[b]* [b]Also, four appear likely to play professionally[/b]. Gathings, the 2004 Big South player of the year, probably will play for a team in France. Jerry Echenique likely will play in Portugal, Hilliman in Denmark and White somewhere overseas.
Liberty’s all-conference guard, David Dees, has transferred to Louisiana-Lafayette. High Point native Steven Rush, one of the league’s most dangerous shooters at UNC-Asheville, has moved on to North Carolina A&T.
“They will be great,” Lundy said about Winthrop. “I’d say they will be ranked in the top 40 (nationally) during preseason.”[/b]
HPU’s basketball team braces for tough road tests
By Tom Berry, High Point Enterprise Sports Writer
07/03/2005
An interesting nonconference basketball schedule awaits High Point University this season.
The Panthers, expected to be one of the nation’s youngest teams with six freshmen and four sophomores, will play opponents that range from powerhouses Kentucky and Utah to a couple of non-NCAA Div. I lightweights.
The schedule has not been finalized or officially released. But one of the highlights will be a trip to Lexington, Ky., in late November to face the Wildcats and coach
Tubby Smith, a 1973 High Point graduate.
Earlier in November, the Panthers will open the regular season in a four-team tournament at William & Mary. Maine appears most likely to be HPU’s opening-round opponent. William & Mary, coached by High Point native Tony Shaver, is a possibility.
The week after Christmas, HPU will travel west to face Utah and Utah Valley State. There’s also a home game against Western Carolina a couple of days before Kentucky and an early December contest at traditional rival Elon, which hasn’t played High Point since joining the Southern Conference two years ago.
Longwood and non-Division I teams Ferrum and Southeastern (Fla.) are tentatively on HPU’s schedule along with a full Big South Conference slate. High Point will not play Guilford County’s other Division I schools - UNCG and N.C. A&T - this season.
Smith ranks fifth at High Point with 1,589 career points. He guided Kentucky to the 1998 NCAA title and owns a 2-0 record against his alma mater, most recently an 84-64 victory during the 2002-03 season.
“We’ve been trying to get this game done for two years,” said third-year HPU head coach Bart Lundy, who has a 32-29 overall record at the school. “The Michigan contract was a two-year deal when I got here and we had to wait for that to run out to be able to add Kentucky.”
The Wildcats were expected to be an NCAA championship contender in 2005-06 before underclassmen Randolph Morris and Kelenna Azubuike declared for the NBA Draft. Neither was selected and their college eligibility appeared over, but Morris might be able to take advantage of a little-used NCAA rule to return.
Morris could be back if he pays for all the NBA workouts in which he participated, asks the Kentucky athletic director for reinstatement within 30 days of the draft and the school agrees that he can return. Other undrafted players might be able to do the same thing if they didn’t hire an agent.
High Point lost 78-69 to Utah last season in the Great Alaska Shootout. The Utes should have a solid team this season even without center Andrew Bogut, who was the NBA’s No. 1 overall draft pick on Tuesday by Milwaukee.
The Panthers are coming off a 13-18 season, including a tie for fourth in the Big South Conference at 7-9.
HPU players HOPE TO continue careers
Good things are happening to High Point’s five seniors from last season.
Four of the players have graduated or will graduate during summer school. That group includes Danny Gathings, Zione White, Chris Meeks and Patrick Hilliman.
Also, four appear likely to play professionally. Gathings, the 2004 Big South player of the year, probably will play for a team in France. Jerry Echenique likely will play in Portugal, Hilliman in Denmark and White somewhere overseas.
BYRD SOARS TO LINCOLN U. in MISSOURI
Guard Titus Byrd, who started 23 games for High Point last season, will finish his college career at Lincoln University in Missouri, an NCAA Division II school.
Byrd lost his starting job to Landon Quick late last season and decided to transfer in order to assure himself more playing time. Byrd, however, still maintained a good relationship with HPU’s coaches and only recently left town after going to summer school and working at the school’s basketball camps.
QUICK LEADS PANTHERS
Quick, a Southwest Guilford graduate, enters his junior season at HPU as the Panthers’ starting point guard and leader.
“This is Landon’s team now,” Lundy said.
Quick, who had almost twice as many assists as turnovers last season, is a quick guard who isn’t afraid to drive the lane. His weakness has been outside shooting, and he went only 3-of-13 from 3-point range (.231) last season.
According to Lundy, Quick is working hard this summer with Keith Gatlin, a Greensboro resident and former Maryland point guard.
“Landon is really concentrating on working on his jump shot,” Lundy said.
Quick, senior forward Issa Konare and junior walk-on Chris Mayshack will be HPU’s upperclassmen this season. Mayshack is expected to be on scholarship for his senior season.
HPU CLOSE ON ASSISTANT
HPU is on the verge of naming an assistant coach to replace Sean Woods, who left after the season to become an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Texas-Corpus Christi.
“It’s close to being done,” Lundy said. “We should be able to make an announcement within the next week, if things go well.”
The coach will join Lundy, associate head coach Josh Schertz and assistant Justin Furr.
BIG SOUTH CHANGES
Like High Point’s roster, the Big South Conference is changing.
There will be three new head coaches for 2005-06, including former North Carolina guard Buzz Peterson at Coastal Carolina, and lots of player turnover.
Liberty’s all-conference guard, David Dees, has transferred to Louisiana-Lafayette. High Point native Steven Rush, one of the league’s most dangerous shooters at UNC-Asheville, has moved on to North Carolina A&T.
Peterson, who went to Coastal after being fired at Tennessee, will help increase the Big South’s national profile.
“Absolutely,” Lundy said. “(Coastal) has made a much bigger commitment (to basketball) than before he got there. And Buzz is a good guy.” Coastal Carolina, in Conway, S.C., near Myrtle Beach, is in the process of building a new 7,000-seat on-campus arena.
The Big South is changing, but perennial power Winthrop will be the heavy favorite to repeat as conference champion. The Eagles won 18 straight games at one point last season and represented the league well in the NCAA Tournament, losing a close opening-round game to Gonzaga.
Winthrop returns virtually its entire team for 2005-06, including Torrell Martin, James Shuler and Otis Daniels.
“They will be great,” Lundy said about Winthrop. “I’d say they will be ranked in the top 40 (nationally) during preseason.”