| |
LOCATION: Boca Raton, FL
CONFERENCE: Trans America Athletic (TAAC)
LAST SEASON: 6-20 (.231)
CONFERENCE RECORD: 3-13 (10th)
STARTERS LOST/RETURNING: 5/0
NICKNAME: Owls
COLORS: Blue & Gray
HOMECOURT: FAU Gymnasium (5,000)
COACH: Sidney Green (UNLV '83)
record at school First year
career record 49-60 (4 years)
|
ASSISTANTS: Tom McCorry (Manhattan '62)
Ken Huber (Ohio State '96)
TEAM WINS: (last 5 years) 3-9-9-16-6
RPI (last 5 years) 281-280-257-263-215
1998-99 FINISH: Not eligible for postseason.
ESPN.com Clubhouse
|
Florida Atlantic is on the bottom. It is a basketball program with little tradition and little returning talent. It is a school with only two recognizable names in athletics: Olympic gold medalist Bob Beamon and the new football coach, Howard Schnellenberger. It's a good thing Sidney Green relishes a challenge. The former UNLV and NBA player (1984-93) takes over as head coach of a program that was 6-20 last season, 3-13 in the TAAC. There are no returning starters and just one player (Ryan Hercek) was certain to be back. Hercek, a 6-5 guard, averaged 5.1 points, 1.1 rebounds and shot 89 percent from the free-throw line. Why would anybody want this job? "Why wouldn't somebody want this job?" Green said. "You have one of the fastest growing schools in the state of Florida. This area (Boca Raton) is beautiful. The academics at this school are very good. The Miami Heat trains here, which says a lot about our facilities. "Why wouldn't somebody want to be a part of the building of a successful basketball program?"
|
Blue Ribbon Analysis |
|
BACKCOURT C BENCH/DEPTH C-
FRONTCOURT C+ INTANGIBLES C-
If the Owls have Jevon Glenn and John Bennette eligible at least by January they could be a competitive team. Still, there are too many young players for FAU to lift itself into the top five in the TAAC. Asking Emmett Murphy to step in and immediately play against Division I talent could be a problem. It will be an interesting team to watch, however, with Motiejus Reimeris and Marques Williams inside. If Robert Peterkin comes back from his knee injury, the frontcourt could be OK. The problem is the schedule. Green is not only building a team; he is building a fan base. As a result, he added some big-time games. Fans in south Florida will pay attention to a program that schedules UNLV, Syracuse, Fresno State and Creighton. Before long, some of the big-time schools might want to come to Florida in the middle of winter and play a game. Then again, they might not if Green takes this program to prominence. "There's no timetable," Green said. "This is the first year, and we just want to improve. If we win more games than last year, that's fine. We'll take one step at a time and build this program. "We have to win over the community. It's never supported the program and we have to change that. We'll let our actions speak for themselves. We'll get a winner on the floor and once they see us play, they'll get hooked." |
Where others see roadblocks, Green sees green lights. He starts with fresh players and can install his own system. He can work the fans and alumni from new angles. "We're the bottom of the totem pole, no question about it," Green said. "But we're not going to stay there. It's a uphill battle, but we're looking forward to the challenge." FAU can look forward to lots of losses this season. There are games against Syracuse and Miami and a matchup against Green's old college coach, Jerry Tarkanian, now at Fresno State. Green has also brought alma mater UNLV on to the schedule. There is some talent on the roster to be competitive in the toughest games, but the rest of the schools in the TAAC have been loading up on junior-college and Division I transfers the last two seasons and have improved. What's more, the Owls' talent is young and untested against Division I competition. Two things have to happen for Florida Atlantic not to get run out of the gym, night after night. First, the Owls have to develop chemistry quickly. Second, FAU has to play in a frenzy. The Owls are going to have to dive for loose balls and contest every rebound. But that might be hard, because there is little depth. FAU is also going to have to find a new go-to guy. Damon Arnette averaged 21.9 points last season and finished as the school's second all-time scorer and all-time leading rebounder. It's likely that the scoring will be more balanced with Arnette gone. Hercek is a good three-point shooter (.351 percent last season). He should play one spot on the perimeter. Another starting guard should be 6-4 junior Tony Lee, who averaged 13 points and 6 rebounds at Champlain (Vt.) Junior College. He averaged 19 points as a freshman. "This is a recruit I thought we had no chance to get based on the last-minute recruiting we had to do," said Green, who was hired March 22. "He will be our number two or number three man for the next two years and have a tremendous impact on our team's overall success." The guard situation was muddled at the start of the school year in September, with the eligibility of two key players up in the air. Both are potential point guards. John Bennette is a 5-8 junior from Orlando who played at Daytona Beach (Fla.) Community College for two years and may become eligible in January. Green said Bennette is eager to get on the court because he felt snubbed by Division I schools out of high school. "John's been looking forward to this for two years," Green said. "He felt overlooked and now he wants to go out and prove to people they made a mistake. I like that he has a chip on his shoulder. It's a positive because it's going to make him play harder." The other player FAU is waiting on is 6-2 Jevon Glenn (4.6 ppg 2.7 rpg), a holdover from last year's team. If Bennette and Glenn aren't on the team, the starting point guard would probably be Emmett Murphy, a 5-11 freshman from Montclair, N.J. He averaged 20.0 point and 6.0 assists his senior year. The other guard who figures prominently in the backcourt plans is Tim Greisser, a 6-3 junior who played junior college ball at Ocean County College in Toms River, N.J. He averaged 18.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists, and was an all-conference pick. The last guard on the bench will be Frank Baxley, a 6-5 freshman from Tallahassee, who could play shooting guard or small forward. The best of the freshmen is 6-7 Marques Williams, who finished his high school career at highly respected Mount Zion Christian Academy in Durham, N.C. Williams averaged 10.3 points and 12.0 rebounds. "That we could attract a student-athlete like him speaks volumes to where we're headed," Green said. The Owls also landed a decent forward to play alongside Williams 6-8 Motiejus Reimeris, who was born in Lithuania and helped Erie (N.Y.) Community College to a 43-15 record in his two seasons. "The community is in for a big treat," Green said of Reimeris. Another inside player will probably be Robert Peterkin, a 6-8, 220-pound sophomore from Miami Senior High School, who sat out last season with a knee injury. Darious Skeete, a 6-6 junior who played with Lee at Champlain Junior College, also figures into the rotation at forward. Skeete averaged 13.0 points and 7.0 rebounds for a team that went 24-7. He shot .500 percent from the field and .350 percent from the three-point line.
 | The 19th edition of Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook is on sale now. To order, call 800-828-HOOP (4667), or visit their web site at
http://www.collegebaskets.com
|
| |
Conferences
America East
ACC
Atlantic 10
Big East
Big Sky
Big South
Big Ten
Big 12
Big West
Colonial
Conference USA
Independents
Ivy League
MAAC
Mid-American
Mid-Continent
Mid-Eastern Athletic
MCC
Missouri Valley
Mountain West
Northeast
Ohio Valley
Pac-10
Patriot
SEC
Southern
Southland
Sun Belt
SWAC
TAAC
WAC
West Coast
|
