Tulsa Basketball Practices to Get Underway
10/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Oct. 13, 2006
Tulsa, Oklahoma - College basketball teams can begin practice on Friday, October 13, and the Tulsa men's basketball team will waste little time as the Hurricane take the floor after 7 pm Friday night.
"We're pretty excited about things. There's competition in the program, and yet the guys who are returning work their butts off to hopefully maintain their jobs," said Head Coach Doug Wojcik. "We're coming out of a great offseason, summer and fall training period. I want to give credit to Paul Arndorfer our strength coach, he's done a phenomenal job with our kids. Behind him, I have to give our kids a lot of credit. Leadership-wise seniors Charles Ramsdell and Darold Crow did phenomenal jobs."
The 2005-06 season was a transition year for Tulsa basketball -- new coach, new conference and eight newcomers. Although the Golden Hurricane welcomes five new players to this year's roster, there is a sense of cohesiveness and excitement surrounding the 2006-07 Hurricane team.
A storied basketball program since winning an NIT Championship in 1981, Tulsa is getting closer to regaining that success. Since capturing that 1981 NIT title, Hurricane basketball has won over 500 games, claimed eight conference titles, won five conference postseason tournament championships, advanced to the NCAA Tournament 13 times, the NIT five seasons and won another NIT Championship in 2001.
Wojcik's mindset is to get Tulsa basketball back to those glory days.
Tulsa returns seven letterwinners and four starters from a team that posted an 11-17 record and finished in sixth-place in Conference USA. Tulsa won two more games than in each of the previous two seasons, and finished well above the preseason pick of ninth-place in the C-USA standings.
This season's version of the Hurricane basketball team will have a year's experience to draw upon under its second-year head coach. Depth, athleticism and versatility have been some of the "buzz" words that have been used to describe this Tulsa team.
"I think the depth, versatility and being a better rebounding team are definite strengths for us," said Wojcik. "We have really good depth, and even though its young depth, we have good depth and we'll be more athletic."
Wojcik likes his team's versatility where he'll have the ability to put different lineups on the floor that will pose match-up problems for the opposition.
"We're a very versatile team. We can go small with Ben (Uzoh), Mark (Hill), Brett (McDade), we can go big with Ben at the one, Ray (Reese) at the two, Darold (Crow) at the three. We can play Calvin (Walls) and Jamel (McLean) together, We can play Charles (Ramsdell) and Jerome (Jordan) together, so we'll definitely be much more versatile this year."
Tulsa has the ability to be an improved shooting team and an even better defensive team than a year ago.
"I think we can be even better defensively because our players understand the concepts, but now we're quicker so we should be able to cover better," Wojcik added.
Last season, Tulsa was among the best defensive teams in Conference USA, ranking among the top-5 in all three defensive categories -- scoring defense (5th), field goal percentage defense (4th) and three-point field goal percentage defense (2nd). For the first time in over 25 years, the Tulsa defense did not allow a single opponent to shoot 50-percent or better from the field.
Wojcik is also excited about his team's ability to get up and down the floor.
"I think we can really run and we can run our wings. Being an improved rebounding team will allow us to run," said Wojcik. "We have quite a few guys with a lot of skills and that's exciting."
FRONTCOURT
Three of Tulsa's starters from the 2005-06 campaign return to the Hurricane frontcourt.
Among the returning starters, senior Charles Ramsdell leads the way for the Hurricane. The 6'10" forward is an athletic and versatile player who can play inside and on the perimeter. He averaged 9.0 points and a team-leading 6.2 rebounds last year, while posting 10 double-figure scoring games and five double-digit rebounding games.
"Charles really became a go-to guy in the latter part of the season," said Wojcik.
Ramsdell showed his versatility by leading the Hurricane with 33 three-pointers made, while knocking down 38-percent of his attempts.
The only other senior on the squad is forward Darold Crow (6'7"). After transferring from Seminole (Okla.) Junior College, Crow became a key figure in Tulsa's starting lineup last season by scoring at a 9.6 clip and grabbing 4.2 rebounds.
Last year, Crow had a knack for coming up big in the second-half of games while leading the Hurricane to a win. Against Texas-Pan American, Crow scored all 18 of his points in the second half, and added 15 second-half points in a win against Marshall while scoring 16 points in a 80-73 overtime win over Rice.
"We won games last year when Darold played well, and when Darold didn't play well we usually lost, so this year we're looking for more consistency from Darold. He's capable of doing it," said Wojcik.
Sam Mitchell, a returning 6'8" sophomore, helped anchor the middle of the lineup for Tulsa as a true freshman last year. A solid defensive player, Mitchell improved offensively as the season progressed. He tallied 2.7 points and 2.1 rebounds, while starting 19 games and averaging 15 minutes of playing time.
Sophomore Bishop Wheatley (6'6") was another freshman that saw considerable playing time last year. He averaged 2.4 points and 2.2 rebounds in 13.9 minutes of action. Like Mitchell, Wheatley was also solid on the defensive end of the floor for the Hurricane.
A walk-on, Kyle Young (6'6") returns for his sophomore season after seeing limited action last year. Young is an impressive athlete and will have an opportunity to compete for more playing time this year.
Red-shirt freshman Sean Coleman brings good size, and like Crow can play on the perimeter at the No. 3 position. As a prep senior at Westbury Christian School, he averaged 12 points and six rebounds while helping his school post a 34-6 record and win the state title his senior season.
Tulsa added size, rebounding and shot-blocking ability to the frontcourt during the recruiting process.
Junior college transfer Calvin Walls (6'7") brings great toughness and solid leadership to the Hurricane squad. Last year at Iowa Western Community College, Walls averaged 15.3 points and 7.1 rebounds. He helped his team compile a 30-8 record, as well as win the Region XI Championship and finish in fourth-place at the NJCAA national tournament after transferring from Wichita State.
True freshmen Jerome Jordan (6'11") and Jamel McLean (6'8") have the ability to develop into outstanding players for the Hurricane.
A native of Jamaica, Jordan's basketball experience is limited, but his skills are obvious. McLean, on the other hand, has tremendous experience playing against solid competition in high school and as a member of the legendary Boo Williams' AAU team.
Jordan did not play prep basketball in the United States, but last year at Florida Air Academy, the same school that produced Kansas center Sasha Kahn and Florida guard Walter Hodge, he was able to practice with the team.
McLean averaged 14.5 points, 15.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocked shots his senior season at Bethel (Va.) High School.
BACKCOURT
Only two lettermen return to the Tulsa backcourt this season, including two-year starter Brett McDade (6'0") and sophomore Ray Reese (6'5").
Although standing just six-feet, McDade has played big for Tulsa in his first two seasons. He returns as Tulsa's leading scorer with a 10.1 average from last year. He shot 42-percent from the field and 38-percent from three-point range, while ranking among the conference leaders in free throw percentage.
In two seasons, McDade has career averages of 9.9 points, 2.6 assists and 2.4 rebounds, while playing both the point guard and two-guard positions. He has started 44 of 56 games during his career and has managed to score in double-figures 28 times.
McDade led Tulsa in assists (73) and was second in steals (29) last year, while leading the Hurricane in assists in 15 games and in steals 10 times.
Reese had a solid freshman season and showed great potential. Bothered most of the campaign with nagging injuries, Reese ended the year by averaging 6.1 points and 3.1 rebounds. He was one of Tulsa's better perimeter percentage scorers by shooting 46-percent from the field and 39-percent from three-point range.
Red-shirt junior Rod Earls (6'2") sat out last year after suffering a foot injury the night prior to Tulsa's season opener. Earls, who was slotted to be in the starting line-up in that first game a year ago at point guard, gives Tulsa a solid perimeter scorer.
Before coming to Tulsa, Earls led his Paris Junior College team to an overall 28-9 record and the NJCAA National Championship in 2004-05, thus earning Tournament MVP honors. In four NJCAA Tournament games, he averaged 13.5 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists, while shooting 54-percent from three-point range and 75-percent from the free throw line.
Earls led his team to a two-year mark of 54-16, while averaging 7.5 points, 3.8 assists and 2.6 rebounds.
The newcomers to the backcourt are both true freshmen, Ben Uzoh (6'3") and Mark Hill (5'10"). Uzoh comes to Tulsa as a heralded prep star from the state of Texas. He was rated as the seventh best player in the state of Texas by Texas Roundball, and had a ranking of 24th in Texashoops.com.
As a two-year starter, Uzoh helped his San Antonio Warren High School team register records of 35-5 as a junior and 30-10 his senior season. He averaged 20.6 points and 11 rebounds as a senior, while dishing out 3.0 assists and adding 3.0 steals. In his senior season, Uzoh shot 58-percent from the field and 36-percent from three-point range while leading his team to the Class 5A state tournament, in only the school's fourth year of existence.
Uzoh has the ability to play both guard positions, while Hill comes in as a true point guard.
Hill was a three-year starter at Fremont (Calif.) High School, where he averaged 15 points, 10 assists, four steals and three rebounds as a senior. He was a two-time first-team all-city selection in Los Angeles as a junior and senior. Last year, Hill averaged over 10 points and five assists at Genesis (Ms.) Prep School.
Joey Kieval (6'1"), a walk-on who sat out last year with an injury, adds depth to the guard spot this season. As a senior at Houston Memorial High School, he averaged 14 points and five assists.
