University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Basketball Eagles Hold First Scrimmage
10/20/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Basketball Eagles Hold First Scrimmage
Hattiesburg, Miss. - Southern Miss Head Coach James Green used the words "raw" and "energetic" to describe his team's effort after the first Golden Eagle scrimmage of the still-young fall basketball season Saturday morning. The hour-long scrimmage ended the three-hour workout, as well as the first week of practice.
"We are very, very raw," said Green. "We've seen some improvement as we move on to bigger drills, or playing five-on-five, and there is some learning going on, but we're going at such a fast pace, it's sometimes hard to see. Partly because the players are working so hard, it makes me believe that we have the chance to be pretty good. You see the older guys, (Elvin) Mims, (Pete) Meneses, (Brad) Richardson, (Bernard) Duncan, (Mario) Myles, doing things in practice that we've worked on in past seasons, that you don't see the younger players doing, at least at this point. We're just so young and inexperienced, and nervous, it's really hard for the young players to show what they're capable of doing.
"We're really grinding them down, in a sense, so that somewhere down the road they'll be able to blossom. We might as well teach them the right way to do things, and stick to it, because we'll be better for it in the future."
Green says young players coming into a program have a tough time picking up the system quickly. "It's really hard for them. We tell them there are no cracks to fall through as far as concentration and effort are concerned. A lot of programs don't require the intense attention that we require, but we don't leave them any room to do that. It makes us a better team down the road."
Green also says the 2001-02 team will be considerably different from the 2000-01 team that posted a 22-9 record and won a Conference USA championship. "We'll have more athleticism, especially on the perimeter. Our big guys can run, although we don't have a big guy we can throw it in to and score. We'll probably have to open up our offense a little more, let our perimeter players take more shots from out there and then let our big guys crash the boards. Last season we had a good inside-outside balance. We'll have to create that balance thisseason by doing different things to get the ball around the basket where we can take advantage of our athleticism."
With a large number of new players on the roster this season, the opportunity is there for young players to earn playing time, and Green says he has seen some pleasant surprises. "I think the combination of Ben Lambert and Carey Rigsby both are getting better, and will, over time, make us solid at the five position. Brandon Gay watched practice last season, picks up things easily and that has helped him move along quickly. The other guy who is probably going to end up doing quite well is Dante Stiggers. Brad plays so hard at the point position, that someone else is going to get some minutes there. As Stiggers is around longer and longer, he's just going to get better and better."
The Eagles continue weekday workouts each morning at 6:15, and will end next week with a Saturday morning, game-condition scrimmage that will be open to the general public. That scrimmage starts at 10 a.m.
Southern Miss opens the season with a pair of exhibition games, Nov. 7 and 14, and then starts the regular season Nov.17 at home against intrastate rival Jackson State. Season tickets remain on sale at the athletic ticket office in the Ferlise Center or by calling 601/266-5418 or 1-800-844-TICK.