The First Tests
11/11/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 11, 2009
By MOISEKAPENDA BOWER
Beyond the individual reputations of the five freshmen poised to make their collegiate debuts this weekend lies the significance of their addition to the basketball roster constructed by second-year coach Ben Braun: the superior depth he craved and lacked throughout last season.
Tamir Jackson and Arsalan Kazemi came highly regarded while A.J. Holland, Chris Eversley and Egheosa Edomwonyi are teeming with potential, but their mere presence enabled Braun to tax the Owls this preseason at a level unseen during his first year at the helm. Drills gained intensity and scrimmages yielded a competitive tone because the talent influx allowed Braun the flexibility to work the Owls harder than before, with Braun frequently repeating the offseason refrain that his presumed quality depth will benefit the Owls as they forge an identity.
The testing of that depth begins in earnest on Friday night at Tudor Fieldhouse for, over a whirlwind 46-hour span, the Owls will face Sacramento State, South Alabama and Houston Baptist in their season-opening Rice Basketball Challenge. The Owls are tournament hosts for the first time since the 1986 Rice Invitational, and the format will influence Braun to dig deeper into his bench after only six Owls logged double-digit minutes in Monday's exhibition against Angelo State.
"We have three games this weekend, and we're going to have to play more guys," Braun said. "With three games back to back to back, every team coming to the Challenge is not going to get away with playing six or seven guys. We're going to have to play some guys, so I'm going to look for some of the guys to get some experience through this weekend."
Plagued by foul trouble, junior center Trey Stanton and sophomore forward Emerson Herndon were limited to seven minutes apiece in the Owls' exhibition, while junior guard Bryan Beasley played just three minutes off the bench - all in the first half. Neither Eversley nor Edomwonyi saw the court against Angelo State, but given the caliber of competition and the compressed schedule facing the Owls this weekend, Braun will likely disperse the minutes more evenly among nine players.
How he does so should provide for interesting observation. Sacramento State will lend a physical, defensive-minded style to the proceedings, a philosophical staple of second-year Hornets coach Brian Katz, who coached with distinction at Lassen College (Susanville, Calif.) and San Joaquin Delta College (Stockton, Calif.) before joining his alma mater.
South Alabama, a Sun Belt Conference power guided by legendary San Jacinto Junior College coach Ronnie Arrow, will turn its athletes loose and pressure the Owls on both ends of the court while HBU hopes to capitalize on its advantage of proximity and familiarity under long-time coach Ron Cottrell, the steward of the Huskies' transition into Division I.
"It will be three completely different games, and that's the value of playing in these early preseason tournaments," Braun said. "You hopefully get to see everything you might later see in your league (Conference USA), and just to play those games will help us in some of our (non-conference) road games against Arizona, Harvard and LSU."
Rotations tend to be flexible for most programs at this stage, and the Owls are no different. Braun is actively rewarding those players who excelled in preseason camp with a lion's share of the minutes, and he is cognizant that in many cases experienced veterans remain an asset.
With five newcomers, blending personnel required careful evaluation. Performances in the closed scrimmage against Incarnate Word and in the exhibition validated those allotments of minutes, but the process of developing a set rotation is a fluid one that will continue for some time.
"We've got a solid group that have demonstrated from the beginning of practice through the first two games that they're going to deserve to play more of the minutes," Braun said. "But that's not to say that we're not going to start getting some of the younger guys a little more time as time goes on. Initially it's fair to play guys that have both had more experience and who have stepped up from day one, and then slowly bring along some guys that can give us a lift. I don't think we need to throw them in the mix right away, but we've got enough guys now."
That confidence resonates throughout the roster. As Braun shrewdly matches certain players with others, the Owls follow with the requisite adjustments on the court. Braun tinkered with lineups throughout the exhibition against the Rams but the Owls remained a cohesive unit of five no matter who entered the game, a result that demonstrated the collective camp effort of all involved in meshing the old with the new.
Braun insisted that he would utilize combo positions, and that was apparent on Monday. That he has presented the Owls with certain responsibilities so early has bolstered their belief in their versatility.
"We've been tinkering with lineups ever since practice began so I don't think anyone is surprised by anything Coach does," Owls sophomore forward Lucas Kuipers said. "If we want to go in there we're all going to work together and we're all going to try and do our best. We've all played together so many times that we're just used to (any personnel combination). It doesn't really matter."
Said sophomore guard Connor Frizzelle: "We've got a pretty good bench, and we're going to have to use the bench a lot this weekend. Everybody feels confident that whoever comes off the bench is going to produce."
Production will be one buzzword versus the Hornets, Jaguars and Huskies. Braun has cultivated an air of excitement around this latest iteration of the Owls but he cautioned that, in this embryonic stage of the season, fretting over victories is secondary to loftier goals. With new faces come new challenges, and creating cohesion is a primary focus as Braun contemplates the methodology to get the Owls on the same page.
Quality depth is useless if all available hands aren't pulling in the same direction. This weekend offers the Owls first crack at growing in unison.
"Our emphasis has to be playing to our potential, playing well together, and working these early games to do that," Braun said. "How to build chemistry, how to build our defense, how to build some of our assist totals and making your teammates look good - we need to do that. It's important for a basketball team to be able to do that.
"The game always seems like it's moving faster than it is early in the year. I just want our guys not to play any less hard, but I want them to understand that they've got to slow down a little bit on offense and maybe be a little bit quicker on defense. There's a tendency early in the year to do the opposite. Those are the things I want our team to understand, and you only get there by experience."
