Joseph Hurt
PF | Senior | 6'9" | 237 lbs. | 3.3 gpa
South Central HS Coldwater, KS | Recruited By: bomberball
PF
785

Athleticism 60
Speed 55
Rebounding 83
Defense 99
Shot Blocking 96
Low-post 99
Perimeter 40
Ball Handling 24
Passing 39
Work Ethic 76
Stamina 90
Durability 24
FT Shooting C-

First impressions (page 2): His rebounding will be good at the 3, as opposed to below average in the frontcourt, and while his FT shooting stinks, he's generally a good prospect who was within 110 miles.

Final impressions: Hurt was a very good SF on what turned out to be a very physical team. It's a shame we only got him for 3 years; he was very valuable to us.

RECORDS: 15th in blocks (96)

Wilbur Taylor
PG | Senior | 5'9" | 168 lbs. | 3.5 gpa
Walter L. Cohen HS New Orleans, LA | Recruited By: bomberball
PG
755

Athleticism 72
Speed 97
Rebounding 18
Defense 76
Shot Blocking 19
Low-post 8
Perimeter 49
Ball Handling 99
Passing 99
Work Ethic 66
Stamina 83
Durability 69
FT Shooting B

First impressions (page 1): He's a good athlete and an excellent pass-first guard, and while he's not a great shooter, I can live with that. Of his main shortcomings, his defense and stamina will shoot up, and his rebounding is improvable. I like him a lot for what he is, and while the NBA isn't in his future, once he learns the system, he'll be a very good PG.

Final impressions: Taylor lived up to my wildest expectations. No, he was never a scorer, but as a fast distributor who ran the offense, he was tremendous.

RECORDS: 1st in assists (525), T-8th in FG% (48.1%)

Richard Wilcox
C | Senior | 6'9" | 231 lbs. | 3.6 gpa
Jackson North Side High School Jackson, TN | Recruited By: bomberball
C
766

Athleticism 54
Speed 29
Rebounding 100
Defense 90
Shot Blocking 100
Low-post 96
Perimeter 30
Ball Handling 4
Passing 56
Work Ethic 88
Stamina 88
Durability 31
FT Shooting B-

First impressions (page 1): He's not a perfect big; ideally, he'd be more athletic, and his speed is unfortunate (and won't improve; he's probably going to strictly be a center for us). There's a lot to like, though, as he's got high potential in just about every inside area. Furthermore, his perimeter rating is solid, he's not a horrible FT shooter, and he's also a good passer for a big.

Final impressions: Like Taylor, he's not an NBA prospect. However, for a low-D1 school, he was a tremendous force underneath. A little slow, yes, but he had the raw talent to carry the team at times.

RECORDS: 7th in points (1,043), 5th in rebounds (712), 2nd in blocks (202), 11th in steals (82), 11th in FG% (47.5%), 11th in FT% (68.4%)

Recruiting for this season was fairly straightforward. The one true NEED we had was for a backup SF, and Albert Maness (#68 SF, *) will fill it nicely. Ideally, I like my SF's to be strong rebounders. Maness isn't, but he IS a fast scorer with good defensive skills who can also pass it a little bit. I promised him 10 minutes in bumping off Clemson early in recruiting, and he'll get it easily.

Albert Maness
SF | 6'7" | 231 lbs. | 3.1 GPA
West Florence HS | Florence, SC
65.4% FT shooter
617

Athleticism 43 (high potential)
Speed 70
Rebounding 31
Defense 75 (high potential)
Shot Blocking 33
Low-post 44
Perimeter 58 (high potential)
Ball Handling 43 (low potential)
Passing 52
Work Ethic 36
Stamina 70
Durability 62 (high potential)

I wanted a big, as both Williams and Horsley will be gone after this season. Fitting the bill was Donald Byrd (#91 C, *), a recruit from 70 miles away who is a great project. With his nonexistent outside game and ball handling, he'll be strictly a center. However, with everything else topping out at very high levels, he'll be a very good one. I see him as a guy with similar potential to the recently-departed Wilcox, but considerably faster in exchange for less defense (which will still be at a fine level by the time he's done). I really like him, and he could potentially be a big-time low-D1 player.

Donald Byrd
C | 6'8" | 211 lbs. | 3.3 GPA
Chambers Academy | Lafayette, AL
69.7% FT shooter
584

Athleticism 50 (high potential)
Speed 48
Rebounding 86
Defense 46 (high potential)
Shot Blocking 63 (high potential)
Low-post 74 (high potential)
Perimeter 1
Ball Handling 1
Passing 50
Work Ethic 32
Stamina 71 (high potential)
Durability 62 (high potential)

Finally, Elwood McMillan (#91 SG, *) rounds out the class. There weren't many great shooting prospects this season, so I reached a little bit for this one after getting bumped off a better player by Bradley. McMillan will still be good in the right role; he'll never be a brilliant distributor, but he has high room for growth in a bunch of areas and also has some intangibles going for him (namely, work ethic and FT shooting). The low GPA isn't great for early on, but it's not like he's a threat to leave early, so I'm not concerned. He'll do just fine.

Elwood McMillan
SG | 6'4" | 216 lbs. | 2.3 GPA
East Saint John HS | Reserve, LA
79.4% FT shooter (low potential)
569

Athleticism 44 (high potential)
Speed 75 (high potential)
Rebounding 1
Defense 49 (high potential)
Shot Blocking 12 (low potential)
Low-post 9
Perimeter 78 (high potential)
Ball Handling 68
Passing 54
Work Ethic 50
Stamina 61 (high potential)
Durability 68 (high potential)

RECRUITING THOUGHTS

From an outside perspective, three one-star recruits isn't anything special for a C-prestige school. However, I'm pretty happy with the guys I got. Byrd will round into a dominant force on offense, and Maness and McMillan have room to grow into good players as well. Of those three, only Maness will see significant time in the rotation, so it's not like I'm putting a big burden on them early.

The class could have been better. I was being considered by the #70 SG, who will turn out to be a very, VERY good two-guard at a mid-major. Unfortunately, Bradley knocked me off, and rather than battle with a higher-prestige school (B-, in this case) with more open scholarships (they had 5), I cut my losses and bumped D- prestige Alcorn State off McMillan.

Also, I bank over $19,000, almost $5,000 of which goes into next season. Given the decent players I've got, and the money I carry over, I'll give myself a B. It would have been a B+ if the above guard (who I'll post below) signed, but alas, life goes on.

Here's said SG, Michael Miles (#70 SG, **), just for reference. Fairly-low athleticism, but everything else that matters will be EXCELLENT by the time he tops out.

Michael Miles
SG | 6'1" | 178 lbs. | 3.2 GPA
Christian Brothers College HS | Saint Louis, MO
68.8% FT shooter (low potential)
562

Athleticism 23
Speed 74 (high potential)
Rebounding 32 (low potential)
Defense 61 (high potential)
Shot Blocking 1
Low-post 11 (low potential)
Perimeter 74 (high potential)
Ball Handling 57 (high potential)
Passing 56 (high potential)
Work Ethic 57
Stamina 64 (high potential)
Durability 52 (high potential)

In addition, the returning players...

PG Julian Kile 725 Sr.
PG Henry Humphrey 631 Jr.
PG Frederick Roskovensky 602 So.
SG Jon Hill 696 So.
SF Thomas Weaver 672 Jr.
C Christopher Williams 750 Sr.
C Michael Horsley 705 Sr.
C Douglas White 669 Jr.
C Alexander Bowles 642 So.

-----

Not pretty, but IE doesn't work on this Windows PC, so it's all I've got. Anyway, I'll probably move Kile back to PG, with Hill manning the two-guard spot (he has a 94 perimeter rating, up 34 points from when he got to J-State). Weaver will play the 3, with Williams and Horsley starting at the 4 and 5.

On the bench, Roskovensky will be the primary PG backup, with Humphrey and McMillan the reserves at SG. Maness will be the sole backup 3, with White the primary PF backup, Bowles the reserve center, and Byrd getting mop-up minutes behind both.

This team is considerably different from last season's. We're not nearly as reliant on physical inside play; as an example, Kile was the best 3-point shooter in the starting lineup last season, and now he's the third-best behind Hill and Weaver. The drop-off in rebounding concerns me a bit, but I hope our shotmaking can compensate.

It's a two-team race for the OVC title, as Tennessee State's coach , leaving just J-State, Eastern Kentucky, and 10 sims. The goal now is an NT trip, and I think we've got the players to make it happen.

We started the season 6-2, with the two losses coming to Florida State and Fresno State by three points apiece. Weaver has been a pleasant surprise, averaging 14 points and 5 rebounds a game, and Horsley and Kile are both in double-digits as well. As I anticipated, we're not killing teams on the boards, but we've shot over 46% from the floor, which is a bit of a boost. RPI 98, SOS 180 (not like they matter, though, since the OVC is a one-bid league this year).

Two quick wins to close out out-of-conference play. RPI 84, SOS 189 (and that'll drop MUCH more when conference play starts).

We went 14-2 in conference play. Despite the two losses, one to a Sim, we ended the season 22-4. RPI 45, SOS 175, receiving votes for the top 25.

We lost another big game in the CT, but it didn't matter much, as the OVC, improbably, got both Eastern Kentucky and J-State into the tournament. We're a 13-seed, facing 4th-seeded Air Force tonight.

Lost to Air Force 85-73. It was closer than the score indicates; we made it a four-point game late in the second half, but they made free throws and pulled away. Senior retrospectives are forthcoming.

Air Force actually ended up winning the national championship, which is kinda cool. Anyway, senior stuff...

Julian Kile
PG | Senior | 6'4" | 212 lbs. | 3.6 gpa
Northridge HS Dayton, OH | Recruited By: bomberball
PG
749

Athleticism 64
Speed 83
Rebounding 33
Defense 98
Shot Blocking 15
Low-post 1
Perimeter 69
Ball Handling 86
Passing 97
Work Ethic 57
Stamina 95
Durability 51
FT Shooting B

First impressions (page 2): He has good core skills, and is the PG of the future who will take over once Taylor graduates. He won't max out, per se, in ballhandling, but if he takes the redshirt, he'll be a great fit here.

Final impressions: He didn't take the redshirt, but if anything, that benefited the program, given the current 3-3-3-3 class structure. Kile was a bit of a tweener. The only-average ball handling hurt a bit, but he made up for it in other areas, namely with his defense and solid rebounding for his position.

RECORDS: 11th in assists (305), 7th in steals (90), 2nd in FG% (51%), 11th in 3PT% (39.9%)