Miami RedHawks preview

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BREAKDOWN

FRONTCOURT

Two starters, Nathan Peavy and Monty St. Clair, are back. But they'll have to pick up their production to account for the graduation of Danny Horace.

At 6 feet 11, Nate VanderSluis could become an impact player if he remains free of the foot problems that hampered him the previous two seasons.

Peavy and St. Clair must come through with breakout seasons to compete down low.

BACKCOURT

Point guard William Hatcher is back for his senior season, which is good, provided Hatcher can improve his assist-to-turnover ratio, which last season was 1:1.

Josh Hausfeld, also a senior, should increase his perimeter production this season after an injury-plagued junior year.

Replacing Chet Mason, an effective slasher, will be a difficult task. It might take time before a successor emerges.

BENCH

Miami coach Charlie Coles has plenty of options, starting with junior guard Doug Penno, an accomplished 3-point shooter. Sophomores Chad Troyer and Tim Pollitz, both swingmen, are expected to increase their production.

Coles has some size to work with thanks to the incoming freshmen.

Former Moeller player Tyler Dierkers is 6-8, as is Adam Fletcher. Guard Michael Bramos, the Michigan Mr. Basketball runner-up, is 6-5.

FIVE GAMES TO WATCH

ALABAMA

Nov. 15 - MU is in the Preseason NIT for the first time since 1985, and the first-round game is a challenge.

DAYTON

Nov. 21 - After being spurned by Dayton on its 2004-05 schedule, Miami gets the Flyers at home, but it's a seasoned Dayton team that will test the RedHawks.

CINCINNATI

Dec. 28 - A win over the Bearcats would provide the sort of boost Miami needs entering the conference season.

TOLEDO

Jan. 18 - Miami's first big Mid-American Conference game comes against the West favorite in Millett Hall.

OHIO

Feb. 15 - The MAC East title could be in the balance when the Bobcats come to Oxford.

BY THE NUMBERS

4: Consecutive seasons

Miami has had the lowest-producing offense in the Mid-American Conference

1: Position where Miami finished last season in the MAC East

3: Starters back from that team

5: Players back who made at least 16 3s in 2004-05

37.5: Percent of 3-point shots Miami made last season

1: Set of twins, Tim and Eric Pollitz

2: Former Roger Bacon players, Monty St. Clair and Josh Hausfeld

7: Seasons since Miami has made the NCAA Tournament

 

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Ready or not, Miami to take on No. 15 'Bama

There are many questions still unanswered about the Miami basketball team going into its season opener at No. 15 Alabama tonight, but head coach Charlie Coles knows one thing for sure: "We're not ready. I'd like to say we are, but we're not."

The RedHawks and Crimson Tide, ranked 15th in the Associated Press poll, meet at 8 p.m. at Alabama's Coleman Coliseum in the first round of the Preseason NIT tournament, Miami's second appearance in the tournament and first since 1985.

Coles has had one look at his team under game conditions. The RedHawks beat NAIA Division II Wilberforce 79-45 in an exhibition game at Miami's Millett Hall last Thursday - not the level of opposition that allows a coach to draw many accurate conclusions about his team.

"This is a starting point," Coles said.

"I told the players that the best thing about a starting point is when it's over. Now, you've done it, and you're ready to play."

Alabama, which also played just one exhibition game, is coming off a season in which it went 24-8 and 12-4 in the Southeastern Conference before losing to Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Miami went 19-11 overall and 12-6 in the Mid-American Conference to win the regular-season conference championship. The RedHawks lost to Ohio in the semifinals of the MAC tournament and to Texas Christian in the first round of the NIT.

Coles, whose next win will be his 150th as a collegiate head coach, joked after the Wilberforce exhibition game that he was hoping Alabama would beat Louisiana State in their football showdown Saturday night and that the basketball Crimson Tide would still be feeling aftereffects of too much celebrating.

He didn't get his wish. LSU upset Alabama in overtime.

 

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Alabama opens season, arena tonight
Tide takes on Miami (Ohio) in Preseason NIT at newly renovated Coleman Coliseum

TUSCALOOSA -- Workers scurried to and fro in the light rain Monday, securing exterior lights, clearing clutter from the walkways, and busily readying Coleman Coliseum for its public re-opening tonight.

Much like the refurbished Coleman, Mark Gottfried's eighth Alabama basketball team could be a work in progress for a while before all the loose ends are tied up. The No. 15 Crimson Tide debuts tonight at 7 against Miami (Ohio) in the opening round of the Preseason NIT. The winner will face the winner of Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Memphis on Thursday for the right to advance to New York City for the tournament semifinals.

"I think this is a very difficult challenge," Gottfried said of the RedHawks, who went 19-11 and won the MAC last season.
Alabama (24-8 last season) has a terrific trio returning in point guard Ron Steele and twin towers Chuck Davis and Jermareo Davidson. The two other wing spots -- where Evan Brock and Jean Felix will start tonight -- will be up for grabs in the early going. Sophomore Justin Jonus and freshman Alonzo Gee will also play considerable minutes there.

"We'll have guys in and out of the lineup," Gottfried said. "I think our lineup can change either with matchups or depending on who's playing well."

Team leadership looks to come from the senior Davis, who averaged 13.9 points and 6.8 rebounds per game last season, and older-than-his-years Steele, who averaged 7.9 points and 5.0 assists.

"I think this'll be a hard-fought game against good competition," Davis said. "They might not have a big name, but we know they can play. They know they can play."

Blue-chip Tide freshman Richard Hendrix, the state's Mr. Basketball a year ago, is expected to pick up frontcourt time spelling Davis and Davidson.

"He'll play a lot," Gottfried said. "Like Alonzo, the more he plays the better he'll get."

Tenth-year Miami coach Charlie Coles said keeping Alabama's fast break out of play is the first key to a RedHawk upset.

The other thing we need to do is be in the ballpark in terms of rebounding," he said. "If we can stay in the ballpark, like minus eight rebounds, then I'll be happy.

"Physically, this may be the toughest matchup we've had in the last three or four years. They are long, they can run, they're quick. Physically, our matchups aren't good."

Miami returns two starters in guard William Hatcher (10.0 ppg) and forward Nathan Peavy (7.0).

Gottfried professed great respect for Miami.

"They're very well-coached, not a lot of tricks, solid man-to-man (defense)," he said. "They run a lot of sets and run them well."

-- TIDE SIGNS FOUR: Gottfried announced Monday the signing of four players in a guard- heavy group, including Mary Montgomery star Mikhail Torrance.

The recruiting class also includes guards Verice Cloyd and Justin Tubbs and inside player Avery Jukes.

"It's a very solid class," said Gottfried. "I'm very excited about all four of these young men. Obviously we have a number of scholarships to fill this year and we're very excited with the talent level and the character as individuals of this group."

Torrance (6-4, 185) averaged 18.5 points, four rebounds and eight assists as a junior last season at Mary Montgomery and was a second-team 6A all-state player.

"Mikhail is a 6-4 point guard and can also play the off-guard and is just a real good perimeter basketball player," said Gottfried. "He uses both hands as well as anybody we've ever had maybe at Alabama. He's got great size for a guard."

 

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Gottfried looking for outside shooters

TUSCALOOSA - Mark Gottfried is most concerned with his 15th-ranked Alabama basketball team's outside shooting ability as it opens its season at 7 tonight against Miami (Ohio) in the Preseason NIT.

"We were so spoiled a year ago with (Earnest) Shelton, (Kennedy) Winston and (Ronald) Steele," Gottfried said. "And that made Chuck (Davis) and Jermareo (Davidson) better (post scorers) because you had to guard all five spots. This year's team, we've got to be a consistent perimeter shooting team."

The Tide's best perimeter-shooting candidates this season, the point guard Steele and wing player Justin Jonus were a combined 3-for-17 in Mobile last week in Alabama's lone exhibition game - an 85-64 victory over NAIA member Spring Hill College.

"That's a concern," Gottfried said. "That's where we've got to become a real solid defense."

Steele, Davis and Davidson are locked into the starting lineup.

But replacing wing players Winston and Shelton, who averaged a combined 34 points for Gottfried's fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament team last season, has been priority No. 1 since preseason began last month. It appears he's settled on a rotation that will start with veterans Jean Felix and Evan Brock, who are also his better defenders.

However, Jonus and freshman Alonzo Gee will get plenty of playing time.

"They're all different," Gottfried said. "If we play with Brock and Felix, you've got the two best defenders. When Justin is making shots, he can be probably the best perimeter threat. Gee has got great talent, he's just young. I think he'll get better as the year goes."

Freshman post player Richard Hendrix, a Parade All-American, will be the first post player off the bench. Freshman point guard Brandon Hollinger will give Steele a breather for a few minutes, too.

Tonight's game is the first inside the remodeled Coleman Coliseum, which underwent a $28 million facelift. And if Alabama wins, there is a good chance it would also host the Thursday-night, second-round game against tonight's Memphis-Wisconsin-Milwaukee winner, which is scheduled to be televised by ESPN2. Memphis also wants to host the game, but its homecourt, the FedEx Forum, is booked Thursday with a Trans-Siberia Orchestra concert.

The survivor of Thursday's second-round game reaches the Preseason NIT semifinals Nov. 23 in New York's Madison Square Garden, which could include No. 18 UCLA in its bracket, with No. 1 Duke in the other bracket.

But first Alabama must survive a Miami team that won the Mid-American Conference regular season championship last season. The RedHawks, who finished 19-11 and went to the NIT, must blend veteran point guard William Hatcher (10 points per game) with a cast of role players.

"Physically, this may be the toughest matchup we've had in three or four years," said veteran RedHawks coach Charlie Coles, last year's MAC coach of the year who is one win shy of 250. He lost 52 percent of his rebounding from last year's team and has voiced concern about "staying in the ballpark ... like minus-eight rebounds" against the Tide's deep frontcourt.