TALL AND TALENTED TIGER MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM SETS SIGHTS ON THIRD STRAIGHT TRIP TO THE NAIA NATIONAL TOURNAMENT

 

The Campbellsville University Men’s Basketball team begins the 2007-08 season with their sights set squarely on an unprecedented third straight trip to the NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City next March. 

Over the past two seasons, the Tigers have advanced in the National Tournament by winning their first round game but have bowed out with losses to top teams in the second round of the event.   That’s something that Keith Adkins hopes to change in his eighth season as the Head Coach of the Tigers. In an effort to make that possible Adkins has brought in a talented recruiting class to blend with three returning starters from last year’s 27-7 team and has put together one of the toughest schedules in the nation to prepare his team for what will hopefully be a deep post-season run come March.

“I think we have put together a team that can challenge for the Mid-South Conference Championship,” said Adkins, whose team has been ranked 4th nationally in one pre-season poll and 6th in another.  “I think a lot of people underestimate what Jason Moore, James Steward, Chad Robinson, Korey Mitchell and all those guys meant to us on the perimeter last year,” said Adkins.  “I like the perimeter players we have now, but I’m not sure we have the experience and depth right now to be considered a National Title contender.  We’ll know by the end of November with this tough schedule that is out there in front of us,” he said.

The Tigers will have five players that are 6’7” or taller and will rely heavily on the inside game.  “We’re going to have a different look than we have the past couple of years,” admitted Adkins.  “Over the past two years a lot of our strength has been on the perimeter as we were able to run six or seven guards into the game that were good defensively, could all make shots and all make plays.  Our perimeter players can still do that this year, but we’re not quite as deep and experienced in those positions as we have been so I think we’re a team that will have to rely a lot on our post play,” said Adkins.

The Tiger head coach also expects this year’s version of the Tigers to be a great rebounding team on the defensive glass.  “We should also be a team that can lock three or four different guys in the post and score,” he added.

Adkins’ hopes on a strong post game are well founded.  Led by 6’7 senior All-American Zach Allender (Bardstown, KY), the Tigers will be able to rely on a big rotation that consists of 6’8 junior Kyle Martin, 6’8 redshirt senior Clinton Joshua, 6’9 senior transfer Clint Graham and 6’7 junior transfer Nestor Colmenares

Allender, who averaged 20 points and nearly 10 rebounds a game last season for the Tigers, comes into the season off of knee surgery over the summer.  “It’s a day to day thing right now with Zach but I anticipate by the first of November he will be active and will be ready to play a few minutes,” said Adkins.  “There’s no doubt he’s one of the best players in the NAIA coming back from last year and there’s not much I can say about him that hasn’t already been said,” admitted Adkins.  “He’s a versatile player that can go out on the floor and make deep three’s, he handles the ball well and is such a good defensive rebounder,” said Adkins.  “He’s a competitor and shows up to play every game and is just a big time NAIA player,” concluded Adkins.

The Tigers return 6’8 junior Kyle Martin (Elizabethtown, KY) who has started in forty-eight games during his two-year career at Campbellsville.  “Kyle has had a tremendous pre-season,” said Adkins.  “He’s been good for us the past two years, but we always saw glimpses of what Kyle could be.  Consistency has been what we’ve been looking for with him and I think with the pre-season he has had that we may see that this year.  He’s more assertive, looking to score more, been more aggressive defensively and has just been a different player in a good way,” said Adkins.  “He’s long, has good skills, can go out on the floor and reverse the basketball and we’ll expect big things from him this year,” concluded Adkins.

Clint Graham (Campbellsville, KY) is a 6’9 senior that has transferred to Campbellsville from Gardner-Webb University (NC).  “Clint is a NCAA Division I transfer that is huge and strong.  He should be a very high level player in our division,” said Adkins.  “He can step out and shoot the three pointer and at his size we’ve not really had a player like that. There’s no question that he can make a huge difference especially as physical as our post play gets once we reach conference time,” said Adkins.

Clinton Joshua (Jennings, Antigua), a 6’8 redshirt senior will be another factor in the post for the Tigers.   “Clinton is really athletic and is different than any post player we have because of his athleticism.  He is that will grab it off the offensive glass and get out in transition and finish,” said Adkins.  “Clinton will have to really compete in practice settings to get playing time because of our depth in the post,” he added.

Besides having the one of the top-returning players in the NAIA, the Tigers also landed what many experts have called the best recruit in the NAIA.   First Team Junior College All-American Nestor Colmenares, a 6’8 junior from Caracas, Venezuela will be a big piece of the puzzle if the Tigers hope to make a deep run into the National Tournament.

“Nestor is physically strong, athletic, very skilled and loves to play with contact which will be very important in our league,” said Adkins.  “He’s a next level player if we’ve ever had one.  He runs the floor like a guard would.  He is very agile in the post and is probably our best passer on the team.  We may experiment some with him on the perimeter.  With his ball skills and passing ability, if he can make jumpers outside he will be a difficult guy for teams to handle,” commented Adkins.  “He just really impacts a game whether he’s scoring or not.  I hope people don’t expect him to get 30 points and 18 rebounds a game.  He’s the kind of player that will go out there and get 16 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocked shots and really affect the game so that other coaches and teams have to make adjustments to try to play him,” said Adkins.

The Tigers will redshirt 6’7 junior Hristo Petkov (Botevgrad, Bulgaria).  “With our depth in the post, and the improvement we saw with Hristo last year, we decided he would benefit from a redshirt year and that we would have him around for two more seasons.  He practices hard every day and I think next season could be a big contributor for us,” commented Adkins.

Marcus Nicks, a 5’10 junior from Ellicott City, Maryland, will anchor the perimeter game.   Marcus will be a lot different than the point guard we’ve been used to the last couple of years.  He shoots the ball better than Jason Moore did, he’s a little quicker and is as good of an on the ball defender.  However, he’s not able to break down defenses on the dribble like Jason was and is not the offensive rebounder that we saw with Jason.  But he’s a quality point guard and will make a lot more shots for us than we are used to from the point guard position, and once he gets used to our system I think we’ll see a very good point guard that will lead us the next two years,” said Adkins.

Two 5’9 freshmen are battling for playing time as the Tigers back-up point guard.  Shawn Savage from Bowling Green and Adrian Whelan from Brandenburg, Kentucky could both see minutes for the Tigers. “Adrian is a redshirt freshman and has practiced with a year of college under his belt but doesn’t have college game experience.  He shoots well, has good floor demeanor and is a good defender,” said Adkins.  “Shawn Savage is a player that down the road will have a very promising future.  He’s a good student and just has to learn the transition between the college and high school game,” added Adkins.

Bubba Long, (Owensboro, KY), a 5’10” senior will return at the two-guard spot.  Long averaged 9.2 points per game for the Tigers last year and started twenty-six games.  “I think Bubba emerged as one of the better guards in our league last year and for us to achieve the success that we think we can this year he’ll need to have a great year for us,” said Adkins.  “He’s increased his range and is stronger than he was last year and we’ll rely on him for leadership as well.  He’ll have to be our best perimeter shooter and I think he could be an All-Conference type player,” concluded Adkins.

Backing up Long at the two guard spot will be redshirt junior Troy Harris (Georgetown, KY).  “Troy has been with us and knows the system. He is becoming a better defender and is very solid skill wise.  He knows what I want as a coach.  This could be the first time in his career that he becomes a big time contributor for us,” said Adkins.

Tyler Cannon, a 6’1 junior from Auburn, Alabama is also in the mix for the Tigers guard rotation.  “Tyler is in a completely new system and he is picking it up pretty quickly.  He is still learning our system defensively and learning how to run our offense plus he still has to figure out the physical side of it as well,” Adkins commented.

At the forward spot, the Tigers lost perhaps the best defensive player in America in James Steward to graduation.  “We’ve been experimenting with this position and Deveon Jenkins a 6’4 junior (Chicago, IL) is who we are leaning with,” said Adkins.  “Deveon is transitioning from a post player in Junior College to his natural position on the wing with us,” said Adkins.  “He’s pretty athletic and shoots with good range. He has good ball skills and is adjusting to our system right now defensively,” said Adkins.  “I think offensively we can move him around a bit and he is a very capable shooter from behind the three point line,” Adkins continued. 

Jordan Benock, a 6’2 sophomore from Battletown, Kentucky will also likely see time at the forward spot this season.  “I think Jordan will be really good for us,” said Adkins.  “He’s sort of a combination of Korey Mitchell and Chad Robinson, both of whom graduated last year.  I think Jordan will assume a role like Chad did for us as he will be a pretty good defender that will make some shots,” said Adkins.

The Tigers don’t plan to change much in terms of playing style.  However with a talented and deep frontcourt the bulk of the scoring will likely come from within the paint.  Adkins doesn’t plan to change much defensively either.  “We haven’t played much zone the past couple of years and I think we can still be a good man-to-man team.  I would love to be able to press as we got some big guys who can move pretty well and our guards are pretty quick and could create some things off the pressure defense,” said Adkins.

Despite the return of Allender, Martin and Long and the addition of the highly recruited Colmenares, the road to Kansas City is filled with roadblocks this season.  “With the increased talent level this year, we decided to bump the schedule up a notch.  In the past we’ve developed our schedule to get to the National Tournament.  But this year we’ve built our schedule to hopefully prepare us to make a deep run in the National Tournament,” said Adkins. 

Campbellsville opens with an exhibition at NCAA Division I Western Kentucky on November 1st.  The first regular season game will be against perennial power Union University in Jackson, Tennessee on November 3rd and that’s followed by trip to Fayetteville to play the University of Arkansas Razorbacks in an exhibition on November 6th.  Other key early season games include NAIA DII power St. Francis and Sooner Conference member Wayland Baptist at the Lindsey Wilson Classic, a potential rematch from last season’s classic battle with NAIA DII powerhouse Huntington College on the Forresters home court, and the Lou Cunningham Classic in which the Tigers will play defending National Champion and pre-season number one ranked Oklahoma City and Faulkner University, a Final Four team from a year ago.  Add to those games the Mid-South Conference slate of games against what could be the most balanced league in the NAIA this year and Campbellsville faces one of the most brutal schedules in the country.

With the returning nucleus of three starters and seven new faces, the Tigers could very well put the most talented team in program history on the court.    “Can this be the best team we’ve had here at Campbellsville?  It can be.  I don’t know that it is yet because we’ve got strides to make defensively to get there,” said Adkins.  “We’ve got a lot to prove to deserve our high pre-season rankings.  Those rankings may be a little high at this point for us, but it shows the hard work and dedication that we put in to be recognized like that.  Now we’ve got to go out on the floor and earn those rankings to prove we deserve them,” Adkins concluded.

The opening exhibition against Western Kentucky will be carried live by the Campbellsville University Sports Network on November 1st and the remainder of the broadcast schedule will be released soon.