Rubit Named To Two All-America Teams
SBC player of the year from last season, Augustine Rubit, earns two preseason All-America honors. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
Augustine Rubit of the Jaguar Men’s Basketball team was selected to two pre-season All-America teams on Tuesday. These are his first honors of the 2013-2014 season.
Rubit was named to the Lou Henson Preseason All-America team and was a finalist for the Lou Henson Award last season. The Award is named in honor of Lou Henson who retired after a great coaching career that spanned 41 years. The award is given each ear to the top Mid-Major player in Division I college basketball. ULL’s Elfrid Peyton joins Rubit on the preseason list as well.
He was also named to the College Sports Madness Preseason All-Mid Major team. He was named to the second team.
Rubit was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year as he averaged 19.4 points and 10.5 rebounds per game last season. He is the first player in conference history to lead the conference in rebounding for three consecutive seasons and is 120 away from setting a new Sun Belt Conference record.
The Jags will host an exhibition game at the Mitchell Center on November 5 against University of Mobile.
USA Men’s Basketball 2013-2014 Schedule Released
The South Alabama men’s basketball team released their 2013-2014 schedule on Monday. First year head coach Matthew Graves, his staff and team will face some challenges this season.
The Jags will be led by returning Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year Augustine Rubit and Junior Mychal Ammons. Four of their road games will be against Gonzaga, Arkansas, New Mexico State and Middle Tennessee State with a total of nine opponents who won at least 19 games last season.
They will begin the season with an exhibition game against the University of Mobile on November 5 at the Mitchell Center. They will have their season opener at home against Detroit on November 8.
Graves’ first road game will be at Texas on November 12. They will return to the Mitch to face William Carey before hosting the round-robin tournament the CBE Classic with Wright State, Southern Miss and Houston Baptist coming to the Mitchell Center to participate on November 22-24.
On November 30, the Jags will travel to Murfreesboro, Tennessee to face former SBC rival Middle Tennessee State. December 2 the Jags will face Spring Hill College before traveling to Houston, Texas to face Rice on December 7.
The Jags will travel to Seattle, Washington fo face Gonzaga on December 14. THey then return to Mobile to face Dillard on December 17 then have back-to-back road games against Arkansas on December 21 and New Mexico State on December 28.
This season, the Sun Belt will not be split into divisions, so they will play an 18-game home-and-home schedule against each team in the conference. The Sun Belt Conference schedule begins for South Alabama on January 2 at home against Western Kentucky.
Wright State was chosen to win the Horizon League this year and won 23 games last season. They return their top 10 players. Gonzaga is a perineal challenge and NCAA Tournament threat.
Coach Graves wanted to put together a challenging non-conference schedule to prepare the Jags for their conference schedule and it seems he has done just that. They have lots of work ahead of them but Graves and the team are up to the challenge.
Click here to see the full schedule.
Go Jags!
Jags Hire Russ Willemsen As Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach
USA Head Coach Matt Graves hires former Tennessee Tech assistant coach Russ Willemsen to fill vacant position on staff. | Photo collegechalktalk.com
South Alabama Men’s head basketball coach Matthew Graves has hired former Tennessee Tech assistant Russ Willemsen to fill the open position on his staff when former Butler player and USA assistant coach Ronald Nored left the program to join the Boston Celtics’ Development League.
While Willemsen was at Tennessee Tech, the Golden Eagles won 19 or more games in a season four times. As well as being an assistant coach on the court, he also serve as the camp director and oversaw the team’s academic progress at TTU. His work netted the program the 2007 and 2008 OVC Academic Achievement Award.
He got his start in coaching as an undergrad at Lee University in Tennessee as a student-assistant for two seasons before a full-time position in 2004-05. They had six players named to the NAIA All-America team as well as advancing to the round of 16 and the quarterfinals of the NAIA National Tournament during his five seasons there.
He began his career at TTU as the director of basketball operations where he coordinated team travel, produced recruiting materials and film exchange. He is also a regular contributor to CollegeChalkTalk.com and wrote the introductory article for the website’s series on the legendary John Wooden.
Welcome to South Alabama coach Willemsen! Go Jags!
Graves Intends To Fill Position By First Day Of Class
Head basketball coach Matt Graves. | Photo by butler.edu.
South Alabama head basketball coach Matthew Graves told AL.com that he hopes to have the open position on his staff filled by the time classes start on August 19.
Ronald Nored, an Alabama native, left his position as an assistant under Graves when he was offered a position with the Boston Celtics development league team. His former coach at Butler Brad Stevens was hired as the new head coach of the Boston Celtic a few weeks ago.
Graves is going through various applicants and talking to some of his peers in the coaching ranks. Graves indicated that during his three and a half months on the job he has learned lots about the University and how they need to recruit going forward. This knowledge has helped him re-evaluate what exactly he needs in an assistant that will also be tasked with recruiting.
Graves said that he has an extra scholarship that is currently not used. He would not rule out using it for a mid-year transfer. If it is not used this year, it would be rolled into next years class.
Men’s Basketball Assistant Coach Ronald Nored Leaving For Boston Celtics Organization
Butler alumni and Alabama native Ronald Nored joins the Boston Celtics Organization with his former coach Brad Stevens. | collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com
After only being on the job less than five months, head basketball coach Matthew Graves is already searching to fill an empty position on his staff.
Assistant coach Ronald Nored announced that he has accepted a position with the Boston Celtics with former Butler University head coach Brad Stevens. Nored accepted the job with the Celtics’ Maine Red Claws D-League franchise.
Nored came to USA after spending one season as the head coach at Brownsburg Indiana High School. He was a four-year letterwinner at Butler from 2008-2012.
Graves was Brad Stevens’ top assistant at Butler before accepting the head coaching position at South Alabama.
NBC Sports Writer Covers Graves’ First Recruit
Head basketball coach Matt Graves. | Photo by butler.edu.
After Jaguar Basketball head coach Matt Graves signed his first recruit at South Alabama, NBC Sports College Basketball Talk’s Kevin Doyle wrote about the first recruit of the Graves era.
Austin Karazsia played two sports in high school and stood out in both. Along with his basketball play, as quarterback for his football team he passed for 3,328 yards and 42 touchdowns at Linton-Stockton High School.
He asked if Graves could be transforming USA into Butler south, but admitted it was too soon to make such a bold statement. You can read the entire article by clicking here.
Graves Adds Final Assistant To Staff
South Alabama’s head basketball coach Matt Graves announced the addition of Dan Matic to finish his staff. | Photo usajaguars.com
South Alabama’s head basketball coach Matt Graves completed his staff on Thursday when he announced the addition of former Eastern Illinois assistant Dan Matic to his staff.
Matic is a native of Brooklyn, New York and spent the 2012-13 season at Eastern Illinois as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. One of his recruits led all of the Ohio Valley Conference in scoring as a freshmen as the Panthers qualified for the conference tournament for the first time in three seasons.
Prior to EIU, he was an assistant at Olney Central College in Olney, Ill. In his lone season at OCC, they won 27 games and won the Great Rivers Athletic Conference championship for the first time in 14 years. Under his tutalige, Trivante Bloodman earned player of the year honors in the GRAC and the team finished second in the NJCAA region 24 Tournament, the best finish by the school since 1994. Five players, including Bloodman who signed with Mississippi State, went on to play at NCAA Division I schools.
Matic also worked as a video coordinator for the USA National Basketball team in 2009 in the 2009 World University Games in Serbia. The team led by Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan brought home the bronze medal. Matic then served two seasons as a graduate assistant and academic mentor at Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Matic began his coaching career in 2001 with AAU Team Takeover of New York City. During his six seasons as head coach he led the squad to a sixth-place finish at AAU nationals and had 16 player earn scholarships to Division I schools. Devin Eubanks, who went to West Virginia and is now with the L.A. Lakers, and Ed Davis, who went to North Carolina and now the Toronto Raptors, were two who earned scholarships.
Terry Fowler Hired As Head Women’s Basketball Coach
Terry Fowler was named the new head women’s basketball coach at South Alabama. | timesdaily.com
South Alabama Athletics Director Joel Erdmann announced he has hired Terry Fowler as the head women’s basketball coach for the Jaguars. Fowler is coming off two NCAA Division II Tournament appearances in the last three years at the University of North Alabama.
Fowler has been the head coach at UNA for the last seven seasons as the guided the Lions to the NCAA tournament in both 2011 and 2013 by winning 20-plus games in each of those seasons. He was chosen to Gulf South Conference East Division Coach of the Year in 2011 after leading his team to a 12-0 record in conference play. They would finish 21-7 after advancing to the NCAA Tournament for thier first appearance in the event since the 1993-94 season.
When Fowler was hired by UNA, he inherited a team that won 11 games combined the two previous seasons. In his first season, he led the Lions to a 14-14 record overall and their first berth in the conference tournament since 2003. He then coached the team to winning records in each of the last five season posting an overall record of 115-87 for a 56.9 winning percentage. He also has a 57-32 record in conference play for a 64 winning percentage.
Fowler has previously worked at both Spring Hill and South Alabama prior to his stint at UNA. He was an assistant on the Lady Jaguars staff during the 2000-01 and ’01-02 seasons. He also served as an assistant at SHC from 1993-98 before being promoted to head coach before the start of the ’98-99 season. He led the Badgers to their first-ever NAIA Tournament appearance with a 23-11 overall record while winning both the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular season and tournament titles. He was named the conference coach of the year.
He returned to SHC in 2002 to lead the Badgers to their first ever NAIA national ranking and the semifinals of the GCAC TOurnament on two occasions.
Graves Announces Nored Will Join Staff
Butler alumni and Alabama native Ronald Nored joins Matt Graves’ staff at USA. | collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com
South Alabama head basketball coach Matt Graves announced an addition to his staff on Tuesday. Homewood, Alabama native Ronald Nored will return to his home state to be an assistant coach for the Jags. Nored was a former Butler standout and comes back to the state after spending one season as the head coach at Brownsburg (Indiana) High School.
During his playing career, Nored set a record with 143 games played, including a school record 16 postseason games, while leading the Bulldogs to three Horizon League regular season championships, two league tournament titles and four consecutive trips to postseason tournament play. It included back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship title game. During his four years at Butler, they one 109 games and were 12-4 in postseason play.
During his senior season Nored led the Horizon league in assist/turnover ratio with 1.9, was second in assists per game with 5.2 and set a new school record with 193 assists which broke the previous record of 172. He ranks second in Butler’s career assists list with 497.
He was also only the second player in school history to record 400 points, 400 rebounds and 400 assists in a career.
In his only season as a head coach, Nored’s team began 3-8 but rallied to finish 11-10 on the season.
Graves Announces Archey As First Hire To Staff
South Alabama’s new head basketball coach Matt Graves officially named the first hire for his staff on Monday. Graves announced that the former Butler coordinator of basketball operations Darnell Archey has joined his coaching staff.
Archey, a New Castle, Indiana native, was a four-year letterwinner at Butler between 1999-2003 and has served on the staff the past four seasons. He has five years of coaching experience at the high school level including three as a head coach before being hired by his alma mater Butler. While a high school coach he taught two McDonald’s All-Americans and future all-conference players in the ACC and Big 10 Conferences.
Prior to joining the Butler staff, Archey was a head coach at Park Tudor (Indiana) High School from 2008-09. During his one season there, the coach a player who was ranked the number 2 point guard and number 19 overall by recruiting service Rivals.com.
As a player at Butler, Archey set several school records and played on three NCAA Tournament teams. He finished his career as their all-time leading three-point shooter, which he now ranks third at, with 217 while setting a new record for free throw percentage in a season at 97.3 percent and for a career with 95.1 percent.
His incredible mark at the free throw line set a NCAA record of 85 consecutive conversions set over parts of three seasons starting on February 15, 2001 and ending on January 18, 2003.
Archey brings more NCAA Tournament experience to Graves’ staff.