Ran into Jerrel Jernigan tonight…

December 31, 2007

Drew Champlin

Ran into Troy wideout Jerrel Jernigan tonight at the Ozark Civic Center covering basketball. His high school, Eufaula, is playing Bullock County in the Dothan Progress/Dothan Eagle/Southern Star Holiday Prep Classic tonight (and winning 35-30 in the third quarter).

He had two Troy coaches calling him to see if he was going to Auburn with offensive coordinator Tony Franklin, which surprised him a little bit. He said a rumor got started that he was. Obviously he’s still at Troy. He doesn’t know who the OC will be, but they feel pretty good about what all is coming back, especially at the receiver corps. He said he knew coach Neal Brown was out in California recruiting, and that he feels good about the quarterbacks coming back - Levi Brown can really throw it, he said, and he liked playing with Jamie Hampton in the Alabama-Mississippi all-star game prior to last season. Tanner Jones has a pretty good arm, too, but is best when he’s not trying to throw it 110 mph.

Just something to throw out there for potentially my last blog post of 2007.

Top 10 Troy moments

Drew Champlin

Here’s an abbreviated version of what I feel were the top 10 Troy moments, good and bad, of the year. Would love to know how you agree/disagree.

10 - Basketball flop - Troy head coach Don Maestri had a talented team in 2006-07. Problem is, chemistry never meshed and a potential 20-win team won just 13.

9 - Softball snub - Despite finishing 42-20 and making it to the finals of the Sun Belt Tournament before falling 1-0 to FAU, Troy was not selected for a softball NCAA Regional. It’s the second time in three years that a deserving Troy team did not get picked.

8 - Turning the corner - Troy’s cornerback duo of Elbert Mack and Leodis McKelvin were among the best in the country. For much of the year, McKelvin was the country’s leading punt returner and he finished his career one punt return for a TD shy of tying the NCAA record. A possible NFL first-round draft pick awaits McKelvin. Mack finished with 8 interceptions, also leading the country. Size might hurt him at the next level, but he’ll get some looks.

7 - Baseball to regionals again - The Trojans got a surprise when they were selected to the baseball regionals for the second straight year after an inconsistent season. A good strength of schedule helped the Trojans get there, but in the Oxford Regional Troy went two and out. The Trojans had another national leader as Josh Dew led in strikeouts per nine innings pitched. That makes four years in a row, starting with Nate Moore (ERA), Adam Godwin (stolen bases) and Tom King (hits and doubles). Construction also started at Riddle-Pace Field and a new look will await fans in 2008.

6 - Teams court Troy baseball coach - Troy almost lost one of its more successful coaches as head coach Bobby Pierce interviewed with Tennessee. In a surprising move, UT hired Todd Raleigh from Western Carolina. Pierce’s name was also menitoned with the Alabama opening, which went back to a closing a week later when Jim Wells was allowed back. UT and Alabama’s loss is still Troy’s gain, as a big-time recruiting class signed this past fall.

5 - Mayworth gets national title - Troy cattle-roper Ben Mayworth captured a national title at the College National Finals Rodeo. A national title, in any sport, is simply amazing.

4 - End of an era - The Omar Haugabook era was a great two-year run for the Troy Trojans, but several other seniors who made big-time contributions saw their eligibility run out at the end of the year. The four-year seniors had three winning seasons, and the last two years resulted in a tie for the Sun Belt title and a New Orleans Bowl win. Say goodbye to Haugabook, running backs Sean Dawkins and Kenny Cattouse, receivers Gary Banks and Josh Allen, defensive linemen Shawn Todd, Marcus Pittman and Chris Bradwell, linebackers Marcus Richardson, Josh Maxwell and Romanique Lewis, corners Elbert Mack and Leodis McKelvin and kicker/punter Greg Whibbs, among others.

3 - Troy continues national TV dominance - A 41-23 win over Oklahoma State was there for the world to see on ESPN2 in a game that wasn’t that close. A bigger blowout came Nov. 20, when Troy blasted Middle Tennessee 45-7 on ESPN2. That makes four straight and five of six on the family of ESPN networks.

2 - No bowl - Troy’s loss to FAU meant the Owls would go to the New Orleans Bowl. Hawaii’s win later that night ensured that no at-large spots would be available for the 8-4 Trojans.

1 - Tony takes his act to Auburn - The man that revived the Troy offense left after two years and went to Auburn. It culminated a Dark December for Trojan fans. It remains to be seen if Franklin will have success at Auburn or if he’ll publish a third book in a few years.

Sunday reading

December 30, 2007

Drew Champlin

Bowling Green (Ky.) Daily News: Game story

From me, my gamer isn’t posted on the internet for some reason, but here’s the raw copy. Don’t look for mistakes, just enjoy.

TROY — One thing eluded Troy in the second half of Saturday’s game against Western Kentucky.
The lead.
Had the Trojans been able to take a lead after fighting back from 13 down, Saturday’s game might have gone another way.
Instead, Western Kentucky took a 94-90 win from Troy at Trojan Arena.
It was Troy’s second straight loss after five wins in a row. WKU improved to 9-4, 1-0 in league play. Troy is 6-6, 0-2.
The Trojans were down 78-65 after a 3-pointer from WKU’s Ty Rogers, but O’Darien Bassett hit four straight 3-pointers on a 12-4 run to cut the lead to five with 8:45 left.
The lead was either four or five for most of the next seven minutes. Bassett, who scored a career-high 36, drove to the basket to tie it at 86 with 1:50 left.
WKU’s Courtney Lee then scored the last eight points of the game. He answered with a drive of his own, and Bassett again answered him to tie it, but Lee’s floater with 40 seconds left gave WKU a 90-88 lead. Bassett had a shot partially deflected by Lee, and Lee hit four free throws late to ice it.
“In the second half, momentum changed a couple of times and went our way,” Troy head coach Don Maestri said. “We didn’t play great. To beat good teams like this, our whole group is going to have to play really good.”
Lee spent much of the second half in foul trouble and finished with 17 points, four below his season average.
The story of the game early was WKU point guard Tyrone Brazelton, who hit eight 3-pointers in the first half. His ninth, just minutes into the second half, set a school record. He finished with 29 points.
Two of his 3-pointers early helped WKU race out to an 8-0 lead. Two more helped WKU go on a 17-2 run to erase a 34-29 deficit. The Hilltoppers led 56-48 at halftime.
“Maybe we would have gotten points another way,” WKU coach Darrin Horn said. “But the bottom line is he made an awful lot of shots in the first half all within the offense. None of them were forced.”
After falling 8-0, Troy didn’t panic. Down 29-24, the Trojans scored 10 straight before WKU called timeout to set up its big run.
“We don’t get down on ourselves when we get down eight or 10 points, because our system (run and gun) is going to keep us in it,” Bassett said.
Bassett was Troy’s only double-digit scorer. A.J. Slaughter scored 13 for WKU and Ty Rogers added 12 points. Jeremy Evans had 13 rebounds, though WKU only outrebounded Troy by five.
The HIlltoppers did score 27 points off turnovers.
Troy hosts North Texas Thursday at 7 p.m.

Some basketball thoughts (WKU 94, Troy 90)

December 29, 2007

Drew Champlin

***I think Troy has a pretty decent basketball team. Much better than I anticipated. Problem is, they’re not as good as WKU or South Alabama right now. Maybe not North Texas, but they stand a better chance there.

***O’Darien Bassett is playing like the superstar he was recruited to be. Problem is, he didn’t get much help tonight. Justin Jonus is still only about 60 percent from that bad knee injury he had in the summer. It’s a shame, because he was shaping up to have a great senior year. He can still score 20 ppg when hot, though.

***The bench wasn’t as productive as it had been. Mario Telfair comes off and is pretty good at driving to the basket. Brandon Hazzard isn’t getting as many open looks anymore and still has to realize what is and what isn’t a good shot.

***I thought Jerome Odem played pretty well and might start taking more of the PG minutes. He’s a better shooter than Mike Vogler but Vogler’s a more pure point guard. Both will have their moments.

***Kenny Ware was pretty decent tonight. He’s a better defensive option than Jonus at the 3-position and more active, because he’s quicker. He’s limited offensively, though, and isn’t reliable outside of 10 feet.

***Troy got nothing from the center spot until Jarvis Acker got a couple of big rebounds in the last four minutes. Prior, he had a few boneheaded turnovers and Tom Jervis was playing soft. Not good when you’re 7 feet tall.

***North Texas is up next, Thursday night. They’re more physical than WKU and pretty good, but likely not as deep.

Here at the Troy-Western Kentucky game…

Drew Champlin

29 minutes until tipoff and there are PLENTY, I mean PLENTY of good seats to be found. I guess that’s a little depressing, since it is Saturday night and there isn’t much else going on except the Patriots run to perfection the Alamo Bowl. It was a nasty drive up here from Dothan, so that might be deterring some folks. That, or it’s a late-arriving crowd. I’ll keep you posted with a few game observations here and there.

15:49 left in first half: The first thing I hear from Troy color announcer Jerry Miller after the first media timeout: “We’re already getting outrebounded 8 to 1.” Made me laugh. WKU went up 8-0 just like that. Now it’s 13-6

7:59 left in half: Two teams have combined for 14 3s, WKU with 8 and Troy with 6. Trojans up 34-32.

3:57 left in half: After Troy was up 34-29, WKU went on a hot 14-0 run. Hilltoppers are an astonishing 12-of-20 from 3-point land. Thing is, they’re the one team that can kill Troy at its own game, and right now there’s no stopping them. 46-36 Hilltoppers.

HALFTIME - Troy cut it to 4, but Tyrone Brazelton of WKU hit back-to-back 3s. Oh, he’s hit EIGHT of them so far. EIGHT-of-NINE for 24 points. WKU has hit FOURTEEN threes. I know, AP style says I need to say 14. Usually, when a team hits FOURTEEN threes on you in the first half, it’s over, but to Troy’s credit, it’s not. WKU leads 56-48. Rebound advantage is 22-16, and WKU’s 6-foot-9, 260-pounder has three fouls (Courtney Lee, the NBA prospect, has 2). With the big guy on the bench, WKU doesn’t have a size advantage, but with the open threes they’re getting because of crisp passing and the zone defense, they’ve got the skill advantage.

Can it last? Troy is playing pretty decent, but have to up the tempo and hope WKU isn’t hitting as many shots.

15:55 left in game - Troy is getting absolutely nothing from the 5-position (center). Tom Jervis and Jarvis Acker are playing soft and making dumb decisions. Everyone else is fine. My question is where’s Bernard Toombs? Redshirt’s already burned. He’s a better rebounder than both and tougher.
WKU 65, Troy 58