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Bearcats open Saturday in Burkhamer’s Lander debut

Coach Jeff Burkhamer

GREENWOOD – New Lander men’s basketball coach Jeff Burkhamer led Armstrong Atlantic State to the NCAA Division II Tournament four of his last six years there and hopes to bring the Bearcats the same kind of success.

When Lander opens the 2009-2010 season Saturday at Anderson University, it will have seven returning players, six college transfers, and only one freshman. Burkhamer is counting on the fact that 13 of the 14 Bearcats have college experience, including some who have played Division I basketball.

Lander’s home opener is Nov. 24 against Wingate, and the Peach Belt Conference schedule starts Dec. 20 when the Bearcats visit UNC Pembroke.

“The Peach Belt is a Division I league at the Division II level,” Burkhamer says. “It’s a league of a lot of junior college players, Division I transfers, and a lot of guys taking advantage of second opportunities. It has good coaches, good players, and you have to be prepared to play every night.”

Returning players for Lander include seniors Dane Sparrow (Matthews, N.C.), Greg Smalls (Charleston, S.C.) and Darius Johnson (Dunwoody, Ga.) at the wing position, seniors Curtis Milner (Clover, S.C.) and Brenton Harris (Hephzibah, Ga.) in the post, sophomore wing Kevin Kelley (Holly Springs, N.C.), and sophomore post Jacob Mochoskay (Crestline, Ohio).

Three of the players Burkhamer added ¬- senior posts Antonio Pope (Savannah, Ga., Southeastern Louisiana) and Roy Hinson III (Sanford, Fla., Gardner-Webb) and junior point guard Tovi Bailey (Villa Rica, Ga., Charleston Southern) - have Division I experience.

Point guards Deangelo Spruill (Raleigh, N.C., North Carolina Central) and Da’Shon Barrino (East Orange, N.J., Jacksonville Community College) and post Antonio Young (Detroit, Clinton Junior College) are all juniors with collegiate experience. Wing Casey Love (Wellston, Ohio) is the team’s only freshman.

Burkhamer says it has been a challenge blending the seven returning Bearcats with seven newcomers.

“It is an interesting mix,” he said. “That was one of my biggest concerns was what kind of chemistry can we create? The great thing is it hasn’t been a problem. They have really done a good job of mingling and being together. We put them in the same living area. We worked with our housing folks to get them in the same building where the guys are hanging out together a little more. They are really depending on each other.”

Burkhamer became only the fourth head men’s basketball coach in Lander history when he was hired on March 26, 2009, to replace Bruce Evans, who is now an assistant coach at Division I North Florida.

For the previous seven years, Burkhamer led Peach Belt Conference rival Armstrong Atlantic to a 134-73 record, including a 23-7 mark in 2008-09. His overall 12-year head coaching record, including stops at Santa Fe Community College (Gainesville, Fla.) and North Greenville College, is 289-114.

“We want to build a quality program,” Burkhamer said. “We want to get the right type of kids, the right type of players, the right type of students, and take those guys and somehow form a good basketball team that has a chance to win. We do want to win more than they’ve won here in the past. We are going to find a way to compete hard and hopefully get to the top of the Peach Belt and play in the NCAA Tournament.”

After so much success at Armstrong Atlantic, including a trip to the NCAA Tournament back in March, Burkhamer is excited about the new challenge.

“I wouldn’t have made the move (to Lander) if I didn’t think this was the right thing to do,” said Burkhamer, who was the National Junior College Coach of the Year in 1995-96 at Santa Fe. “We had a really good program at Armstrong. There are a lot great people there and a lot of good memories. But I just felt like the commitment here was even greater, scholarship-wise, the commitment to winning.

“I know we have an athletic director (Jeff May) who is a basketball guy who wants us to win and will give us every chance possible to be successful. We have a president (Dr. Daniel Ball) whose kids have played college athletics and appreciates success on the court or on the field. I just felt like this was the right place for me to be and try to take on a new challenge.”

While the Bearcats were only 12-16 last season, Burkhamer hopes to make immediate improvements. He has spread around a couple of mottos he wants the team to live by, “Prepare to Win in 2010” and “Bearcats Believe.”

“Prepare to Win is just something that I’ve really liked,” he said. “It’s good whether it be for games, practice, class, business, you have to be prepared to have a chance to win. You have to do your homework. Do your work ahead of time whether it be in drills, the film room, the library, wherever you may be.”

Bearcats Believe is “an attitude that we have to create here where we are going to believe in what we are doing,” the coach added. “We have to get them to believe in what we are doing which may be different from what they did in junior college or in high school or even here in the past year.”

Lander’s leading scorer last season, Houston Wright, who averaged 13.4 points per game, has graduated. The leading returning scorer is now Sparrow, who is among seven returning players who Burkhamer will count on “because they have been through the league. They know what’s coming. They know how good the conference is.”

Sparrow averaged nine points per game as a freshman, coming on strong down the stretch to help Lander make its third NCAA Tournament appearance in program history in 2007.

“Dane Sparrow had a great freshman year,” Burkhamer said. “He had okay sophomore and junior seasons. But we’ve got to get him to where he is playing up to his potential again.”

Burkhamer is looking forward to seeing the other returning players as well.

“I think Greg Smalls has really gotten better,” he said. “He’s shooting the ball better, he’s athletic, and he fits into the style that we want to play. I think he should have a very good year.

“Brenton Harris is a warrior. He is a guy who is going to give you everything he’s got every night out. He is an undersized post guy who will fight you, and we need his toughness and intensity down inside.”

Milner, an important presence inside at 6-foot-7, missed the latter portion of last season due to injury.

“Curtis Milner has gotten much better with his conditioning,” Burkhamer said. “His leg is getting stronger. I think he has been a surprise to me that he’s come around this quickly. But he’s another big, strong kid inside who can help us.”

Kelley and Mochoskay are returning sophomores who have 3-point potential.

“Kip Kelley can really shoot it. We have to create situations where he can catch and shoot. Jake Mochoskay is a kid who really came on late in the season. He’s a really good face-up post player who can shoot the ball.”

Johnson offers diversity, Burkhamer said.

“Darius Johnson is a big, strong, tough kid, a guy that can help us in various positions. I think we can post him up from the wing spot. He can rebound and is a big guy who can guard. All seven of our returning players have opportunities to play and contribute.”

The transfers are also expected to contribute right away with Pope, Young and Hinson joining Harris and Milner in the post.

“Antonio Pope is about 6-foot-8, real athletic. He’s a kid from Savannah that I’ve known for years now. We were able to get Antonio after he graduated from Southeastern Louisiana. He still has a year of eligibility left. He plays above the rim, can run and jump, and we need to use his athletic ability.

“Antonio Young is another big, strong kid inside. He is probably still learning how to play even though he is the oldest guy on our team. He is a bull inside, a big, strong tough kid who can help us in the post, on the glass, and defensively.”

Hinson is the son of former NBA player Roy Hinson, who once averaged more than 19 points per game with the Cleveland Cavaliers and scored more than 7,000 points in his NBA career.

“Roy has great pedigree with his dad having played in the NBA for a number of years. Roy has been a little bit of a surprise. He has grown a little bit. He’s probably 6-7, close to 6-8, is left-handed, can face up and shoot the 3 and also feels comfortable down inside. He is a pretty skilled big guy who can do a variety of things.”

Bailey is a potential starter at point guard, having played that position against Division I teams like Cincinnati, Virginia Tech and Florida State while at Charleston Southern last year.

“Tovi Bailey is not going to be intimidated in the Peach Belt. He is a bigger point guard, quick, athletic, can handle it, can score. We feel like he can be a really good point guard in our conference.”

Barrino and Spruill are two more who can challenge Bailey for playing time.

“Da’Shon Barrino is a left-handed point guard who can really push the ball, get in the lane and create, and can shoot it. Deanglo Spruill has been out of basketball for a couple of years but has a chance to be a really good player in our league. He is quick and athletic. I like getting him up the floor and letting him create.”

At 6-foot-9, Love is listed as Lander’s tallest player.

“Casey Love is our only freshman. Casey is a kid that I have known since he was about 7 or 8 years old. He came up through our camps and did all kinds of ball-handling shows. He was a 6-9 point guard in high school. We won’t play him at point guard in college, but he handles the ball well, shoots the ball well, but he’s got to get bigger and stronger and get accustomed to the physicality of college basketball. Skill-wise, he has what he needs.”

With the mesh of returning players and transfers, Burkhamer said it will take time to settle on a starting lineup.

“We are going to play to our strengths,” he said. “I had teams in my first couple of years at Armstrong where we were more of a ball control, use-the-clock kind of team offensively, and played a lot of zone. The reason we did that was we didn’t have as many good players and we wanted to make the game shorter. As we went along, we got better players and became one of the higher scoring teams in the league, and we pressed and trapped defensively.”

With so many unknowns entering the season, the Bearcats will be a difficult team to predict. But Burkhamer hopes the team can perform well in 2009-2010 and build toward being a perennial Peach Belt contender in future years.