Tigers, Cougars, Bobcats start basketball seasons
Something definitely is up with the Chattanooga State men’s basketball team going into the 2017-18 season.
Way, way up.
The Tigers have a sophomore transfer who’s 7-foot-2 — the tallest player in program history. He’s Raekwon Long from Lincolnton, N.C., by way of Daytona State College, and he fully lives up to his last name.
“His wingspan is 7-6,” Chattanooga State coach Jay Price said.
Starting his 14th year with the Tigers, Price has only three players back from last season’s 16-13 team: second-team All-TCCAA wing forward Maleek Taylor, 6-7 power forward Roger Davis and shooting guard Kalin Johnson. They will start along with Long and freshman point guard Arne “AJ” Morris from Cary, N.C., in the season opener tonight in Bristol, Tenn., against the King University junior varsity.
Another sophomore transfer on the team is 6-9 Arab Abdi from Sweden and a season at Tyler Junior College in Texas.
The Cleveland State teams both open their seasons this evening at home against Snead State, beginning with the women’s game at 5:30. The other area nonfour-year college men’s program in the area, Georgia Northwestern, tips off at 6 against Hiwassee’s JV team at the Rossville Athletic Center.
GNTC’s Lady Bobcats will join the Bobcats in action Friday in a tournament in Jacksonville, Fla.
Chattanooga State’s Lady Tigers will start Thursday at 5:30 at home against the Southern Wesleyan JV. The local program’s second season under Stacey Franklin, a former Alabama captain and longtime NCAA Division I assistant coach, has all new players.
Although her first group went 8-20, Franklin enjoyed the experience of being a head coach.
”I loved it. I loved doing things I learned from coaches I worked for and putting the bits and pieces together,” she said Tuesday. “And I’ve been ready for this year to get here.
“We had one Tennessee kid last year, a walk-on, but we’ve got a good mix now,” Franklin added. “It may take us a while, but we’re getting better every day, and I see a good chemistry, a good balance, developing. I’m just looking for improvement.”
The Cleveland State women’s coach, Evelyn Thompson, is even newer, with only a few weeks on the job after the 20-year tenure of Dan Lumpkin ended. But former Tennessee Temple star Shameca Gardner continues as assistant coach, with Chelsea Jones added to the staff, and the Lady Cougars roster includes six sophomores: 5-11 Keya Jenkins and 5-11 Abby Huber, 5-9 Julia Gaither, 5-7 Taylor Dunn and Darian Hixson and 5-5 Kyla Braden.
The Cleveland State men have a longtime coach in Lee Cigliano and four starters returning from a 16-10 team: Cam Copeland, Tevin Olison, Victor Curry and Romero Hill. The Cougars also have more bodies than usual, which should alleviate a past depth problem.
“Right now we are focusing on seeing individual improvement and team development,” Cigliano said in a school release. “We always want to be competitive and finish as high as possible, but what’s most important to us is to be playing our best basketball in February and March.
David Stephenson coaches both Georgia Northwestern teams and has more depth than usual but a lot of inexperience to overcome. His Bobcats return only 6-7 center Micah Wheeler, and his undersized Lady Bobcats have no college experience other than what 5-2 junior point guard Katy Phillips and 6-3 post Madison Lewis provide, and Lewis sat out last year after knee surgery.
Stephenson expects Jayla Stone and Mia Clark to provide help in the backcourt and Christina DeSalvo, Tori Hall and Taylor Bethune to slash to the basket from the perimeter.
Wheeler has made great progress in his time with the Bobcats, who have 6-6 Tristen Bennett as inside backup. They have added 6-5 Georgia Region 6-AAA player of the year Tyler Phillips and two other standouts from that high school league: 6-4 J.T. Langford and 6-6 Bryce Waters. Guard candidates, all providing quickness, include Justin Smith, Davian Wheeler, Kolbi Suttle, Davantae Kimble and Cole McKeehan.