Keeping focus after shaky start Basketball is a game played on a hardwood floor 94 feet long and 50 feet wide, but sometimes the things that happen on the court are affected by circumstances the fans don't see in the games, things no one can predict. With the death of Coach Jeff Morgan's mother 10 days before the basketball season started, the Bisons dealt with a tremendous blow'. "This is the hardest year I have personally ever had to deal with," Morgan said. "These things just happened and it was a struggle to keep a focus on things. Still, it did not defeat our expectations for the year and what we had to do," In December, the Bisons suffered another setback as 'they had to play through three games without their head coach. Coach Morgan was having pain in his back due to discs pressing on his spinal nerves and was forced by doctors to lie in bed and miss some of the action. "The hardest thing was to just lie there in bed, not able to move and not able to be at the games," he said. "When I was feeling better. I tried to sit through a game so I could bounce ideas off of coach Kirby (assistant coach), but the pain was so bad I had to leave." A normal beginning to the season was out ofreach, but the players beganto rally around their coach. Despite what bad happened in First Row: Zachary Kirby, Mitchell Kirby. Second Row: Stephen Marx,Jason McGinty, Adam Langston ,Chase Melder, Aaron Farley, Darren McCrillis, Joe Merillat, Danny Jeune, Bruce Warren, Joey Pruitt. Third Row: Coach Jeff Morgan, Dwayne Elliott, Michael Jack· son, Jay Brogdon, Ashley Buford, Armand Etame, Dwayne McDonald, Chad Ware, Datron Wilson, Asst. Coach Tim Kirby. Photo by Jeff Montgomery. I Q f--____ "-'M~e::onc'_s"'-'B::::a;.::s::ck::;_et=-:b::.;:=a ll ~ Athletics the past month, his players still remained positive and focused on their task. "Whenever you have a close family of 14 or 15 guys like we have, there is a trickledown effect, and every guy wants to do his best to help the team," senior Armand Etame said. Morgan credited the success ofhis young, eager team to their willingness to mature during the season and learn their own rules on the court. He admitted that in the beginning things were a little shaky, but the situation improved greatly. The Bisons only lost three senior players this year- seniors Etame, Dwayne McDonald and Danny Jeune. The Rhodes Rowdies will be relying on the play making ofsuper-trio Aaron Farley, Jay Brogdon and Michael Jackson, who will all be juniors next year. Though the Bisons missed the Conference Tournament this season with a 10-10 record (as of Feb. 12), 5-7 in conference play, the Bisons seemed ready to make a strong push in the 2002 season once they made a few key recruiting moves. "We really need a couple of big men and a big defensive stopper," Morgan said. "I like the way we'll look if we get these guys with our group that will be coming back next year. The future looks bright." - Ryan Kirksey the team
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc5NA==