With South Alabama opening its men's basketball season tonight against Detroit at the Mitchell Center, here are five things to watch for or consider or keep in mind as the Jaguars begin their season:
MIX AND MATCH: There are six freshmen - roughly half the team - on the Jaguars' roster and with three sophomores to boot, that's a lot of youth. Add a new coaching staff, a new system and a new approach and, well, there's a lot of newness to this team. But there is also some experience and those players - mainly Augustine Rubit, Mychal Ammons and Antoine Allen - will play key roles for the Jags. How the experienced players and new players mesh not only will be interesting to watch, but having the two groups mesh is imperative if South Alabama is to have a successful season.
AUG-A-MANIA: In case you haven't heard, there's a senior forward on the Jags' team from Houston, Texas, who is pretty good. His name is Augustine Rubit and you're going to continue to hear more about him as the season progresses. He was last season's Player of the Year in the Sun Belt and is the preseason pick to win the honor again. He was recently tabbed in a list of the top 100 college players in the country as No. 62 in the ranking. He has broken USA and Sun Belt marks and is expected to add some more records this season. Enjoy the view. He is going to leave USA as one of the program's all-time best players. Sun Belt too.
TOUGH TRAVEL: Not only do the Jags play several non-conference games on the road, but their opponents in many of those games are pretty good. After tonight's game the Jags head for Texas for a Tuesday game and on Nov. 30 they play at the home gym of former Sun Belt member Middle Tennessee. Saturday's in December are pretty strong: at Rice (7th), vs. Gonzaga in Seattle (14th), vs, Arkansas in Little Rock (21st) and at New Mexico State (28th). And how about this for scheduling fun: the jags' first two Sun Belt game are at home against two of the top teams in the league - Jan. 2 against Western Kentucky and Jan. 4 against Georgia State. USA students will be on break when both games are played and thus he homecourt advantage will not be as strong as it could be. Those two games are followed by road games at Arkansas-Little Rock (Jan. 9) and Arkansas State (Jan. 11), two more teams picked to be in the conference championship chase.
THE SOUTH ALABAMA WAY: New head coach Matthew Graves has mentioned "the Butler Way'' at times, referring to the culture, in both style of play and operation of the program, employed by the basketball team at his alma mater and where he served as an assistant coach prior to taking the South Alabama job. It has proved to be a successful approach, for sure, and you will notice the USA program under Graves' leadership will adapt a very similar approach. Again, there's proof the system works and works well. It will be an adjustment for returning players at times, but in this case change is good.
A WORK IN PROCESS: Yes, the phase is a work in progress, but in South Alabama's case, this team is a work in process - Graves' process of molding the team to fit his plan; to fit the South Alabama Way if you will. And you will hear him say from time to time the transition "is a process.'' Another coach in the state has a process too and it has worked pretty well. As the process and the progress continues for the Jags, you will likely see a team that gets better as the season goes along. A challenging non-conference schedule and the early portion of the season in which the Jags are still becoming comfortable with the new system and each other, may not produce as many wins as fans would like. But the schedule will help mature the team in quick fashion and that could pay off in January and February and in the conference schedule.
MIX AND MATCH: There are six freshmen - roughly half the team - on the Jaguars' roster and with three sophomores to boot, that's a lot of youth. Add a new coaching staff, a new system and a new approach and, well, there's a lot of newness to this team. But there is also some experience and those players - mainly Augustine Rubit, Mychal Ammons and Antoine Allen - will play key roles for the Jags. How the experienced players and new players mesh not only will be interesting to watch, but having the two groups mesh is imperative if South Alabama is to have a successful season.
AUG-A-MANIA: In case you haven't heard, there's a senior forward on the Jags' team from Houston, Texas, who is pretty good. His name is Augustine Rubit and you're going to continue to hear more about him as the season progresses. He was last season's Player of the Year in the Sun Belt and is the preseason pick to win the honor again. He was recently tabbed in a list of the top 100 college players in the country as No. 62 in the ranking. He has broken USA and Sun Belt marks and is expected to add some more records this season. Enjoy the view. He is going to leave USA as one of the program's all-time best players. Sun Belt too.
TOUGH TRAVEL: Not only do the Jags play several non-conference games on the road, but their opponents in many of those games are pretty good. After tonight's game the Jags head for Texas for a Tuesday game and on Nov. 30 they play at the home gym of former Sun Belt member Middle Tennessee. Saturday's in December are pretty strong: at Rice (7th), vs. Gonzaga in Seattle (14th), vs, Arkansas in Little Rock (21st) and at New Mexico State (28th). And how about this for scheduling fun: the jags' first two Sun Belt game are at home against two of the top teams in the league - Jan. 2 against Western Kentucky and Jan. 4 against Georgia State. USA students will be on break when both games are played and thus he homecourt advantage will not be as strong as it could be. Those two games are followed by road games at Arkansas-Little Rock (Jan. 9) and Arkansas State (Jan. 11), two more teams picked to be in the conference championship chase.
THE SOUTH ALABAMA WAY: New head coach Matthew Graves has mentioned "the Butler Way'' at times, referring to the culture, in both style of play and operation of the program, employed by the basketball team at his alma mater and where he served as an assistant coach prior to taking the South Alabama job. It has proved to be a successful approach, for sure, and you will notice the USA program under Graves' leadership will adapt a very similar approach. Again, there's proof the system works and works well. It will be an adjustment for returning players at times, but in this case change is good.
A WORK IN PROCESS: Yes, the phase is a work in progress, but in South Alabama's case, this team is a work in process - Graves' process of molding the team to fit his plan; to fit the South Alabama Way if you will. And you will hear him say from time to time the transition "is a process.'' Another coach in the state has a process too and it has worked pretty well. As the process and the progress continues for the Jags, you will likely see a team that gets better as the season goes along. A challenging non-conference schedule and the early portion of the season in which the Jags are still becoming comfortable with the new system and each other, may not produce as many wins as fans would like. But the schedule will help mature the team in quick fashion and that could pay off in January and February and in the conference schedule.
