Hoops look: Jacksonville at Troy

December 17, 2007

Drew Champlin

What: Jacksonville (3-6) at Troy (5-4)
When: 7 p.m. CST Dec. 17
Where: Trojan Arena (4,000)
Last time out: Troy beat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 79-68 at home. Jacksonville fell at No. 5 Georgetown 87-55

Probable starting lineups
TROY
G-Jerome Odem (6’1, 160, Sr.) - 7 ppg, 5.2 apg
G-O’Darien Bassett (6’2, 190, Sr.) - 17.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.4 apg
F-Justin Jonus (6’6, 221, Sr.) - 15.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg
F-Trayce Macon (6’8, 191, Soph.) - 7.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg
F-Jarvis Acker (6’6, 210, Sr.) - 7.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg

JACKSONVILLE
G-Ben Smith (5’10, 155, So.) 15 ppg, 5.1 apg, 2.3 spg
G-Andre McMillan (6’2, 192, Jr.) 4.3 ppg
F-Ayron Hardy(6’5, 188, Fr.) 5.9 ppg
F-Marcus Allen(6’7, 225, Jr.) 10.2 ppg, 5.6
F-Lehman Colbert (6’7, 205, So.) 13.4 ppg, 5.8 rpg

What to watch for: The former Atlantic Sun foes meet as Troy tries to win its fifth straight game for the first time since the 2003-04 season. Strange enough, the first Troy game I ever covered was Troy vs. Jacksonville in Troy sometime in Feb. 2005. Two of Georgia State’s three wins have come against these two teams, but Troy has improved significantly since then. JU probably isn’t as talented as the last two teams that came into Trojan Arena, but basketball’s a funny game. The Dolphins won three straight to start the year but have lost their last six.

Player to watch, Troy: Brandon Hazzard: The sophomore sharpshooter came off the bench to score 19 in Saturday’s win over TAMUCC

Player to watch, JU: Ben Smith. The small but diminutive sophomore point guard is JU’s best player and will be the key as far as breaking Troy’s all-out press.

Troy will win if: They keep playing as a team and force JU to play its game.

JU will win if: They break the pressure and attack the basket while Troy’s defense recovers instead of waiting for the Trojan defense to get back.

Drew’s prediction: Troy 81, Jacksonville 70

Tony left and took his quarterback with him

December 16, 2007

Drew Champlin

Auburn’s rivals.com site has JUCO quarterback Chris Todd, once a Troy commitment, following Tony Franklin and committing to Auburn,

I would link it, but it’s premium content.

Now Troy will have to find another quarterback to come in. Where that will hurt is that Todd was ready to play. A lot of talk has centered around a quarterback in Kentucky who threw for 91 touchdown passes this year, but while a guy like Todd could go in and compete against Ohio State and LSU, a freshman likely wouldn’t.

It likely means that one of these four—Tanner Jones, Jamie Hampton, Jonathan Chandler or Levi Brown—will be starting on opening day, even if Troy brings in a freshman because these four will have an extra spring to go along with at least one year of time at Troy.

Sunday links

Drew Champlin

From me, Troy basketball extended its winning streak to four games.

The Corpus Christi Caller Times sent someone to cover the game. Read about it from their angle.

A few basketball thoughts

Drew Champlin

***Looks like Bernard Toombs isn’t redshirting this year. My question is this (and I’ll ask this), but for the blog, it’s rhetorical. Why isn’t he playing more? 6-foot-10. One minute of action. Two rebounds. Two points. I was much more impressed with the rebounds because they were hustle rebounds, but on his bucket, he beat everyone down the floor and caught a long pass from Justin Jonus that was a little off the mark and put it in.

***If Brandon Hazzard can score 10 ppg off the bench, it makes Troy that much better. The way he shoots the ball, if he had played 30 minutes against TAMUCC, he might have scored 30. He scored his 19 in 19 minutes. Problem is, he’s playing behind O’Darien Bassett at the two. He saw some time at the three, and will likely steal some minutes from Kenny Ware there because Ware is limited offensively.

***Michael Vogler didn’t shoot well and really took some ill-advised shots but did what a point guard is supposed to do: control the offense. He also had eight assists to just one turnover, and if I remember right, that came when he tried to save a teammate’s pass from going backcourt, caught it to where he had control of it but was hanging on, then lost it. So that turnover wasn’t totally on him. He came off the bench, but played 23 minutes to Jerome Odem’s 17. Something good to see: Odem calling Vogler over (from the bench) and pointing something out in the game. This was when another Trojan was shooting free throws.

That’s one way how much better of a team Troy is this year.

***What else makes the press effective? When a Trojan is shooting free throws, Maestri sends over a player to check in after the free throw shooter gets the ball from the ref to shoot his second free throw. It doesn’t matter what point of the game is or who, because everyone’s interchangable. Thus, if the free throw shooter makes the second shot, the sub is whistled in and Troy sets up the press.

***That Sun Belt opener is going to be VERY tough Thursday at South Alabama, who took a 71-67 win over Mississippi State Saturday. Demetric Bennett scored 39 points. USA is the one team that Troy couldn’t seem to cover very well under the John Pelphrey regime, but now Ronnie Arrow is coaching the team. USA’s losses have been by three at a very good Vanderbilt team and by three to a pretty good Ole Miss team and by five to Miami of Ohio. I don’t know what kind of offense they run, but they’ve got some legit talent.

***Sun Belt play started Saturday as Arkansas Little Rock knocked off Florida International.

***Troy needs a good crowd Monday at 7 p.m. vs. Jacksonville. They need a much bigger crowd Saturday, Dec. 29 against Western Kentucky, another very good team that lost by only six to Tennessee. That game is also at 7 p.m. Troy’s third Sun Belt game is against North Texas. Not much fun to open the year against perhaps the three best teams in the league. Troy plays all three teams twice, too.

Pre-recruiting/spring look: DEFENSIVE LINE

December 15, 2007

Drew Champlin

This is the first look at the 2008 Trojans. It’s never too early to speculate on the next season, especially since Troy’s 2007 season is over. Most of these will not focus on 2008 recruits as no one has signed on the dotted line yet.

Note: Players are listed in class based on what they will be in 2008.

WHAT TROY IS LOSING: Some good players. Defensive end Shawn Todd had a great year and was a solid leader. His sack won the Western Kentucky game and gave the offense a chance to win it against FAU. Todd, who lost his starting spot early in the year, regained it and was a second-team all-conference player. Chris Bradwell’s one season after suspension resulted in Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year (an award not for freshmen; he was the only one nominated) but he had a good year. Marcus Pittman had a quietly successful season and it’s fair to say both tackles could get professional looks. Todd will embark on a career in the air force. Junior Tagovailoa, a reserve lineman, also graduates.

WHAT TROY IS RETAINING: A good bit, actually. Senior Kenny Mainor was an all-conference player and despite his troubles off the field early, he started to show flashes of greatness toward the end of the year and was rewarded with a second-team All-Sun Belt selection. Brandon Lang was supposed to have a breakout year, but he tore his ACL against Oklahoma State. He’ll be back with two years of eligibility left and likely head to the NFL. Junior Cameron Sheffield started the bulk of the year and his best football is in front of him. Sophomore John Mark Patrick was moved to defensive end midway through the year and sophomore walk-on RJ Roberts saw time at defensive end and linebacker. It’s now or never for junior Jeremy Hawkins, who has seen minimal action his first two years. At tackle, Dion Gales is a monster and should be the best in the Belt next year (remember, I’m the guy who said before this season Boris Lee would be all-Sun Belt first team). Steve McClendon has been touted as the best tackle but has battled injuries. He’ll be a senior, as will Maurice Coleman, who bounced back from suspension during 2006 to be a solid backup. He’ll be in line for more snaps. Others on scholarship are Akeem Brown and Jeremy Jenkins, but neither were a factor this year.

Rashad Roussell came over from JUCO but redshirted. Brandon Boudreaux signed in 2007, but grayshirted and should enroll in January. Troy signed Eugene Kinlaw and Barry Stokes last February, but neither qualified.

DREW’S PREDICTION: Even with the losses, this unit could still be the best in the Sun Belt. Lang and Mainor are incredibly fast and talented, but Mainor needs to stay out of trouble. Gales is very good and either McClendon or Coleman needs to emerge. Lang’s ACL recovery is on target and he could have played in a bowl game and almost played in the last two games.

I look for the Trojans to add immediate impact players at both DE and DT.

Games are won and lost at the line of scrimmages and I look for Troy to be among the best in the Belt at both lines.