By Chris Raimondi, Sports Editor
After ending the season on a two game losing streak, the Kennesaw State men’s basketball team will face No. 3 seed USC Upstate on Tuesday, March 3 in Spartanburg, South Carolina in the first round of the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament.
The Owls have had their share of ups and downs throughout this season, but the 2014-15 campaign has been a success in comparison to previous years. In year one of the Jimmy Lallathin era, KSU eclipsed the 10 win mark, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since the 2009-10 season.
The Owls are in the A-Sun Tournament as a six seed after totaling four conference wins in the year. The Convocation Center averaged over 1,000 fans for home games despite not scheduling any marquee matchups and losing the annual in-state rivalry game against Mercer once the Bears shipped off to the Southern Conference.
A student fan organization dubbed “Occupy The Nest” saw its inception this season and earned recognition from the A-Sun conference, broadcasters and fan groups alike. A 20 plus loss season may not look like much, but this year was a big step forward.
KSU, for the first time in a while, has an opportunity to establish an identity. Senior Delbert Love and Tanner Wozniak will be the only Owls departing after this season while KSU returns next year as one of the most senior-laden teams in the conference. Yonel Brown, Nigel Pruitt, Willy Kouassi, Orlando Coleman and Damien Wilson will all be seniors next year and they all saw significant playing time this season.
The Owls will welcome newcomers Demontrez Austin and Kendrick Ray to the court and both are speculated to have an immediate impact and vie for a starting position. Memphis transfer Wilson and freshman Nick Masterson will have their first year at KSU under their belt along with Jordan Jones entering his second year on the court as a red-shirt sophomore.
The men’s basketball program will have a team full of experience next season and has proven they are no longer the doormat of the conference they once were. Twice KSU nearly brought down Florida Gulf Coast University, including a one point loss on the road in Fort Meyers. The Owls swept Jacksonville and Stetson this year and put together two separate win streaks.
I have covered the KSU men’s basketball team during some of its darkest moments, and to see this team scrape together 10 wins under a first year head coach who took over after serving as the interim head coach, I’m quite impressed.
The basketball program at KSU is nowhere near the level of anyone’s expectations, not mine, not yours, not coach Lallathin’s and not Vaughn Williams’, KSU’s director of athletics. But I certainly believe the right pieces were put in place this season that fans can now expect steady improvement every year, rather than a giant question mark prior to every season.
The team is beginning to bring in local talent, albeit through interesting paths. Wilson transferred from Memphis, but played at Pebblebrook High School in Mableton, and Oak Hill Academy, Alijah Bennett attended Sprayberry High School, Masterson is a product of Woodstock’s River Ridge High School and Jones went to Saint Francis in Alpharetta.
After cleaning house and assembling his own staff last offseason, Lallathin has put the ball in motion (pun intended) to have a strong foundation with local ties. Jon Cremins, a Roswell native and nephew of Georgia Tech’s basketball coach Bobby Cremins, will continue to help lure in recruits to attend our spectacular campus. Having former NBA player and European star David Rivers in the locker room certainly doesn’t hurt either.
KSU’s time in Division I hasn’t been fun, especially after winning a National Championship at the Division II level in 2004. But I believe the 2014-15 season revealed a glimmer of the potential that KSU men’s basketball program contains.
