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LOCATION: Buies Creek, NC
CONFERENCE: Trans America Athletic (TAAC)
LAST SEASON: 9-19 (.321)
CONFERENCE RECORD: 6-10 (7th)
STARTERS LOST/RETURNING: 1/4
NICKNAME: Camels
COLORS: Orange & Black
HOMECOURT: Carter Gymnasium (945)
COACH: Billy Lee (Atlantic Christian '71)
record at school 184-209 (14 years)
career record 305-297 (21 years)
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ASSISTANTS: Rob Dooley (W. New England '93)
Cliff Dillard (Campbell '89)
Joe Gallagher (Pembroke State '68)
TEAM WINS: (last 5 years) 8-17-11-10-9
RPI (last 5 years) 217-172-248-266-263
1998-99 FINISH: Lost in conference first round.
ESPN.com Clubhouse
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When preseason practice begins, Billy Lee is immediately going to conduct auditions for the second most important job on the Campbell basketball team. Lee, of course, has the most important job. Can't survive without the head coach, right?
You also can't survive without a go-to guy, The Man, the beast with the ball in the last two minutes. Lee has discovered as much in 21 years of college coaching, and he learned the lesson again last season when the Camels lost one game after another at crunch time. There was no star to turn to for vital late baskets and Campbell, competitive in most games, finished with a disappointing 9-19 record because it had no pop in the clutch.
"It helps to have a go-to guy late in games and we didn't have one," Lee said. "We have some candidates this season and we need to find one among those players."
In upper-major Division I programs, designating a scorer is never an issue. High school All-Americans are always eager to handle that "I'm Da Man" job. But at some mid-major programs like Campbell, the head coach has to look for a star to emerge by his junior or senior season.
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Blue Ribbon Analysis |
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BACKCOURT B BENCH/DEPTH C+
FRONTCOURT D INTANGIBLES B
Campbell coach Billy Lee wants his club to be better defensively and make decisions quicker. The Camels will only go so far behind the shooting of its guards. They need to be able to stop teams on nights when the threes don't find the net.
Campbell returns 92 percent of its scoring from last season and a more seasoned team. But the club will thrive only if it can make its outside shots and win some games on the road in the conference. Campbell was 2-6 away from home in the TAAC last season.
Poor shooting nights will not be rewarded with a win because the Camels will have a hard time on the boards and scoring inside.
"I think we're going to be a much improved team over where we were last year," Lee said. "We were in a number of close games and had the opportunity to win and we didn't do it.
"Hopefully we can cross that threshold and go from competitive to being a winner." |
The most likely candidate would be Jamie Simmons, a 6-5 senior forward. He is the team's leading returning scorer (10.8 ppg, 6.0 rpg) and made .523 percent of his shots last season, but Lee said Simmons hasn't shown the consistency to be a constant threat.
There is also the issue of a nagging pain on the bottom of Simmons' foot. He injured a ligament his sophomore season, and the soreness in the foot hampered Simmons his junior year. "It has given him some problems," Lee said. "We hope he can get over that."
If Simmons is held back by injury, the next candidate for team ace is Eddie Walker, a combination guard. The 6-3 junior (9.3 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 63 assists) had a solid season and shot the ball decently (.351 percent from three-point range) but needs to cut down on his turnovers (71). "I look for him to be a force on the perimeter this season," Lee said.
The Camels should be in good shape on the perimeter with Walker and Wes Layton, a 6-0 sophomore shooting guard. For the first half of the 1998-99 season, Layton (7.5 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 117 assists, 35 steals) was a terrific shooter. But the toll of 35 minutes a game robbed him of his legs the second half of the season and Layton tailed off. Even though he was bothered by fatigue after mid-January, he still shot a decent 38 percent from the three-point line.
Layton made a team-high 84 turnovers a year ago, but also led Campbell and was fourth in the TAAC in assists.
The other outside threat in the team's motion offense, which uses a point guard, two wings, a high post and low post, is Adam Fellers (8.5 ppg, 1.6 rpg), a 6-2 sophomore from Fayetteville, N.C. Like Layton, Fellers shot respectably from three-point range (.371) in his freshman season.
"We're going to have some great competition for starting guards, but it's going to be hard keeping Adam Fellers out of the game," Lee said. "He can really shoot the three and we're going to shoot the three this year."
Matt Mardis (4.8 ppg, 1.6 rpg), a 6-2 senior, can lend a hand at guard and has enough skill to produce. He had a 20-point game against UNC Asheville last season.
The Camels have to score outside with the three and make a very good percentage because they have a serious question mark in the post. Lee is hoping one of his post players shows up as a scorer inside the paint.
Simmons is a strong candidate, but he's going to need some help. Joey Smith (4.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg), a 6-3 senior from Lenoir, N.C., started just six games last season and averaged 4.9 points a game. He may step into the role.
Lee said Darrin Hucks (6.8 ppg, 1.8 rpg), a 6-5 senior, wanted to make the most of his final year, so he played in a competitive league in Charlotte over the summer. Hucks started just four games last season because of an ankle injury and a bout with mononucleosis.
"Smith is a slasher, very athletic," Lee said. "Hucks is a shooter. He's a fifth-year senior who has played a lot. At this point, the position is wide open."
Campbell brought in a transfer, 6-5 junior Damien Hannibal from Spartanburg (S.C.) Methodist Junior College, to lend a hand inside. He's an undersized post player, but the league doesn't have many 6-10 enforcers in the paint, so Hannibal might be able to handle himself inside.
Jonet Edwards, a 6-7 freshman from Clinton, N.C., will get a crack at one of the two post spots, but his game still needs some polish. "He improves our athleticism and he can really help us as a rebounder," Lee said. "But he still has to learn the college game."
Another candidate for minutes is Tyreck Knox (6.9 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 33 blocked shots, 20 steals), a 6-6 senior from Raleigh, N.C., who started 23 games last season. Knox is a shot blocker and rebounder who will help his team compete on the boards. He tied for second in the league in blocked shots a year ago.
The tallest player on the roster is Andy Miller (2.1 ppg, 1.6 rpg), a 6-9 junior from Indianapolis, Ind. He'll contend for minutes along with Quincy Hinton (2.0 ppg, 1.8 rpg), a 6-3 sophomore from Birmingham, Ala., and Bobby Jones, a 6-6 sophomore from Jacksonville, N.C.
"There's a lot of competition for the post spots," Lee said. "Whoever steps up in preseason is going to get the job. We need to get better inside and get more confidence because the league has more size than it use to have. We have to deal with that."
One way Lee plans to deal with the issue of his team's inside play is coaching. He hired Joe Gallagher, a small college All-American at Pembroke State 30 years ago and a veteran big man coach. The Camels need post scoring because it will be hard for their guards to get open for three-point shots if opponents don't respect Campbell's inside game.
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