The Tribe Has Spoken

Haven’t checked in for a while, seeing as not much is happening, but there is a little bit of stuff to update you one…

Basketball: The Tribe is still actively recruiting. Ben O’Donnell, a point guard from the Tampa area, has cut his list down to W&M and East Tennesee State. From the article, it looks like we are the current favorite…

“They want a point guard,” O’Donnell said. “I liked the campus more (than ETU’s) and it’d be a really good situation (playing-wise) for me.”

Also, the Tribe is going after an Arkansas transfer, Sean McCurdy. In his sophomore year, McCurdy played in 30 of the Razorbacks games this season, and had some nice assist/turnover ratio. He is also talking to Richmond(who just had a player transfer), Wofford, and Colgate. Both would seem to be good gets, but we have to take into account the fact that McCurdy would have to sit out a year.

This also has implications on the Tribes roster situation for next season. If we were to get both, it would definitely be a sign someone is transferring, and it would probably be a guard. If we only end up with one, it could either be a transfer or more likely McFadden will not have a scholarship this season and will have to earn it back this year.

An update on some players that have signed, Marcus Kitts is looking better and better, an average of 15 ppg in a recent tournament, including scoring 17 points with 11 rebounds in a game against rival Apex in the championship game. For a peak of his game, here is a video hosted by trianglehoops.net. Here are a couple of his box scores, and a link to him on the All-Tournament team. Also, check out this video of Valeriu Lazarescu winning another dunk contest.

Football: Spring practice has started, and I’ve got a couple updates. First of all, Derek Cox will be keeping a blog, which can be found at that link all season. RJ Archer will get a shot at quarterback this spring, along with now #11 Jake Phillips and Mike Potts. I’d be much happier if Archer stayed at receiver, however, we still have one of our best pass-catchers in that scenario.

The running back situation is also up in the air, as DeBrian Holmes is missing the entire spring with an ankle injury which opens up an opportunity for Tony Viola and speedster Courtland Marriner. Josh Rutter is also being held out of Spring practice, and TJ O’Neill will move back to linebacker.

Very excited about the upcoming football season, and hopefully I will get the opportunity to do some player interviews this at the start of pre-season practice(August) just like last year.

Baseball: The final note of his post, Tribe Baseball has emerged as one of the CAA’s top teams. They are currently second in the CAA, a game behind Old Dominion, with a 8-4 CAA record and a 16-13 overall record, and has a double-header against Wagner Saturday plus the series’ third game on Sunday. Wagner is currently 4-11 and the Tribe should roll in this series.

The reason the Tribe has gotten off to such a hot start has to do with veteran hitting and suprising freshman starters. The Tribe’s top hitter has been Greg Sexton, who got a walk-off double vs. a strong VMI team Wednesday night and has an OPS of 1.174, with 6 homers and 34 RBI’s. Senior second baseman Brent McWhorter has also been great, winning a CAA POW award on top of a 1.074 OPS. JuCo transfer Tim Park has been a very good lead-off man, and while he is not the typical player for that spot, his OPS is 1.077 and he was key to the VMI comeback. Finally, Robbie Nickle has a 1.038 OPS and 5 homers.

I’ll try to post about baseball post-every series, as Tribe baseball this year is really exciting!

Go Tribe!