It was an excellent event as always, here are some of the most interesting tidpids:
Starting line up: Bobby said that until 2 days ago, the starting line would be Baldwin, Alexander, Drayton, Withers, Nance. But then he had that team play together for the first time and they got blown out by the second team. He did say that was the first time thay had all played together and that usually in practice they seperate Withers and Alexander because they are the most competitive players on the team. Lee is the first player off the bench with Bennet, Coleman and Williams having a large role. He said this my be the deepest team he has every coached as well as being the most physical team since the days of Kelvin Price. The players that coach said could be the biggest surprise are Coleman and Williams. Said Coleman is playing very well in practice and Williams played the best they have seen him play at the madness event and hopefully that means he plays the best when the lights are on him…
Coach said that they have had 5 different NBA people visit practice(including Bob Ferry) and that all 5 have pointed out and commented about a different player each time.
A-10- He said he has been made aware the we are going to be the biggest game or game that most of the A-10 schools are looking forward to and that we need to be ready to get everyones best shot every night. We have gone from the hunter to the hunted. The 2 places he is most concerned about playing at is Temple and St. Joes. because he anticipates a great home court advantage from the crowds and the refs.
Scheduling- Very excited about this years schedule with big home games against Miss St and IU and of course the game with Wake. Wake will play a return game in 2 years at the new uptown arena. We are working to get games scheduled with NC St.(the AD’s have agreed to it, but the coaches would agree to when) Michigan St.(return game at the uptown arena), Alabama, Auburn seem like the best possiblities, but nothing is definite. We have tried to get games with Duke and Carolina in the uptown arena, but they will not do it.
Recruits- Coaches are not aloud to comment on unsigned recruits, but other various sources I spoke with said the following: We expect to sign at least 6 players this year with the plan being to sign 6 in the fall period and possibly add a 7th in the spring.(Coach did say it is very unlikely that Bennet will get an extra year). Tatum is the stud of our group and Georgia wanted him badly. They hope Ian Anderson will be a Jobey Thomas type player and that is what they are expecting. The visit with Wilderness went very well and we have a shot at him. Carlos Williams will start at point guard the day he arrives and he is the best passer we have had since Sean Colson. The chances are very good that Beasley will in fact sign with us when the time comes. Recruit does not seem to be affected by our move to the A-10 and we will sign 2 west coast player for the first time ever.
Trip to Kuwait: The coach went on trip to visit the troops and do some clinics. He went with Coaches Sampson, Odom, Izzo and Godfried. He said it was an amazing time and we all need to do whatever we can to support the troops.
We have about 50 people in attendance with a very special apearance by HP who seems to be progressing very well.
They gave away 3 sets of tickets to people that answered the following trivia questions correctly:
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How many times have we been to the NCAA tourney in the last 10 years??
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We have a player on the men’s and women’s team that share the same name, what is it?
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What are the three schools in the A-10 located in Phili???
The idiot that tried to answer this question raised his hand and promptly said St. Joes and Lasalle and forgot about the easiest one Temple.