The Georgia Southern Eagles have a solid team and will compete to be with the elite of the Atlantic Sun Conference.  Legendary Coach J.B. Scearce had the unenviable task of moving this proud basketball factory from a NAIA Giant into a Division One contender.  Doing this means bringing in new talent that can compete at this level.  It also means saying goodbye to some of the greats who have made this program the champion that it was.  Ultimately that included himself!  You see Scearce never really wanted to move on up but the powers to be said it was time (and it was) and pushed the Eagles upwards.  This process has been slow and painful.  Turning over a program is not easy to do as Scearce found out especially since they are not getting the recruits of some of their opponents.  Scearce was a bit too loyal to the players who made him a legend in NAIA and was unwilling to bring in the kind of talent this level requires even in this low-ranked league.  They do not have the kind of size that some of the other teams in the conference did and that has hurt them.  That will get only worse this year with Jacksonville back in the fold.   The Eagles hired Coach Frank Kerns to take over for Scearce and he had promised change quickly and will beating the bushes of junior colleges trying to find some players. Coach Kerns did not have enough time in the off season to go out and get a lot of four year kids to build for the future but he did get more juco kids than some of the jucos have themselves.  He also got the programs’ first seven footer.  Kerns will try to implement his new kids into the rotation quickly but he will have to rely some of the veterans Scearce for at least a little while.  And it is not likes these kids are chopped liver. 

Leading the way is one heck of a big man down low and legendary around these parts.  Coach Kerns will start the year with senior Chester Webb as his starting center once again.  Webb is (or was) the man in Statesboro as he has led the team in scoring and rebounding for the last three years.  This small town kid (Elberton Georgia) averaged almost 9 a game and this big man loves the caroms off the glass.  He is only 6’7 180 pounds so he relies on technique and toughness to get those boards but of course that only goes so far as last year can attest.  Webb went down three quarters of the way through the year with back spasms and his stats were down considerably from the year before.  Kerns had a hard time replacing him on the court as this team is vertically challenged but it did allow some underclassmen to show their potential.  Webb was leading the team in scoring (he led Johnny Mills by less than a point a game) but was losing minutes up front when he went down with the season ending injury.  He is still going to start but unless he gets thicker his minutes will continue to reduce.   

The player who took most advantage of Webb’s injury was Sophomore Jeff Sanders. Sanders may not be a seven footer but he is becoming a dominant force in the paint.  This master of the game came from Augusta as a project and started slow last year.  He did not even start as Webb was definitely the number one low post option on the Eagles.  Sanders worked hard in the weight room and has grown into his six eight frame and is now 220 pounds.  Kerns saw his potential and put him into the starting lineup once Webb went down.  He started slow as he still ceded too often to others offensively.  Some switch clicked in a game against Samford as he exploded for 18 pts and 11 boards while blocking 4 shots.  From then on this became Sander’s team at least inside the paint.  Sanders has the size and strength to get the position he wants on the blocks and he knows what to do when he gets the ball.  He is the best defensive player up front on the Eagles by far and could be the best low option in the league that is not seven foot tall.  It is a small sample size but ‘Jazzy J’ has the size and demeanor to be something special.   

Kerns went to his bench early on to find a guy who could play next to Webb at the post and might have found an undersized gem.  Junior Kevin Anderson really came on strong the second half with Webb gone.  He established himself as a solid option underneath and averaged over 12 and 7 the last 12 games.  He had been stuck behind Webb and Scotty Perkins for two years but showed he has some game.  A terrific athlete who can jump to the moon and is a fantastic board guy the one down side to Anderson’s game is his height as he only goes about six five.  He makes up for it with great positioning and passion to go and get the ball down low.  Still, Anderson has a chance to be good especially if he keeps improving as much as he did this season.  But Kerns still wishes he was bigger.  None of those aforementioned old school guys is any bigger though.  Perkins will have to fight to regain minutes though he was once a great number two for the Blue Tide er Professors before this school entered the big time.  Whitey Verstaete, Bo Warren and Sonny Clements are also former NAIA studs who’s game has not translated over to the D-1 level and will be deep on the bench this year if they even make the team especially with all of the juco kids Kerns is bringing in including that seven footer with the same name as the top rusher in NFL history who is from just up the road in Pensacola. One guy who will for sure help is returning home just like Gilmore is in Jacksonville.  Senior to be Williams Pickens is coming back for a second tour of duty with the Eagles after leaving to play for Stetson for a year (man this portal thing is crazy).  Pickens is big (6’9 245) and rough and knows how to play in the paint.  This Rochester New York product will battle for a starting position as he might be the best big man on the roster.  Of course he will have to earn back his stripes after leaving for a rival team but he did lead this program to it’s biggest success in the NAIA days as he was the key player on the Eagles national final team.  Anyone else probably would not have been welcomed back but Pickens has a little cred with the fans after that run though I am sure he will hear it from some of the 4500 who frequent Hanner Fieldhouse on a regular basis.  The Eagles need him to be not just as good but better than he was when he played here the first time!  Sophomore John Fowler is another Eagle with size.  This 6’9 kid got moved up from JV when Webb went down and did not do well.  He has some game as he was the best inside player on the JV by a mile but needs to wrap his head around playing against bigger, stronger players.  

The wing situation for the Eagles is in much better hands. Or at least deeper as Kerns will have a slew of similar type players battling for playing time.  Seniors Fran Florian, Jimmy Rose and Chester Curry have had solid careers in Statesboro and were mainstays on the team in the NAIA days.  All three can score and Rose hit some huge shots for this program in the old days (his 14 footer got the team to the finals).  None of these guys are the athlete of some of the other wings on the roster but will battle for minutes once again though if last year was an indication they are in trouble moving ‘forward’ and that was with the guy who recruited them coaching them. Three juniors are the favorites to get the majority of minutes and are almost clones of each other.  Junior Johnny Mills is the returning starter here and can really light it up but is undisciplined and a defensive liability.  He is 6’5 and was second on the team in scoring and started most of the year but you get the feeling Kerns would like to replace him in the starting lineup.  Fellow junior Richard Wallace is also 6’5 and can pass and score but is not physical.  He is much better suited coming off the bench as a swing guard or as he did some last year as a big point guard.  He can board and score but turns the ball over too much for the point though his assist average per minute was outstanding.  Perry Warbington is a true talent (on and off the court) who transferred in and looked like he could be the real deal.  He only played a few games as he got involved in a custody situation with a major political figure’s wife and left the team.  Too bad because Warbington can flat play as he can score almost as well as he passes and has the size and quickness to defend other point guards.  He obviously has some charisma as well but keep him away from Philly or the ATL.    Another junior, Matt Simpkins, also got some limited minutes at the small forward and did ok but is a project though he has unreal athleticism.  Simpkins too is 6’5 and dominated the JV squad averaging over 15 and 6 a game and can swing a bit more than then the other two and is better defensively.  Kerns likes to rotate as many guys in as he can to keep his press active and to keep guys fresh and as stated he could move any of these guys from the two to three or even four depending on matchups. 

Speaking of defense, without question the hardest working Eagle is wing man Michael Curry.  Curry is a stud.  He can fly when he finishes a dunk.  He also is a great defender.  He uses his athleticism to muscle players but is also quick and also impossible to get rid of when he is guarding you.  He has the type of tenacity that coaches loves and is tough.  He did not begin the year starting as he was a super sub playing multiple positions but Kerns had to get him on the court and he moved guys around to accommodate his game.  Kerns would rotate others depending on the matchup and play Curry at the two or three depending on who he needed to shut down.  He showed a little offense this year but defense is his forte.  He is the best shut down defender in the league and he is damn flexible.   Curry is also an Augusta native and came down here with something to prove.  Most recruiters said he could not hit the bottom of the basket if he got to shoot tennis balls all day.  Well that is just the kind of motivation this kid needed and though he does not score much (he is unselfish to a fault) he can hit the open jumper.  Of course he can finish but his best attribute is his leadership.  A very intelligent kid he was voted team captain as a Sophomore by his teammates and loves having that kind of responsibility.  He also takes the responsibility of guarding the best player on the opposite team no matter what position they play from the 1 to the 4.  He understands this game well and seems to soak up everything Kerns throws at him like a sponge.  He might not get the headlines Sanders gets but he is probably the best all-around player on the team and as Gwen says no doubt has the brightest future.  Curry might not ever be a household name but there is not a coach in the TAAC that would not love to have this kid on their team.  

The point guard situation is much less settled going into the season with some young recruits (primarily a JC stud) doing battle with some carryover studs who had helped put this program on the map.  Senior Don Waller is the incumbent and this kid knows the game but he is limited (to say the least) athletically.  He can pass and score some but his best attribute is knowing the game.  Junior Tommy Bond is in the mix but is not much better athletically and has never started a game here.  Kerns almost for sure will find somebody new to start here as he recruited heavily at this position knowing it was a huge need.  Junior to be Parry Warbington might be the answer as he brings much higher level talent than anyone Statesboro has ever seen but he does have some off the field issues that might carry over from his JC days at Gateway College in Florida. His talent is worth the risk however! 

The bench for the Eagle had the same kind of issues as the starters.  They tried but had real issues matching up with bigger and more athletic players.  The aforementioned Mills is a good scorer from the wing but cannot guard anyone especially down low and has trouble with bigger forwards.  They are terrific tweener forwards but got stuck playing against guys way bigger as Kerns had to try and find somebody to fill the gap that Webb’s injury created.  

The Georgia Southern Eagles are not the best program in the country.  Heck they are not even the best program in their conference which is not exactly the SEC.   They do have some good players with heart and the determination to make this program a real contender if they buy into the new coach’s philosophy and all of these new kids gel quickly.  It is not easy transitioning from NAIA to Division One as legendary coach JB Scearce found out.  Will the Eagles be able to take the next step up the TransAm er A-SUN ladder with a style of play that their Coach has injected that relies on pressure and shooting threes?  Will all of these JC kids and freshman blend together?  Will the carryover studs from the NAIA glory days find roles and keep any of their playing time?  Who knows especially since this team is on the prowl to jump to another conference as soon as they can and with their success in football some of these larger conferences are welcoming the Eagles with open arms.  Coach Frank Kerns is the right man for the job and the Eagles might be flying high sooner than one might think.  After all you only have to shoot 40% from behind the arc to equal a 60% shooter in the lane.  Of course that is easier said then done as the Eagles found out this year.  And as Luke found out this year Idols do not grow on trees even in the Peach State!