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BACK TO THE FUTURE, Tigers Look
Back to Prepare for 2004-05
Hampden-Sydney’s
basketball team faces its toughest challenge in five years in 2004 as the Tigers
look to defend their ninth Old Dominion Athletic Conference title despite the
presence of just one returning starter. The winningest basketball program in
the Commonwealth of Virginia over the last decade, the Tigers will have to
replace four starters and five highly talented seniors, including two-time
All-American guard Jeff Monroe, two-time All-ODAC guard Brandon Randall, along
with Mike Thompson, David Willson and Jason Holman. The turnover facing the
2004 Tigers is the most daunting since the 2000 season when the team had to
replace four 1,000-point scorers in TJ Grimes, Chris Fox, Jack Jirak and Jeremy
Harris. The similarities between the Tiger classes of 2000 and 2004 are
striking, as each class made an appearance in a Division III Final Four (1999,
2003) during its junior year and each won three Old Dominion Athletic Conference
championships in four tries. In 2000-2001, with the Tigers facing a
“rebuilding” season, the coaching staff went to work to recruit the likes of
Monroe, Randall, Thompson and Holman. However, the addition of the fresh young
talent, coupled with future All-ODAC players Bobby Jackson, Lane Brooks and
Marcus Gregory and the presence of senior leaders Kevin Swann, Aaron Gibbs and
Brett Thompson was all the team needed as the Tigers rolled to the 2001 ODAC
Championship and NCAA Tournament.
 The order will be a tall one to fill if the Tigers are to
climb the ladder in Salem Civic Center to clip the nets for a tenth time in 2005
and repeat the title chase the 2001 squad performed. However, the team is not
only facing the challenge of repeating history and claiming a tenth ODAC title,
but the Tigers also have several extraordinary streaks and lofty standards to
uphold. The 2004-2005 Tigers will be aiming for the program’s ninth-straight
20-win season and ninth-straight appearance in the ODAC Championship game and
NCAA Tournament. Meanwhile, the team has a record 31-game winning streak in the
friendly confines of S. Douglas Fleet Gymnasium, where the Tigers have a .790
winning percentage since the building opened in 1979. Bubba Smith, the Tigers
second-year head coach and the only coach in Tiger basketball history to lead a
team to an ODAC Championship in his first year, has faced the departure of four
starters and six letterwinners by bringing in perhaps the deepest and
most-talented freshman class in H-SC basketball history. In addition to the
newcomers, the Tigers will rely on a veteran backcourt, led by the ODAC’s
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| Captains Brian Gunn and Matt Guill |
leading returning assist-man in senior point guard and captain Brian Gunn, who
is also the Tigers leading returning scorer after averaging a career-best 9.6
points and 4.0 assists per game in 2004. Gunn will be helped in the backcourt
by junior captain Matt Guill, who is 100-percent healthy for the first time in
his Tiger hoops career. With seven returnees and seven newcomers, the Tiger
talent pool is full of players who have seen the past success and know that the
future and continued success of the Hampden-Sydney basketball program rests on
their shoulders.
BACKCOURT
Hampden-Sydney’s backcourt is undoubtedly its deepest and
most-proven asset, led by Gunn, Guill and sophomore Mike Edwards. Gunn broke
free of Marcus Gregory’s shadow last year as he proved he can be both a scoring
and dishing threat. His 9.6 points-per-game were bolstered by a career-best 24
point performance against Emory and Henry and back-to-back 16-point performances
against Eastern Mennonite and Bridgewater midway through the season. In fact,
Gunn scored in double-figures 15 times in 30 games and had five or more assists
12 times. Gunn will be joined by fellow senior Bill Taylor. Taylor walked on
to the Tiger team last season and saw action in seven games. His leadership
will prove vital in helping the young squad this season. Guill meanwhile,
battled through a knee injury that has hampered him for his first two seasons in
garnet and grey. The cagey junior missed ten games but still managed to score a
season-high five points twice, against Division I Longwood and Emory and Henry,
while dishing off three or more assists in eight games. Edwards settled into
his role of two-guard quickly as he averaged nearly 15 minutes and five
points-per-game and was the only Tiger freshman to see in action in all 30
games. Edwards 84 percent mark from the line and knack for making the big free
throws when it counted gave him an “ice man” persona, while he also crafted a
way to score in 29-of-30 games including going for a career-high 12 points
against Longwood and Eastern Mennonite. Also returning is sophomore Kevin
Forrester. Forrester will give the Tigers experience at the shooting guard spot
as he saw action in 29 contests last season and averaged 3.7 points and 1.2
rebounds per game.
Joining the returning group will be a quartet of
newcomers, led by sophomore transfer Matt Green. Green, a Richmond, VA, native,
joins the Tiger hoops program from Dartmouth College where he saw action in 15
games for the Big Green. Green, who went to Thomas Dale High School, will add a
veteran presence to the backcourt. Meanwhile, freshmam AJ Dowell will also look
to add talent at the point-guard and two-guard positions. Dowell joins the
Tigers after a standout career at Salem High School in Roanoke, where he was
selected as the Metro Area Player of the Year and was a First Team All-State,
All-District and All-Region selection. Freshmen Drew Prehmus and Tyler Murray
will be counted on at the wing-guard positions as each joins the Tigers from the
state of Georgia. Prehmus, listed at 6-foot-5 and 210 pounds, broke the
25-year-old scoring record in Gwinnett County as he earned Tip-off Team Player
of the Year team honors while setting Wesleyan School records for steals,
rebound and points. Murray meanwhile, a 6-foot-3 shooting guard, earned First
Team All-Cobb County honors at Harrison High School in Atlanta. Murray too
earned Tip-off Team Player of the Year team honors as he finished the year
ranked in the top-ten in both scoring and rebounding for Cobb County.
FRONTCOURT
Many could argue that Hampden-Sydney’s frontcourt is young
and unchallenged, however, what the group lacks in experience it makes up for in
size. Junior Aaron Lewek, sophomore Davis Bowne and freshman Jeremy Szuch, give
the Tigers a trio of post players in the 6-foot-8 to 6-foot-9 and 220-pound
range. Of this group, Bowne has seen the most playing time as he saw action in
23 games as a freshman last season, filling in for All-ODAC center Mike
Thompson. In fact, while Thompson missed three games midway through the season
with a hand injury, Bowne stepped up his play and averaged 6.0 points and 8.0
rebounds-per-contest including turning in a career-best eight-point,
nine-rebound, four-assist effort in Hampden-Sydney’s 95-55 win over Eastern
Mennonite. Lewek, a junior, enters this season completely healthy after
battling through a torn ACL he suffered midway through his freshman campaign in
2002-2003. In eight games last season, Lewek managed 2.0 points and 1.1
rebounds-per-game to go with a 75-percent mark from the floor. Szuch joins the
team as one of three Roanoke Valley recruits as he comes from Glenvar High
School in Salem. His size and frame give him great potential as he will be
looked upon to help the Tigers this season and in the future.
Freshmen Troy Kaase and Mladen Cvijanovic round out the
talented Tiger recruiting class and will be looked upon to add a scoring punch
at the four-spot for Hampden-Sydney this year. Kaase, listed at 6-foot-6, is
one of the most-heralded recruits in the class as he was a First Team
All-District, All-Region and All-Metro player at Cave Spring High School in
Roaonke. He earned all-state honors along with being named a Commonwealth and
VHS All-Star. Cvijanovic, a 6-foot-5 native of Serbia, comes to Hampden-Sydney
from the Miller School in Charlottesville, VA. Cvijanovic earned team MVP and
all league honors while at the Miller School.
SCHEDULE
Hampden-Sydney’s schedule is challenging once-again this
season as the Tigers have a full slate of action set with the always-tough Old
Dominion Athletic Conference. In addition to ODAC-play, the Tigers will host
the CP Dean Tip-off Tournament and the Weenie Miller Memorial Holiday Hoops
Tournament in November and December. Joining the Tigers in the tip-off tourney
are Cabrini College, Clark College and Methodist College, NCAA Tournament
participants from a year ago, while the Monarchs will also play the Tigers in a
non-conference tilt in January. Meanwhile, perennial power Baldwin-Wallace
joins the Tigers in the holiday hoops tournament, along with Eastern College and
Hood College. The Tigers will host arch-rival and nationally-ranked
Randolph-Macon on February 12, for what should be the most-anticipated matchup
of the season.
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