INDIANAPOLIS - Much to the surprise of head coach Greg Zimmerman, a team with no definitive starting five and an entire core of the 2015-16 roster gone was picked second in the G-MAC Preseason Coaches Poll presented by Under Armour.
That’s not to say that the Battlers aren’t deserving, but rather there will be question marks as the program moves forward and reloads with talent.
And also, maybe the coaches have that much respect for Zimmerman as AB has perennially established itself as a viable title contender after winning in both championships in 2013-14 and 2014-15.
Franchise cornerstones Malcolm Tatum, Richard Lemon and Thylas Perkins, have put in hard work with three years to make their mark on the conference record books early in the league’s history.
But Zimmerman has the awareness that replacing the talented trio above and others like Ron Miller, is going to be a process.
This year’s roster is filled with new bodies 10 freshmen) and it will take time for them to get acclimated to the system and the collegiate level. He quipped that AB isn’t Kentucky and can’t reload on a yearly basis as the Wildcats have been known to do.
“Our kids have been working real hard; we have a lot of new faces and there’s a lot of things these guys haven’t seen before, but the attitude and work ethic has been good,” Zimmerman said. “It’s been the most inexperienced team that I’ve been around in my 16 years of coaching and that’s going to take us a while to get where we want to be.”
Tatum, Lemon and Perkins, did so much for the program in terms of scoring, rebounding, passing, defense and leadership. Helping the Battlers to back-to-back conference tournament titles is no easy task in a tough men’s basketball league and they were an integral part of each respective run.
They combined to average over 43 points per game and if it weren’t for some injuries that Tatum endured towards the end of the last season, the Battlers could have had a different postseason outlook.
Seniors Jordan Haywood, Sanar Shamdeen, Imanol Artinano and Dorrell Foster are back along with junior Chavez Harper as the most experienced players.
Haywood averaged 7.6 points per game as the team’s returning top scorer.
“The guys are starting to come together as one and we’re working hard every day and buying into what coach is telling us,” Haywood said. “I expect myself to play hard every possession and I expect the team to play hard to hopefully win the tournament.”