After Preston Parks and Citadel basketball parted ways earlier this week, Bulldogs coach Duggar Baucom gathered his remaining 12 players around him.
"I told them, 'Ya'll are The Dirty Dozen,'" Baucom said, referencing the 1967 World War II movie. "They looked at me like I had four heads."
The reference may have been lost on the young Bulldogs, but the message was clear. The Citadel will have to move on without Parks, the Southern Conference freshman of the year last season. The 6-1 guard was dismissed from the program on Tuesday for "conduct detrimental to the team" and plans to transfer elsewhere.
Parks averaged 18.1 points last season, and through six games this year was scoring 13.8 points per game, second-best on the team. The new-look Bulldogs (3-3) will play their first game without Parks as they open the Bulldog Bash at 3 p.m. Friday against Marist at McAlister Field House.
UMBC and Army will meet at 5 p.m. Friday. The losers of Friday's games will meet at 3 p.m. Saturday, with the winners squaring off at 5 p.m.
"I told the guys, we all love Preston and he's been part of our family," Baucom said. "Just because of whatever decisions are made, we don't quit loving him ... But these are the guys we're going to finish the year with, and we can't worry about what happened the first six games.
"All I know is that there are 29 minutes now to go around, and a bunch of shots to go around. Now who is going to step up and fill those?"
A likely candidate to fill Parks' starting role is 6-0 freshman Tariq Simmons, the team's leading scoring at 14.8 points per game. Junior Matt Frierson, shooting 47.7 percent from 3-point range and averaging 11.7 points, is comfortable coming off the bench, Baucom said.
"Matt Frierson deserves to start," Baucom said. "He's shooting the highest clip on the team and is a gym rat who's worked to make himself a Division I player. But when we went to him and asked if he wanted to start or is more comfortable coming off the bench, he said he's fine coming off the bench.
"So it's probably Tariq, and we have no problem with two point guards on the floor at the same time, so he could play with (sophomore) Frankie Johnson. And Tariq has had just an amazing start to his career."
With Parks gone, more shots could fall to players such as junior Zane Najdawi (8.7 ppg), sophomore Kaelon Harris (8.5 ppg) and freshman Hayden Brown (8.5 ppg).
"We need everybody to get incrementally better," Baucom said, "and we can make up for that. Sometimes it's the wounded dog ? some of my best teams have been teams that lost somebody, and other guys stepped up."
Opening foe Marist, from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., is off to an 0-6 start, including an 84-78 loss to West Virginia. The Red Foxes are led by 6-3 junior Brian Parker (16.3 ppg) and 6-5 junior David Knudsen (12.2 ppg), and have players from Finland, Denmark, Montenegro, Iceland and Sweden.
Army is 3-2 with wins over Marist and Columbia. Coach Jimmy Allen's team is led by 6-1 junior Jordan Fox (20.6 ppg) and 6-9 sophomore Matt Wilson (14 ppg). Maryland-Baltimore County is 4-3 with D-I wins over Chicago State and Nicholls State. Coach Ryan Odom's team has four players in double figures, led by 6-2 senior Jarius Lyles (19.7 ppg) and 6-5 sophomore Arkel Lamar (16.3 ppg).
"I told them, 'Ya'll are The Dirty Dozen,'" Baucom said, referencing the 1967 World War II movie. "They looked at me like I had four heads."
The reference may have been lost on the young Bulldogs, but the message was clear. The Citadel will have to move on without Parks, the Southern Conference freshman of the year last season. The 6-1 guard was dismissed from the program on Tuesday for "conduct detrimental to the team" and plans to transfer elsewhere.
Parks averaged 18.1 points last season, and through six games this year was scoring 13.8 points per game, second-best on the team. The new-look Bulldogs (3-3) will play their first game without Parks as they open the Bulldog Bash at 3 p.m. Friday against Marist at McAlister Field House.
UMBC and Army will meet at 5 p.m. Friday. The losers of Friday's games will meet at 3 p.m. Saturday, with the winners squaring off at 5 p.m.
"I told the guys, we all love Preston and he's been part of our family," Baucom said. "Just because of whatever decisions are made, we don't quit loving him ... But these are the guys we're going to finish the year with, and we can't worry about what happened the first six games.
"All I know is that there are 29 minutes now to go around, and a bunch of shots to go around. Now who is going to step up and fill those?"
A likely candidate to fill Parks' starting role is 6-0 freshman Tariq Simmons, the team's leading scoring at 14.8 points per game. Junior Matt Frierson, shooting 47.7 percent from 3-point range and averaging 11.7 points, is comfortable coming off the bench, Baucom said.
"Matt Frierson deserves to start," Baucom said. "He's shooting the highest clip on the team and is a gym rat who's worked to make himself a Division I player. But when we went to him and asked if he wanted to start or is more comfortable coming off the bench, he said he's fine coming off the bench.
"So it's probably Tariq, and we have no problem with two point guards on the floor at the same time, so he could play with (sophomore) Frankie Johnson. And Tariq has had just an amazing start to his career."
With Parks gone, more shots could fall to players such as junior Zane Najdawi (8.7 ppg), sophomore Kaelon Harris (8.5 ppg) and freshman Hayden Brown (8.5 ppg).
"We need everybody to get incrementally better," Baucom said, "and we can make up for that. Sometimes it's the wounded dog ? some of my best teams have been teams that lost somebody, and other guys stepped up."
Opening foe Marist, from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., is off to an 0-6 start, including an 84-78 loss to West Virginia. The Red Foxes are led by 6-3 junior Brian Parker (16.3 ppg) and 6-5 junior David Knudsen (12.2 ppg), and have players from Finland, Denmark, Montenegro, Iceland and Sweden.
Army is 3-2 with wins over Marist and Columbia. Coach Jimmy Allen's team is led by 6-1 junior Jordan Fox (20.6 ppg) and 6-9 sophomore Matt Wilson (14 ppg). Maryland-Baltimore County is 4-3 with D-I wins over Chicago State and Nicholls State. Coach Ryan Odom's team has four players in double figures, led by 6-2 senior Jarius Lyles (19.7 ppg) and 6-5 sophomore Arkel Lamar (16.3 ppg).
