervis (Sr.)

They really like the way Leggett can get to the goal and shoot for his size and they like a lot about Jones, and feel that the other two signees - Regis Huddleston and Travis Lee - are exceptional shooters with a good frame of mind. In this offense, the center is one who will get a chance to create and not necessarily stand around near the goal 100 percent of the time, unless Jervis makes a big transformation in the weight room and on the court next year.

Troy basketball news

May 01, 2008

By Drew Champlin

I’ve been a horribly bad reporter on this aspect, and for that I apologize…

But, I talked to athletics director Steve Dennis, and he said the Troy Board of Trustees unanimously approved to start construction on a multi-purpose facility that would obviously have a new basketball arena inside it.

The cost will eventually be around $50 million. Once $10 million can be raised, the school will match $10 million with what it has in reserve and the rest can be financed. Trustee Milton McGregor donated $1 million earlier this spring, leaving $9 million left.

“What a tremendous gift,“ Dennis said. “I was so humbled by it.“

They’re looking at a 5500-7500 seat arena and don’t have a location for it yet, but Dennis said they want to be able to have concerts and conventions there.

The biggest thing was that the University needed it.

“This isn’t an athletic deal, it’s a University deal,“ Dennis said. “The University needs it. If we get 10,000 students, we need it.“

More in tomorrow’s Dothan Eagle, but there are the roots of it.

Troy adds final signee: Trojans signed 6-foot-6, 185-pound forward Antywan Jones from Coahoma CC in Mississippi. He scored 23 ppg this year and this completes the class. I told you about JUCO guards Travis Lee and Regis Huddleston and forward Chris Leggett earlier, as well as Mississippi State transfer guard Richard Delk, who is expected to be the star of next year’s team.

That means the Trojans will have nine juniors and four seniors.

“All four guys are athletic,“ head coach Don Maestri said. “We were looking for kids who could score, rebound, shoot the ball well and make good basketball decisions.“

Maestri said all four have a chance to start next year. Lee, 5-foot-11 combo guard, hit 49 percent of his 3-pointers last year. Huddleston, a 6-foot-1 off-guard, is also a tremendous shooter.

Leggett, who is 6-foot-7 and 200 pounds, had 14 double-doubles for Wallace-Hanceville this year. He’s comparable to former Troy forward Sammy Sharp, who won SBC Defensive Player of the Year in 2007.

“He’s a very good athlete, but maybe not as athletic as Sammy,“ Maestri said. “But he’s a better basketball player than Sammy was and can shoot better. What we really needed to get in this class was some guys who can make good basketball decisions and I feel like we’ve done that.“