New faces lead NSU to season

The preseason story for the Nicholls State men’s basketball team isn’t who’s on the roster, but rather who’s not.

Gone are prominent starters like Anatoly Bose, Fred Hunter (out for the season with injury) and also steady performers like Kellan Carter and Kenny Franklin.

Long story short, gone is 83 percent of the team’s 2010-11 offense.

Despite the departures, the mood in Thibodaux is positive and everyone is ready for the season.

That’s because Colonels coach J.P. Piper believes that by late November or early December the headlines will shift and people will take note of the faces on this year’s team, these guys are pretty good, too.

“I’ve said all summer, this is the most talent we’ve had,” Piper said. “We’ve got to get it to the floor and we’ve got to mold it into a team, but there’s a lot of raw talent there that has the makings by January to be a pretty salty group.”

The reason for Piper and the rest of the Colonels’ optimism is the balance they have and the matchup challenges they will be able to present to opponents with that balance.

Last year, Nicholls was mostly a two-man show anchored by Bose and Hunter.

“We were fairly predictable last year,” Piper said. “Everyone knew Bose was going to score the ball. … There were times where we ran poor offense and he just went and scored.”

“We were a pretty easy team to scout,” senior guard Ben Martin said. “Everybody knew Bose would get his 20, Fred would get his 10-15. Shut everyone else out on the rest of the team and you’d get a win from Nicholls.”

Piper said to combat the loss, Nicholls will need to rely on more players to be consistent contributors, something he believes his roster is capable of doing.

“If we scored 62 or 63 a game last year with a guy averaging 22, that’s probably not going to happen this year,” Piper said. “But we can average that same 62 points per game with four guys averaging 10-to-12 a game. It’s just a different way to get to the same result and that’s what’s going to have to happen.”

His players agree and believe they have more than enough able bodies to fill in the scoring gap.

“We’ll have more balance,” Martin said. “Lots of guys in double figures each game. … That’s going to make us harder to guard and it’s going to win us some games.”

“That’s a positive,” freshman forward Sam McBeath said. “We had a lot of guys here last year who could play basketball, but people looked at us as a two-man team. This year, it’s good, because we have a lot of weapons that we can go to.”

Martin and McBeath are two of the players Piper is counting on to be among the team’s double digit scorers.

A Tri-parish native and former E.D. White star, Martin started every game for the Colonels last year and averaged 4.5 points per game as the team’s off guard.

He admits he was sometimes timid offensively and deferred to Bose. This year, as the team’s lone senior, he has no choice but to step up.

“Now, the spotlight’s kind of on me a little bit and I’m going to embrace it and try and put up some numbers and get us some wins,” Martin said. “Last year, I didn’t get many shots, but this year, somebody’s got to take the shot. … I’m just going to be more aggressive.”

McBeath has the distinction of being “Bose Lite” aka the Colonels’ new Australian.

The 6-foot, 7-inch freshman has wowed coaches with an ability to score both inside and out so far in practices.

“He can score from anywhere,” Martin boasted of his teammate. “He can really light up the scoreboard.”

Another player who Piper believes can do the same is sophomore Dantrell Thomas, who averaged 6 points per game as a freshman and was the Colonels’ top reserve.

Piper believes in an expanded role, Thomas will be another one of the team’s “10-to-12-point contributors.”

“He’s up to the challenge,” Piper said. “I think he’s a pretty darn good player.”

Other names to look out for are point guards junior Pedro Maciel and freshman Shane Rillieux, who will battle for the starting position and have wowed their teammates in practices.

“Pedro is just special, he’s got eyes in the back of his head,” McBeath said.

“Shane is amazing, too. Pedro has a little edge in experience, but Shane is going to be just ridiculous. He plays with so much more experience and maturity than I’d expect from a 19-year-old. We can’t go wrong either way.”

Ready or not, the season is here and the Colonels are ready to tackle another difficult non-conference slate.

Sure, there will likely be bumps and bruises along the way. Who wouldn’t get those facing the likes of LSU, Texas and North Carolina?

But by the time Southland Conference play begins, Piper believes his team will be ready. His players see no reason to believe the team won’t be successful.

“It’s not so much experience as it is effort,” McBeath said. “Coach really wants us to go hard and to just try. I think the effort we’ve been putting in at practice is really paying off. Yeah, we’re young and yeah, people don’t know us, but I think we’ll be out to make a point without Bose and without Hunter.”

“I can’t wait to see these guys play,” Piper said. “We’ve had some days where we’ve looked really amazing and we’ve had some days where we really look like we don’t have a clue what we’re doing. That’s going to be a theme early on. But the goal is to be consistent by January. … But I don’t know what to expect when we turn the lights on. I haven’t had this feeling in a long time as a head coach. It’s a thrill. It’s an opportunity for some guys to step up.”