Chris Whitaker
AMERICUS — Three Peach Belt basketball teams finished in the top 25 in Division II last season.
Augusta State reached the Final Four while USC-Aiken finished 16th and Armstrong Atlantic 25th.
And with the new realignment into East and West Divisions, Georgia Southwestern is glad to be in the West. The Hurricanes will play those three teams just once during the season as the top four from each side make the conference tournament.
“With how good those three teams have been, it will help us a little bit that the teams that have been formidable are on the other side,” said GSW coach Mike Leeder. “Those guys lost a lot of people, and I don’t know where those teams will be talent wise. But it’s good for us that we don’t have to tangle with them twice.”
GSW will play Columbus State, Clayton State, Georgia College (which received votes in the final poll), North Georgia and newcomer Montevallo twice.
The Hurricanes finished 10-18 overall and 6-14 in conference play, losing in the first round of the PBC Tournament to Clayton State. They graduated two seniors, including All-Conference performer Anthony Sargent, and role player Brandon Sims won’t return as well.
But that leaves four other players who saw time as starters and all scored at least 20 points in a conference game.
Chris Rawls and Marcus Scott both averaged in double figures scoring, Evan Mobley was the conference Freshman of the Year, and Damayrius Adside shot 35 percent from 3-point land.
Leeder said the team has had a great offseason.
“I think the guys have grown up a little bit,” he said. “They’ve taken care of business with academics, and they’ve been working awful hard in the summer. It’s the first time since I’ve been here to have a bulk of the scoring and a bulk of the guys who played a lot of minutes since we’ve been in the Peach Belt.”
The Hurricanes will play 17 conference games, five non-conference Division II opponents and five non-Division II opponents. Valdosta State, which was ranked at one point in the top 25 last season, highlights the non-conference schedule, while newcomer Truett-McConnell highlights the non-Division II part of the schedule.
The Bears make the move to NAIA from the Georgia Junior College Athletic Association.
Albany State is GSW’s home opener on Nov. 24, and Fort Valley State returns to the schedule.
“We’re excited about having Fort Valley State back on the schedule,” said Leeder. “We played them a couple of years ago here and had a great crowd. We want to get back to playing them and Albany State in alternating years in home and away. Both are 45 minutes apart, and it’s a great opportunity to hopefully develop a little bit of rivalry with a close game.”
Leeder said the recruiting class is almost complete with four players signed and two to be determined. He said names will be disclosed at a later time.
“I think we’re taking another step talent-wise,” he said. “The overall talent level I think will continue to get better from top to bottom.”
And with a majority of the team back, Leeder said the team should continue to improve its win total. GSW won eight games in 2007-08 and 10 last season.
“My hope is that Marcus continues to improve, Damayrius will be better, and Chris — he’s been out for 2 1/2 years — I think he will do an Adrian Robinson where he has a tremendous senior year,” he said. “We hope Evan will take that step up, and hopefully with the guys we sign, we’ll be better defensively and have a little more cohesive group than having so many parts the last couple of years.”
GSW hasn’t set its exhibition games yet, but is looking for three Division I opponents, including The Citadel.
“We want to take and push the win total up to make sure we’re in the top four on the West side,” said Leeder.
