Magee To Miss Four To Six Weeks With Knee Injury
Head coach Ronnie Arrow announced on Saturday that Gregoryshon Magee will miss four to six weeks with a knee injury.
Magee sufferred a meniscus tear in practice and underwent surgery on Friday. “The MRI showed a minor tear that needed to be cleaned up,” said Arrow. “If everything works out, he should be back within four to six weeks.”
Magee is a 6’9″ junior Forward from New Orleans by way of Neosho County Community College.
Three Jaguar Men’s Basketball Players Name To All-SBC Team
The South Alabama Men’s Basketball team had two players voted to the preseason All-Sun Belt Conference team on Wednesday. They also were picked to finish second in the Eastern Division.
Junior Augustine Rubit and seniors Javier Carter and Freddie Goldstein were chosen for the All-Sun Belt team. The Jags are tied for second most with Arkansas State behind Middle Tennesee State who had four.
Rubit returns as the top scorer in the Sun Belt Conference with an average of 15.2 points per game, 9.2 rebounds per game and 12 double-doubles last season to be the first Jaguar player named to the First Team All-Sun Belt Conference Team since 2008. His rebounding average led the conference and was 38th in the nation while finishing second in the conference in scoring.
Rubit was the 2010-2011 Sun Belt Freshman of the Year and already ranks eighth in South Alabama school history in career rebounds with 576 and third in rebounding average with 10.1 per game.
Javier Carter and Freddie Goldstein were both third team selections. Carter blocked 72 shots with an average of 2.7 blocks per game which ranked 16th in Division I. Those 72 blocks are third in school history and ranks second place in school history with 132 in his career. He also averaged 6.1 points and 5 rebounds per game last season with two double-doubles.
Goldstein is the Sun Belt’s defending 3-point champion. He made 2.5 3-pointers per game last season and was second on the team in scoring with 11.7 per game. He set and tied the school record for 3-pointers in a game with nine and placed 15 in the conference in 3-point percentage (37.1%). He used his 3-point skill to become the first Jaguar to score 30 or more points in a game twice in a single season since the 2007-2008 season.
In the preseason poll of conference coaches the Jags were voted to finish second in the Eastern Division behind Middle Tennessee State. MTSU received all 11 first-place votes and 65 points while the Jags had 51 votes. Behind the Jags were Western Kentucky with 47, FAU with 29, Troy with 22 and FIU with 17.
In the western division North Texas was a unanimous pick with 55 points. Arkansas State had 40, UALR had 33, ULL had 24 and ULM had 13.
South Alabama Basketball Fan Day On Wednesday
Come out and meet Head Basketball Coaches Ronnie Arrow and Rick Pietri and the rest of the Jaguar Basketball teams for Fan Day on Wednesday, October 24th from 5-7 p.m.
The event will take place on the main floor of the Mitchell Center. This event will feature an autograph session with the coaches and players so we encourage all fans to bring memorabilia to be signed and cameras for pictures of your favorite Jaguar players, SouthPaw and the Jaguar Cheerleaders. The USA Dance Team “the Prowlers” will also be performing.
This is a FREE event and open to the public. Parking is also free and available at the Mitchell Center in the south lot off of Old Shell Road. “Select your seats” for the 2012-13 Jaguar Basketball season as the Athletic Ticket Office will be on-site with information on Season Tickets, Flex Plans, Group Outings and Individual Game Tickets.
The 2012-13 Men’s and Women’s basketball teams will be introduced and they will participate in free throw, three point shooting and dunk contests versus our very own USA student organizations.
Immediately following Fan Day the South Alabama Volleyball team will be in action versus Jackson State at 7 p.m. in Jag Gym.
Go Jags!
Jags Rubit And Conner Earn Preseason Honors From Yahoo! Sports
South Alabama’s Augustine Rubit and Dre Conner earned pre-season honors from Yahoo! Sports.
Rubit was named to the First Team All-Sun Belt team. He is a junior from Houston, Texas and coming off his sophomore season where he averaged 15.2 ppg and 9.2 rebounds per game. His rebounding average led the conference for the second consecutive year. Also his 12 double-doubles last season also led the conference.
Conner was named Newcomer of the Year. He is a junior college transfer from Labette community college in Lauderhill, Florida.
Additionally, Yahoo! Sports selected the Jaguars to finish second in the East Division behind defending conference champion Middle Tennessee State.
Men’s BBall To Play In Coaches Vs Cancer; Coach Pietri Pleased With Beginning Of Women’s Practices
Some dates have been set for the South Alabama men’s basketball team. The Jags will be participating in the 2012 Coaches vs. Cancer Classic as announced by the National Association of Basketball Coaches and American Cancer Society announced this week.
The four regional hosts will be BYU, Florida State, Notre Dame and Saint Joesph’s beginning on November 9. The championship rounds will be held on November 16-17 in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The Jags will open the season at regional host Florida State on November 9. They will then host William Carey before traveling to Atlanta for three sub-regional games where they will face Tennessee State on November 19th at 3pm CST. They will then face Monmouth on November 20th at 3pm CST and finally the Jags will take on Georgia State to close out the three-day tournament on November 21st at 2pm CST.
Tennessee State returns four starters from last season where they won 20 games and finished second in the Ohio Valley Conference. Monmouth had a 12-20 record last season but went 10-8 in the Northeast Conference. Georgia State went 22-12 last season but lost four starters and seven letterwinners.
Lady Jaguars
Coach Rick Pietri is pleased with the progress the Lady Jaguar basketball team has done so far as they have begun practices for the 2012-2013 season.
“I think our first two practices have been good,” Pietri said. “It appears that from top to bottom this group is in good shape from a conditioning standpoint. I believe for the first time since I have been here, we were able to go five-on-five in our closing segments the other day. We’ve shown some promise in terms of things that we could be capable of doing on the offensive end of the floor. We haven’t even talked about defense yet as a team, but we’ll do that towards the end of the week. I do like what I’ve seen from both the veterans and newcomers and after two days of practice, I’m encouraged, but of course there’s a long way to go.”
Men’s Basketball Announces 2012-2013 Schedule
South Alabama Men’s Basketball released their 2012-2013 season schedule on Tuesday. In addition to the Sun Belt schedule, they have some good non-conference games.
The Jags will open with a game at Florida State on November 9 before returning home to face William Carey on November 14.
They will then have the Coaches vs Cancer Classic in Atlanta, Georgia on November 19-21. After a two game road trip to FAU and FIU, they return home to host New Mexico State on December 4. They then travel to Birmingham to face UAB on December 8. Then return back home to Mobile to face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi before leaping fully into the Sun Belt Conference schedule.
The Sun Belt conference Tournament will be held March 8 – 11 in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
View the full schedule here.
Men’s Basketball Adds Two Transfers
South Alabama Men’s Basketball team picked up two late transfers. Jeremy Jones and Dionte Ferguson have enrolled at South Alabama and will join the basketball program head basketball coach Ronnie Arrow announced on Wednesday.
Since both transfer from Division I schools, they will have to sit out the 2012-2013 season and will be eligibile the next season.
Jones transfers to USA from Kansas State, where he played for one season and will have one year of eligibility remaining. He is a 6’2″ guard from Chicago. He averaged 3.1 points in 20 games last season for Kansas State.
As a member of Seward County Community College in 2010-2011, Jones led them to a 27-7 record and a runner-up finish in the Region VI tournament. He averaged 18.6 points and 4.5 assists in 34 games to lead the team. He was honored as part of the Third Team NJCAA All-American and First Team All-Region VI honors.
“Jeremy was a very good player at Seward and we recruited him pretty hard,” head coach Ronnie Arrow stated. “He decided he wanted to go to a large school like Kansas State, but I don’t think he would have been as interested in us now if we didn’t recruit him so hard. He only has one year left so he can sit this year, practice with us every day and learn our system. Next year, we graduate we three players so it’s a good time for a player his size to come here.”
Ferguson transfers from Morehead State after two seasons and will have two seasons of eligibility left. Ferguson, a native of Prattville, stands 6’7″ tall. He played in 37 games in two seasons at Morehead State and averaged 1.2 points per game. “After talking with Morehead State’s coaching staff, Dionte is a player they would like to have stayed, but he wanted to get closer to home,” Arrow said. “He’s a strong player that can get physical. He’s mostly a ‘4’ player that can go outside, but he’s an athlete and strong. We feel like, after spending a year getting to know our system, he has a really good chance of coming in and playing a lot the next two years.”
Jaguar Men’s Basketball To Hold Public Scrimmage On Friday
The USA Men’s Basketball team will hold a public intrasquad scrimmage on Friday afternoon. The scrimmage will be held at the Striplin Practice Facility next to the Mitchell Center.
The scrimmage will begin at 4pm.
This is the teams final prep before they begin a preseason exhibition tour through Canada. They are scheduled to play three games next week against Canadian universities.
Go Jags!
Jags Basketball Prepping For Canadian Tour
A Frustrated Coach Arrow sheds his coat.
The Jaguar basketball team is gearing up for its summer exhibition tour through Canada. While preparing for this trip, Coach Arrow knew a few things must be addressed from last season. Last year’s Men’s basketball team ranked near the bottom of the SBC in the assist/turnover ratio and in turnover margin.
But with the experience of returning seniors Trey Anderson and Wendell Wright to help steer their new teammates Dre Connor and Barrington Stevens, Coach Arrow believes this team will be better. Anderson finished sixth in the conference in assists per game.
Coach Arrow has plans to help improve ball security. He is utilizing basic drills with high-pressure, game-like conditions with pressing defensive intensity to help ready them for game time.
“It doesn’t do you any good to dribble and pass with nobody on you—you have to do it with ‘heat’ on you to be able to fully develop those skills,” Arrow said. “We’ve tried to put as much pressure on those guards as we can. Today we’ll start working on our presses and working full court, which will enable them to not only do it in half-court situations, but in full court, with double teams and making decisions in the full 94 feet.”
Connor is a JuCo transfer while Stevens is a freshman. The third new member of the backcourt is Junior transfer Antoine Allen. He is formerly from Miami and will give the Jags an additional outside shot threat. “Antoine is further ahead than the other two guards,” Arrow commented. “I think a lot of it has to do with strength. He’s a lot stronger than they are and he’s able to maneuver and get open better because of that strength factor. He’s played at a higher level than they did at Miami. All of those things combined have allowed him to be further ahead than those two.”
The Jags will continue to work throughout the week before opening their exhibition tour on August 13 against Windsor.
South Alabama Recruiting Rankings
Jags ranked 3rd in SBC
South Alabama has made it into the 247sports recruiting ranking list this season. Currently the Jaguars are ranked third in the Sun Belt Conference however it does not reflect some of the latest verbal commitments.
While the Jags recently received their 14th verbal commitment, 247Sports only has eight total commits. The Jags are tied with FIU with six three-star commits.
Overall, the Jags are currently ranked the 80th best recruiting class based on those eight commits. Just to give you an idea who is ranked just above the Jags and within striking distance in the recruiting race, the notable programs are: Stanford 78, Tulsa 77, Boise State 75, Oregon 72 and Arizona State 70.
Lamb possible AJC “Super 11”
Georgia is a fertile recruiting ground and the Jags have a number of commits from the state. Each year the Atlanta Journal Constitution lists their “Super 11” recruits from the state. They have narrowed down the list to 33 and the Jags have one of their recruits in that list. Quarterback Taylor Lamb from Calhoun is one of six quarterbacks on the list. He led the state with 3,638 yards for his Class AA championship team last season.