Tuesday links/basketball thoughts
By Drew Champlin
Published: November 11, 2008
Here’s my football notebook and my exhibition basketball gamer.
When Troy plays the bigger schools with more media coverage, that means it’s time to find more links. From the Advocate in Baton Rouge, a true freshman QB is likely to see more action (because Jarrett Lee likes to throw it to the other team) and an LSU notebook with some stuff.
From Gannett Louisiana, Glenn Guilbeau writes on Les Miles admitting he’s wrong and that the Tigers don’t need Dr. Phil
One more football note, Brannon Condren was released by the Dolphins - the third team he’s been let go from this year.
Hey, on to basketball…
..I can’t tell you how good Troy is this year based on last night’s blowout win, but it was good to see a team of mostly scrubs from last year light up the scoreboard, plus some newcomers mesh in well. Troy was without Richard Delk, its star player, Mike Vogler, maybe its second-best player, and Antywan Jones, a guy that will play a good bit of minutes. Bernard Toombs, a 6-foot-9 center, will redshirt to get stronger and play more on the back end of his career.
On the new guys, you’ll like watching Travis Lee play ball. He’s only about 5-9, but he’s scrappy, quick, and can really, really shoot the basketball. Regis Huddleston can really, really shoot the basketball as well, but he was yelled at a few times for not being in the right place defensively. Those two guys can shoot better than any Trojan newcomers that I can remember, and the shots they took weren’t bad shots, either. I like Chris Leggett down low - he’s 6-foot-7, and, unlike most Trojan forwards of the past, knows what he’s supposed to do down low.
Brandon Hazzard is playing with more confidence, especially driving the ball to the hole. Kenny Ware’s really stepped his game up - I thought he looked better last night than I can remember him looking at any point last year. Mario Telfair and Trayce Macon are role players who might pop in with a big night every once in a while, but they’re better. Tom Jervis is going to the hole with more authority and while he won’t be counted on for 20 and 10 every night, he does have to play like a 7-footer when he’s in. The Jolly Trojan Giant did what he should have done for most of the night when he was in last night, and that was dominate smaller players. He had a few hiccups, but no one’s perfect.
That’s the key with this bunch - this year’s recruiting class is better than last year’s, but the guys from last year like Ware, Telfair and Macon are better basketball players. I don’t know how good Delk really is, but people say he’s phenomenal, and I’ve heard good things about Jones. With Vogler, you just better hope his sprained ankle heals quick, but he’s walking fine.
That being said, I’m not sure the UAB game will be pretty Saturday, but shooting better than 50 percent from beyond the arc will help.
