Saturday chatter
By Drew Champlin
Published: February 6, 2010
Got a lot to talk about today. First, in Dothan the Wiregrass High School Home Run Derby is happening today, actually at Rehobeth High School. One of the 3 professional participants is former Troy standout Clint Robinson, a first baseman expected to start the year in AA ball with the Kansas City Royals Organization. HERE is a story I did on Robinson.
————————————————————————————-
The Texas vs. the Nation game is today at 1 p.m. in El Paso, Texas. If your cable or satellite provider has the CBS College Sports channel, you can watch it. HERE is the Web site for the game, which has some good stuff. Levi Brown and Boris Lee are playing in the game. Sounds like Lee’s instincts are catching the attention of some people. That’s no surprise, as he’s always had a knack for being around the ball. Brown has shown good arm strength in practices in the wind and rain. Both are playing for the Texas team.
————————————————————————————-
Troy has a big hoops game at 7 p.m. tonight at Western Kentucky, a place it has never won. However, WKU is really struggling. HERE is my advancer on the game.
I asked Bowling Green Daily News beat writer Nick Baumgardner a couple of questions. I’m sure he will be updating his blog frequently, which you can read HERE. You can read Nick’s story on the game HERE.
To follow the game by listening to Barry and Taylor, go HERE.
1. What’s the biggest reason WKU is down this year, in your opinion?
— Well to be honest, I don’t think there’s any one reason in particular – but the biggest is that this group hasn’t been able to replace Orlando Mendez-Valdez. They’ve replaced his numbers and production to a degree, as A.J. Slaughter has picked up his scoring and so have some other veterans – but from a leadership standpoint, no one has taken over the controls that Mendez-Valdez manned last season. If you recall, last year’s group was ‘supposed’ to struggle – but folks forgot to tell Mendez-Valdez, who basically took the mentality that it was his senior season and he wasn’t about to go out on a downswing.
The current group is still looking for a leader, an unquestioned, no-nonsense guy who leads by example and isn’t afraid to take someone by the shirt and let them know vocally either.
On top of that, with this group having so much hype heading into the season – I think the team as a whole (staff included) bought into that hype a little too much. They probably do have more overall talent on this team than they did a year ago, but they haven’t shown any urgency – especially defensively. They’ve struggled to find consistency at the point guard slot and the newcomers have struggled with overall intensity. They’ve struggled to deal with the fact that every game in league play is tough because every team looks at WKU as a chance to get a ‘big-time’ win. And even further, things have snowballed. One loss all of a sudden became three and four – and right now you see a WKU team out there playing not to lose, rather than playing to win. Something that folks around here haven’t seen in a while.
2. How much will the return of Sergio Kerusch impact Saturday’s game with Troy?
— Well he played about 20 minutes on Thursday, and they lost – so it’s tough to tell. Physically he’s 100 percent, and his effort was definitely there as well – but he’s still trying to get his wind back and find a flow in the game as well.
He most definitely helps them on and off the court – because he’s a positive, high-energy guy who brings athleticism that this team can’t replace. And against an athletic up-and-down club like Troy – a fully-focused Kerusch could be very big.
