Senior guard Dirk Williams dunks the ball during the dunking contest at Hoops on the Green. Photo by Giani Martin
Jack Ryan – Staff Writer
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The fifth annual “Hoops on the Green” held on Thursday, Oct. 13 officially launched the 2016-17 season for the men’s and women’s basketball teams. The event introduced fans to the new players and to Robert Ehsan, first year head coach for men’s basketball.
Here is a breakdown and preview of what to expect from the teams this year:
Women’s Basketball
Randy Norton is in his fourth season as the head coach of the team. He comes into this season with an overall record of 49-44 in his previous three years at UAB. This year will be the first season in which all players on the team were recruited by him and his staff. This recruiting class includes seven freshmen.
Offense
The Blazers will have to make up for the losses of this past year’s graduating class. Chelsee Black finished her career in 16th place for all-time scoring at UAB, the 28th player to eclipse the 1,000 career points mark. Inside, the Blazers lost a prominent rebounder and goal scorer in Brittany Windborne.
To fill some of these scoring roles, Norton will rely on sophomore guard Deanna Kuzmanic, who hit 74 3-pointers last season to put her at sixth all-time in a single season. Her 3-point percentage, .349, was second in the league for freshmen.
The freshman class will also look to fill some of these roles. Rachael Childress had an outstanding performance in the 3-point contest. In the final round, she hit 12 shots to beat Nick Norton. Another addition, Micah Scheetz, was named Miss Basketball for the state of Tennessee.
On the interior, the freshmen will add some height with Bailee Wolfe, who is coming off of a red-shirt season. Wolfe stands a lengthy 6 foot 3 inches and will have the responsibility of helping to grab rebounds. In high school, she led her team in rebounds per game.
Also added to the roster is Katelynn Thomas from Shades Valley High School. She was ranked as the No. 7 player in the state of Alabama and helped lead Shades Valley to a 6A state championship.
Defense
The Blazers led all of Conference USA last season in scoring defense at 57.2 points per game. They held opponents to just 1,774 points in the 2015-16 season, the fourth lowest of any team in UAB history. The Blazers will have to fill the shoes of Brittany Windborne, who had 43 blocks last season.
The added size of the freshmen, two 6-foot players and a 6-foot-2 player, along with Wolfe, will help give the Blazers size inside.
Men’s Basketball
This season will see the introduction of new Head Coach Robert Ehsan, who was promoted from associate head coach during the off-season when Jerod Haase left UAB to take the head coaching job at Stanford. The Blazers are coming off of a strong, record-breaking season. Some of those records include having the most wins in a season at 26, the longest consecutive winning streak at 14, 16 C-USA wins and 10 C-USA road wins. The Blazers earned the 2016 C-USA regular-season championship and the school’s 12th appearance in the National Invitational Tournament.
Offense
The Blazers lost their lone senior, Robert Brown, last season but will retain a majority of the line-up. Brown led the team in 3-point field goal percentage and scoring. However, Norton is returning. He had a strong performance in the 3-point contest, going to the final round before losing to Childress. Norton led the team in assists last year with 162 to only 54 turnovers.
UAB added two freshmen during the offseason: Javien Williams (6-4 guard) and Nate Darling (another 6-4 guard) as well as adding Deion Lavender who sat out after transferring last season. Williams led Woodlawn High School to the 2016 sub-regional rounds in the state playoffs while averaging 24.2 points per game. Darling scored 50 points in the Under-17 National Finals for Nova Scotia. He has the ability to hit threes and drive in the lane. Lavender shot 43 percent from the field in his one season at Southern Illinois University.
Defense
The Blazers will return their main defensive star, dubbed the “Mayor of Blockingham,” William Lee. Lee was named the 2016 Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year. He amassed 95 blocked shots last year, the second most all time in UAB’s history for a single season. He averaged 2.9 blocks per game, which put him second in C-USA and eighth overall in the country. He collected a career high eight blocks in the win over FAU. He was also the team’s second leading rebounder.
The men’s first game is Nov. 3 in Bartow Arena against Lindenwood at 7:30 p.m. The women’s first game is also Nov. 3 in Bartow Arena against Tuskegee at 5 p.m.
Editor’s Note: All statistics are from UABsports.com.
