Lee University men’s basketball coach Bubba Smith says pre-season coaches’ poll predictions are often based off what teams have returning and what they lost. The Flames lost their three top scorers and are predicted to finish fifth by the Gulf South Conference coaches in the 12-team league.
Alabama-Huntsville Voted No. 1
The University of Alabama at Huntsville is tabbed as No.1. the University West Alabama No.2, the University of West Georgia No. 3, and Valdosta State University No.
4. “We say it every year, but pre-season polls can either motivate a team or make you complacent,” noted Coach Smith as he looked at his Flames placement at No. 5. “We had some big losses as far as offensive production from last year’s team. I figured we would be in the mix with West Georgia and Valdosta State behind West Alabama and Alabama Huntsville, so that is about right. We know we have a lot of work to do before we get to conference play, which is the fun and challenging part of coaching and team building.”
Hendricks Listed with Top 5
Beyuan Hendricks will return for his fifth season as a graduate student, and the Lee guard was named to the GSC Preseason All-Conference (five-member) team. Lee graduate student JJ Barnes and freshman Zach Gray are listed on the Newcomer Watchlist.
Missing Players
Coach Smith will be looking to replace three key players from last year's team. PJay Smith, who averaged 15.8 ppg, 5.9 rebounds, and dished off 106 assists, has moved onto Furman University. Jayce Willingham, Lee's leading scorer (16 ppg.) and Michael McGuirk (12.8 ppg.) joined Smith in being scoring and rebounding forces, while Willingham and McGuirk were main pieces to the Lee basketball puzzle for four seasons.
Returning Players
If the injury bug does not hit, depth will not be a problem for the upcoming year. The Flames have seven returning players who have logged their share of playing time. Hendricks will return with his outstanding team leadership ability. He averaged almost 13 ppg. last season and directed the club with 112 assists. He also shot 44% from 3-point range and made 78% of his free throws. Red-shirt senior Makhi McGuire is coming back from a knee injury, but he started 20 games and averaged 8.6 ppg. before going down with the injury.
Senior Tariq Daughton played in all 28 games and was usually the first man to come into the game off the bench. Tim Vaughn is a big strong 6-foot-5 sophomore who also played in 28 games as a freshman. Graduate student Josh Lowe has suffered two knee surgeries over his four years at Lee. The stats show the 6-8 thin man played in 25 contests and started 16. Noah Boler-Kyle gives the Flames another inside force at 6-foot-9. The red-shirt senior appeared in 27 contests last season and made eight starts, averaging over five rebounds per game. Alex Kelehear loves the games and is one of the team's three graduate students. Alex is a deadly 3-point shooter.
New Recruits/Transfers
JJ Barnes is a transfer from the University of West Georgia. "He will be in the starting lineup," said Coach Smith. “He is an experienced, physical guard who can defend and put pressure on teams by getting in the paint. Sophomore Willie Walton is coming off a red-shirt year and can really shoot it. Freshman Zach Gray will step in and contribute early this year. He is long (6-foot-8) and skilled at the 3 and 4 positions. Freshman Tylon Chatman is shifty and quick at point guard. He will come along as he learns our systems.”
The coach continued, “We should have at least four starters returning that saw meaningful minutes last year. With the addition of Barnes, our backcourt should be as experienced as anyone is in the GSC with JJ and Hendricks. We will have some returners in Daughton, McGuire and Vaughn that all saw meaningful minutes and will have to step in and fill the void of PJay Smith, Willingham, and McGuirk.”
Defense Gives Team A Chance
From the first day the Flames were allowed to begin organized practice, Coach Smith and his staff were looking for players who were ready to improve on the defensive end. “We always want to start the season with a defensive focus,” he explained. “Defense gives us the best chance to weather some early storms and bumps in the road. “Last year’s team could score in so many ways. It is going to take some time for this year’s team to find its offensive rhythm. If we are getting guys in the right spots defensively and guys are competing at a high level on that end of the floor, we will have a chance each night.”
Playing All GSC Teams Twice
The Flames are coming off a 20-8 season and a third straight trip to the national tournament when they open the season with an exhibition game on Homecoming afternoon (Nov. 4) against Covenant College. “As far playing out of conference teams, we don’t have a lot of options with a 24 game GSC conference schedule,” remarked Coach Smith. After a Homecoming date with Covenant the Flames will open the regular season on Saturday (Nov. 11) at home with a SIACopponent in Edward Waters University (Fla.). The other non-conference contest will also be on Saturday (Nov.18) against Carolina Christian College, an NCCAA opponent. The Flames jump right into GSC play against Valdosta State on Saturday (Nov. 25) and turn around and host West Florida on Monday (Nov.27). The good news is Lee plays seven GSC opponents before the Christmas break and five will be staged inside Paul Dana Walker Arena.
Sunday dates begin popping up on the Flames’ slate this season and on Dec. 3 Lee will hit the road for the first time, traveling down close to the Birmingham area for a meeting with the University of Montevallo. Two big pre-Christmas contests can be circled as the Flames host Alabama Huntsville on Friday (Dec. 8) and will face the tough defense of West Alabama on Sunday (Dec. 10). The final pre-Christmas road test will be at Auburn University Montgomery (Dec. 15) before the home date with Shorter University on Sunday (Dec. 17) to wrap-up the pre-Christmas slate.