2010-11 Basketball Preview: Sellers mixes old with new as season begins

Senior forward Josh Hurst averaged 7.9 points and 6.6 rebound per game last season for the Bobcats.

The GCSU men’s basketball team will have their work cut out for them if they want to duplicate their success from a year ago.

Junior forward Ryan Aquino will be a key player this season. He averaged 5.7 points per game in 2009-10.

Gone are the Bobcats’ three leading scorers who catapulted them to a 22-6 finish and a birth in the NCAA Tournament in 2009-10. With the loss of key multi-year starters like Ty Rowland, Graham Martin and Jake Rios, the Bobcats will rely on their key returning players as well as new faces to lead them to success this season.

Head coach Terry Sellers, who is entering his 18th season at the helm of the Bobcats, said his team will face some early uphill battles.

“We are playing one of the most difficult, challenging non-conference schedules that we’ve ever played, and we’re playing it with an inexperienced team. It presents good opportunities to test and prepare us for the conference schedule,” Sellers said. “We expect to have a good season. We want to come out of the gate and be able to start strong and finish strong.”

Senior Josh Hurst will be one of the Bobcats’ returning starters. The 6-foot-5, 190 pound forward, a third year starter, started all 28 games last season, averaging 7.9 points a game, along with 6.6 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game. Also back is junior forward Ryan Aquino, who started 18 games for the Bobcats last season and averaged six rebounds along with 5.7 points a contest. Red-shirt senior forward Reece Wiedeman, who Sellers calls the team’s best low-post scorer and started eight games a year ago, is another player GCSU will expect more out of.

Senior Andre Mikell is the Bobcats’ lone returning point guard from 2009-10 and has battled a back injury in the preseason, inhibiting his play.

“We are hoping he will get healthy and be able to contribute to us in big ways this year,” Sellers said.

The Bobcats also brought in three transfer players to help boost their chances.

Sophomore guard Ryan Legates played his freshman season at USC Upstate and has had a strong preseason according to Sellers.

In addition, the Bobcats picked up a pair of junior forwards in Mike Augustine from Southwestern Illinois College and Jared Holmes from Kankakee Community College in Illinois.

“Those transitions have been smooth and productive so far, and we’re looking for big things from all three of those guys,” Sellers said.

“We just want to keep working together as a team,” Hurst said. “It’s always tough with new guys coming in, but we feel like strong teamwork is going to help us out.”

Teamwork is something Sellers says his team needs to possess in order to stay competitive.

“We’ve got a lot of new guys and are going to look to improve on both ends of the floor. We really need to work well together,” he said. “In the past, that’s given us an advantage, and we need to do an even better job this year.”

Despite the significant changes to the lineup, the Bobcats have not lowered their expectations.

“We hope to be playing our best basketball when we get into serious conference play after Christmas,” Sellers said. “Our guys expect to be in the NCAA tournament when it comes down to it. It’s a lofty goal, but it’s one that can be achieved if they work at it.”

To do so, GCSU will have to go through a tough Peach Belt Conference, which hasn’t gotten any easier.

While two-time defending champion Augusta State and USC Aiken, who ended the Bobcats’ season last year, stand out, there are several other teams in the hunt.

“The league may be more balanced than ever. There’s not one team that’s not capable of beating another,” Sellers said. “A lot of these games are going to come down the stretch, and it will be the team that executes the most that wins. You’re going to need things like good free throw shooting, big defensive stops and big plays on the offensive side.”

Still Sellers feels confident in his Bobcats, who open the season Nov. 17, at home against Carver Bible at 7:30 p.m.

“I believe in the potential of this team. They can become a team that is hard to beat if they continue to work hard and improve from beginning to end,” he said.

And Sellers said that fan support could help fuel the team.

“We’re looking forward to a great year. Student support has been way up the last two to three years, and I think the fans will like our team this year and the way they hustle and play the game,” he said. “We’re going to do our best to represent the university and the student body.”

Posted by Scotty Thompson on Nov 11 2010. Filed under Lead stories, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.