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With 15 players on roster, Blue Tigers excited to start basketball season
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By Tony Hawley
sports@newstribune.com
Every coach is excited before the first game of the year, even if they know the upcoming season could be a tough one.
But this time around, Lincoln men's basketball coach Charles Terry is extremely excited.
After struggling through back-to-back years of 8-19 and 7-19 that were plagued by rosters reduced to barely workable levels, Terry's thrilled to be working with 15 Blue Tigers this time around.
“I get kind of excited just to go out there and count players in practice,” he said. “That is a plus for us for the first time.”
By the end of last season, Lincoln was trying to get by with eight overworked players.
“Out of the eight I had, we had four or five of them playing more than 30 minutes a ballgame, and two of those were playing more than 37,” Terry said. “That's hard on anybody.”
The Blue Tigers open the 2007-08 campaign Thursday with an exhibition game at Southeast Missouri State, and the newfound depth should pay dividends immediately.
“Now we can pay the style of play I want to play,” Terry said. “I like to get up and down, I like to press. It's kind of hard to do that when you have to junk your defenses all the time and you've got to rest kids all the time.”
Lincoln has five returnees, and they're all basically starters. Senior guard Ralph Mata started 24 of 26 games last year, while junior guard Brandon Harris, senior forward Jared Boone and junior forward Marcus Warren started roughly two-thirds of the time.
Add to that group junior guard Kyle Wilde, Lincoln's second-leading scorer two seasons ago who sat out all of last season after shoulder surgery, and you've got a veteran squad.
“It's a good thing - they do a lot of the teaching for me,” Terry said.
And with 10 new faces, there's plenty of teaching to do.
“Right now, we're a little ahead of schedule offensively,” Terry said. “Defensively, we're where we should be, which is really not quite there yet. But it's the same thing I tell them - be good early and great late.
“We want to be good enough early to compete, and then great late, when you can start doing some things in the (Heartland) Conference.”
One thing the Blue Tigers will be able to do is showcase a varied offensive attack.
“We're going to be pretty decent on the perimeter, and we can only get better (in the post) once we start learning some things,” Terry said. “... This is the best shooting group I've had. We've got five or six kids who shoot the 3 consistently. We've never had that. If we had one, we were lucky.”
The Blue Tigers will also be able to get quality playing time out of a larger group than usual.
“When we lost kids in the past, whether it was grades or disciplinary reasons or whatever, it hurt us so drastically,” Terry said. “If you have problems with 15, it's a lot different than having problems with 10.
“We lost three right off the bat (last year) and I'm going out and getting baseball players and pulling people out of intramurals.
“Now, we've got 15 fouls we can use at the (center position), and I've never had that before. Now if we get somebody in foul trouble, I'm not that concerned.”
The change in depth with bring about another change - some equipment will finally be utilized.
“We've still got uniforms that are brand-new - we've had them for three years and some have never been used,” Terry said with a laugh.
The Blue Tigers will play another exhibition game at Langston on Nov. 12 before opening the regular season in the Missouri Western Tipoff Classic on Nov. 16-17.
Lincoln will open its home slate on Nov. 20 against Missouri-Rolla.
Blue Tiger Capsules
Here's a capsule look at the newcomers on the Lincoln men's basketball team, with comments by head coach Charles Terry:
€ Mario Lucchesi, 6-2 sr., guard - “We thought we had him two years ago as a junior-college transfer. He went somewhere else and didn't find it quite as appealing and came back to us. He's a great scorer, a great shooter.”
€ Joseph Hutchinson, 6-5 jr., guard/forward - “He is probably our best all-around player - I can play him at so many spots. He's a 6-5 kid who's real thin, but he's very durable.”
€ Ryan Spearman, 6-3 jr., guard - “He shoots the ball extremely well and can give us some versatility on the perimeter.”
€ Peter Akajiobi, 6-8 jr., forward/center - “He's a raw talent, but a very athletic talent.”
€ Mark Greenwood, 6-7 soph., forward/center - “He's a kid from England who's skilled, but as a sophomore, he hasn't been in the battles as much. He's going to give us a lot of help.”
€ Jordan Bradbarry, 6-7 jr., forward/center - “He's a big kid who gives us another presence in the paint.”
€ Romeo Lucchesi, 6-4 soph., forward - “He's Mario's brother and he's going to give us some more help on the perimeter.”
€ Richard Williams, 5-9 jr., guard - “He's a backup point guard who will get some time, and he's pushing guys for playing time. He can shoot it quite well. He's a two-guard in a point-guard's body, so we're forcing him to do more than he normally does.”
€ Demarkus Madyun, 6-1 soph., guard - “He's a very athletic, very strong-bodied kid who just has a lot to learn.”
€ James Hayes, 5-10 fr., guard - “We're going to redshirt him, but he's still contributing. When he was coming in to try out, we didn't have to worry about where he was going to be, because he even came in on the days he wasn't trying out.”
Lincoln Schedule
Here is the schedule for the Lincoln men's basketball team. Games start at 7:30 p.m., except where noted. TBA - To Be Announced.
Nov. 1 at Southeast Missouri State*
Nov. 12 at Langston, 7 p.m.*
Nov. 16 vs. Washburn, 5:30 p.m.**
Nov. 17 vs. Missouri Western, 7:30 p.m.**
Nov. 20 Missouri-Rolla, 7 p.m.
Nov. 23 vs. Central Bible College, 5 p.m.***
Nov. 24 vs. Central Missouri, 7 p.m.***
Nov. 29 Langston, 7 p.m.
Dec. 1 Arkansas Tech, 3 p.m.
Dec. 8 at Missouri-Rolla, 2 p.m.
Dec. 15 vs. TBA, 3 p.m.****
Dec. 16 vs. TBA, 5:30 p.m.****
Dec. 19 Arkansas-Monticello
Jan. 10 at St. Mary's
Jan. 12 at St. Edward's, 4 p.m.
Jan. 19 Oklahoma Panhandle, 3:30 p.m.
Jan. 21 Texas-Permian Basin
Jan. 26 Newman, 4 p.m.
Jan. 31 at Incarnate Word
Feb. 2 at Texas A&M International, 2 p.m.
Feb. 9 at Newman, 7 p.m.
Feb. 11 at Dallas Baptist, 7 p.m.
Feb. 14 Texas A&M International
Feb. 16 Incarnate Word, 3:30 p.m.
Feb. 18 Dallas Baptist
Feb. 21 at Texas-Permian Basin
Feb. 23 at Oklahoma Panhandle
Feb. 28 St. Edward's, 4 p.m.
March 1 St. Mary's
*Exhibition game
**At Missouri Western Tipoff Classic
***At Central Missouri Thanksgiving Classic
****At Quincy University Classic
But this time around, Lincoln men's basketball coach Charles Terry is extremely excited.
After struggling through back-to-back years of 8-19 and 7-19 that were plagued by rosters reduced to barely workable levels, Terry's thrilled to be working with 15 Blue Tigers this time around.
“I get kind of excited just to go out there and count players in practice,” he said. “That is a plus for us for the first time.”
By the end of last season, Lincoln was trying to get by with eight overworked players.
“Out of the eight I had, we had four or five of them playing more than 30 minutes a ballgame, and two of those were playing more than 37,” Terry said. “That's hard on anybody.”
The Blue Tigers open the 2007-08 campaign Thursday with an exhibition game at Southeast Missouri State, and the newfound depth should pay dividends immediately.
“Now we can pay the style of play I want to play,” Terry said. “I like to get up and down, I like to press. It's kind of hard to do that when you have to junk your defenses all the time and you've got to rest kids all the time.”
Lincoln has five returnees, and they're all basically starters. Senior guard Ralph Mata started 24 of 26 games last year, while junior guard Brandon Harris, senior forward Jared Boone and junior forward Marcus Warren started roughly two-thirds of the time.
Add to that group junior guard Kyle Wilde, Lincoln's second-leading scorer two seasons ago who sat out all of last season after shoulder surgery, and you've got a veteran squad.
“It's a good thing - they do a lot of the teaching for me,” Terry said.
And with 10 new faces, there's plenty of teaching to do.
“Right now, we're a little ahead of schedule offensively,” Terry said. “Defensively, we're where we should be, which is really not quite there yet. But it's the same thing I tell them - be good early and great late.
“We want to be good enough early to compete, and then great late, when you can start doing some things in the (Heartland) Conference.”
One thing the Blue Tigers will be able to do is showcase a varied offensive attack.
“We're going to be pretty decent on the perimeter, and we can only get better (in the post) once we start learning some things,” Terry said. “... This is the best shooting group I've had. We've got five or six kids who shoot the 3 consistently. We've never had that. If we had one, we were lucky.”
The Blue Tigers will also be able to get quality playing time out of a larger group than usual.
“When we lost kids in the past, whether it was grades or disciplinary reasons or whatever, it hurt us so drastically,” Terry said. “If you have problems with 15, it's a lot different than having problems with 10.
“We lost three right off the bat (last year) and I'm going out and getting baseball players and pulling people out of intramurals.
“Now, we've got 15 fouls we can use at the (center position), and I've never had that before. Now if we get somebody in foul trouble, I'm not that concerned.”
The change in depth with bring about another change - some equipment will finally be utilized.
“We've still got uniforms that are brand-new - we've had them for three years and some have never been used,” Terry said with a laugh.
The Blue Tigers will play another exhibition game at Langston on Nov. 12 before opening the regular season in the Missouri Western Tipoff Classic on Nov. 16-17.
Lincoln will open its home slate on Nov. 20 against Missouri-Rolla.
Blue Tiger Capsules
Here's a capsule look at the newcomers on the Lincoln men's basketball team, with comments by head coach Charles Terry:
€ Mario Lucchesi, 6-2 sr., guard - “We thought we had him two years ago as a junior-college transfer. He went somewhere else and didn't find it quite as appealing and came back to us. He's a great scorer, a great shooter.”
€ Joseph Hutchinson, 6-5 jr., guard/forward - “He is probably our best all-around player - I can play him at so many spots. He's a 6-5 kid who's real thin, but he's very durable.”
€ Ryan Spearman, 6-3 jr., guard - “He shoots the ball extremely well and can give us some versatility on the perimeter.”
€ Peter Akajiobi, 6-8 jr., forward/center - “He's a raw talent, but a very athletic talent.”
€ Mark Greenwood, 6-7 soph., forward/center - “He's a kid from England who's skilled, but as a sophomore, he hasn't been in the battles as much. He's going to give us a lot of help.”
€ Jordan Bradbarry, 6-7 jr., forward/center - “He's a big kid who gives us another presence in the paint.”
€ Romeo Lucchesi, 6-4 soph., forward - “He's Mario's brother and he's going to give us some more help on the perimeter.”
€ Richard Williams, 5-9 jr., guard - “He's a backup point guard who will get some time, and he's pushing guys for playing time. He can shoot it quite well. He's a two-guard in a point-guard's body, so we're forcing him to do more than he normally does.”
€ Demarkus Madyun, 6-1 soph., guard - “He's a very athletic, very strong-bodied kid who just has a lot to learn.”
€ James Hayes, 5-10 fr., guard - “We're going to redshirt him, but he's still contributing. When he was coming in to try out, we didn't have to worry about where he was going to be, because he even came in on the days he wasn't trying out.”
Lincoln Schedule
Here is the schedule for the Lincoln men's basketball team. Games start at 7:30 p.m., except where noted. TBA - To Be Announced.
Nov. 1 at Southeast Missouri State*
Nov. 12 at Langston, 7 p.m.*
Nov. 16 vs. Washburn, 5:30 p.m.**
Nov. 17 vs. Missouri Western, 7:30 p.m.**
Nov. 20 Missouri-Rolla, 7 p.m.
Nov. 23 vs. Central Bible College, 5 p.m.***
Nov. 24 vs. Central Missouri, 7 p.m.***
Nov. 29 Langston, 7 p.m.
Dec. 1 Arkansas Tech, 3 p.m.
Dec. 8 at Missouri-Rolla, 2 p.m.
Dec. 15 vs. TBA, 3 p.m.****
Dec. 16 vs. TBA, 5:30 p.m.****
Dec. 19 Arkansas-Monticello
Jan. 10 at St. Mary's
Jan. 12 at St. Edward's, 4 p.m.
Jan. 19 Oklahoma Panhandle, 3:30 p.m.
Jan. 21 Texas-Permian Basin
Jan. 26 Newman, 4 p.m.
Jan. 31 at Incarnate Word
Feb. 2 at Texas A&M International, 2 p.m.
Feb. 9 at Newman, 7 p.m.
Feb. 11 at Dallas Baptist, 7 p.m.
Feb. 14 Texas A&M International
Feb. 16 Incarnate Word, 3:30 p.m.
Feb. 18 Dallas Baptist
Feb. 21 at Texas-Permian Basin
Feb. 23 at Oklahoma Panhandle
Feb. 28 St. Edward's, 4 p.m.
March 1 St. Mary's
*Exhibition game
**At Missouri Western Tipoff Classic
***At Central Missouri Thanksgiving Classic
****At Quincy University Classic
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