The plan was for Coach William ‘Almost Famous’ Miller’s team to rely on their experienced but undersized team to show they belonged in the big time of college basketball in Division One.  The Elon Phoenix want to rise from the lower ranks of college basketball into the elite category of the new Big South.  They, like their brethren just up the road in High Point, were late invitees to the party in the Big South.  They were the last to get in after fellow Carolinian program Campbell decided to leave and join the TransAmerican Conference.  NC-Greesnboro was the presumed 8th team but when Campbell left the league decided (some say the teams that are connected at the hip in four straight leagues they have been in together forced the issue telling the league they would not join unless it was a dual invite) to invite the two, the Phoenix and the Panthers.  Now with all of this experience coming back, including a true superstar, will the Phoenix actually not only but be able to compete in their new world. 

Senior Jesse Branson is the best good player on a bad team in the country.  Branson is a gifted forward who can do it all.  He is tough and has size (6’7 195) to get the job inside and has put up some ridiculous stats at lower levels.  Branson can also jump to the moon and is a terrific board man.  He was once bet by one of his teammates he could not touch the top of the backboard.  Well let’s just say he won that bet!  Yep he can flat fly.  He also has a nice touch up to 18 feet and he loves to post up and score.  He understands the game well but is truly competitive as heck.   Obviously the difference in jumping levels in college is much harder and playing against Len Chappell and Cornbread Maxwell will be one huge step up.  Branson will not be able to rely on his athleticism completely and in the D-1 his size will not matter much.  Still, this kid is a stud and he should be able to dominate the Big South as easily as he has done other levels for years!     

Junior point guard Tommy Cole might be as good as Branson but does not get near the recognition which is like saying one local politician gets more write-ups in the local newspaper than another.  Unless you live there, you would never know.  Cole led the offense and did a good job of it, though in reality he is a scoring point guard.  A good passer and shooter, Cole sometimes gets outquicked on the court.  He plays hard and plays smart.  Branson is without question the best player ever at Elon but Cole is by far the second best and he is the point guard and team leader.  The Coat kids (both are from Burlington, North Carolina) are a pair of the best post/point combos in the country.  Cole is just the kind of guy who will step up to the plate and hit a home run.  He wants the ball at the end of games. 

The Christians er Phoenix (yes they changed their nickname from the Christians before the season when they moved up to D-1) have several other players who can flat play, at least in the NAIA.  Senior Henry Goedick does a solid job up front.  He is undersized but bangs hard and will score when up close. He is not big enough to bang inside at this level but has a good mid-range game that should keep him in the starting lineup.   Sophomore Lee Allison and Junior Diffy Ross also do a solid job at forward rotating in.  Ross has one year left and one will eventually take Branson’s spot supposedly.  Allison is already pushing Gedrick for the starting role.  Neither is a go to guy but both can score and board.  Seniors Ed Juratic, Bill Bowes and Dewey Andrew as well as Junior Larry Trautwein are battling for the starting center position but none of them have the size needed at the D-1 level.  Bowes and Trautwein are the favorites but Coach Miller (who they shall call Bill from henceforth) could go with any of them or some new blood as he has recruited well including some brothers from Chicago of all places.  This group gives the Phoenix some depth up front but none of these guys are getting confused with Sam Perkins.  

The backcourt does not have the depth that the front court does and outside of Cole no one knows for sure who is going to be on the court.  Senior Dee Atkinson is one of the carryovers that Miller will put all of his chips in with.  He is a gamer and was productive in his wing role but like most of the Phoenix it is questionable if he is up to snuff athletically for the new world.  Fellow senior Ben Kendall and junior Wayne Ellington are in the mix for minutes as well but neither is exactly David Thompson athletically but then again who is?  Sophomore Drew Van Horn is the most athletic of the returning perimeter guys and has a good shot of starting next to Cole if he is not surpassed by some of the new recruits.  Miller will rely more on scheme more than talent as he always has done.  Miller is famous for pacing up and down the sidelines and making sure everyone knows what he wants done on the court and his discipline.  He is loyal to his Upperclassmen to a fault and the tranition this program is going to have to make to even get on the porch with the Big Dogs.  

The Elon Phoenix might just be one of the worst teams in college basketball this season.  That is unless the blustery Coach who stalks the sidelines has got some tricks up his sleeve?  Or can recruit about five more guys who can touch the top of the backboard and have the heart of a lion!  There are a couple of returning studs who can play with just about anyone even in the Carolinas but even those two have never been up against D-1 talent on a regular basis!  The Phoenix are entering a whole new world and though they have been a program for a very long time this little school, located right in the middle of the powerhouse programs from the ACC, might have bitten off more than they can chew.  This private University with less than 7000 students might use fellow Carolinians Davidson University as the template of how to build a program at the D-1 level without the resources of those major Universities.  Miller might not be Lefty Driesell but the Phoenix do understand what they are up against and are going to be patient building this program.  Of course, with Jesse Branson and Tommy Cole leading the way anything is possible and I would not count out the Phoenix indeed rising to the top of the Big South this year!