Ariel Lynn Guidry
November 11, 2008
Southern Smith
November 13, 2008
If what Nicholls State believes translates into how the Colonels play this season, the basketball team appears to be in good shape.
“We believe we can win,” head coach J.P. Piper said. “The morale is great right now and there is a lot of enthusiasm in the locker room.”
It’s just a matter of putting it together on the court.
After finishing the 2007-08 season with a 10-21 record (the team’s most wins in Piper’s four-year career), the Colonels come into this season hungry.
According to Piper, the Colonels have tasted success, but haven’t filled their appetite with enough of it.
Piper believes this team, consisting of seven players that saw significant playing time last season, could be the one to put the Colonels over the hump and into their first conference tournament since 2000-2001 under former head coach Rickey Broussard.
“This is the most experience we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Piper noted. “The guys that are seniors this year were in my first recruiting class, so they really understand what we are trying to do and how we are trying to do it, and are really good at it.”
“I hope that translates into wins for us,” Piper added.
The leadership on this year’s team will rest on the soles of the two team captains, seniors Ryan Bathie and Justin Payne.
Piper acknowledged that both players have leadership skills on and off the court.
Bathie comes into the season averaging a team-leading 13.6 points per game.
He was only one of two players who started all 31 games last season.
He shot 67.8 percent from behind the arc.
Bathie could make history in 2008 becoming the 22nd player to score at least 1,000 career points. He currently sits at 944.
Former teammate Adonis Gray was the last player to do it last season.
Aside from Bathie, Piper considers Payne to be a vocal leader on the team.
He finished last season with a team-high of 83 assists and averaged 5.1 points per game.
Piper hopes the two of them continue the connection they developed.
“What’s nice in Justin, Ryan and (junior) Mike Czepil is they tasted a little bit of success,” Piper said. “They understand what it takes to win and they are really motivated and driven to push us over the top. That’s exciting.”
Czepil averaged 8.5 points through only 13 games last season. However, he won’t return to action for another two weeks. Last season, he suffered a season-ending knee injury against Minnesota. Piper expects Czepil to return fully before the end of November.
In addition to the three, junior center Chris Paige (2.9 ppg), sophomore forward Anatoly Bose (10.8 ppg), sophomore guard Kellen Carter (1.7 ppg), sophomore guard Dominic Friend (7.6 ppg) and sophomore guard K.J. Lee ( 1 ppg) all return to the court for the Colonels.
Redshirt sophomore Dwight Fusilier and freshman Joshua Johnson also return this season.
A barrage of fresh faces to the Colonels squad include sophomore transfer Cody Worsham (Loyola-New Orleans), freshmen guard/forward Kyle Ford, guard Fred Hunter, guard Chris Iles, guard Cameron McCallum and forward Phillip Ward.
Both Hunter and Iles are expected to make an immediate impact with the Colonels as well as McCallum, who is joining his Australian countrymen Bathie, Bose, Friend and Czepil this season.
“I’m excited about Fred, he’s had a real good offseason and he’s got a great work ethic,” Piper said. “Ward is a big strong athletic kid. He’s been a little nicked up and injured in the preseason, but I think he’s got a bright future. McCallum is better than we thought he was going to be. He’s a big strong kid. Johnson is coming off of a knee injury last year, he’s very athletic and Chris Iles at the point is probably the quickest guy we’ve had at that position since I’ve been here. All five those guys have a chance to make a major impact on this team.”
Hunter averaged 22 points per game as a senior at Denton High School in Texas last season while Iles finished his senior season with 13 points per game at Alief Hastings High School in Texas.
With the addition of the newcomers, Piper expects this year’s squad to be a solid defensive team, while keeping their strong perimeter shooting in tact.
However, he also hopes this year’s team can correct the setbacks of last year. Mainly, rebounding as the Colonels found themselves out-rebounded 1111-985 when it was all said and done.
The season starts tonight in an exhibition against St. Edwards.
Nicholls State freshman Fred Hunter passes to a teammate as senior Justin Payne guards him. Head coach J.P. Piper said it’ll be up to younger guys like Hunter to step up this season. The Colonels kick things off with an exhibition tonight against St. Edward’s. * Photo by KYLE CARRIER
