Vols Basketball Preseason Preview

Photos by Mike Brown Sports Photography

Vols Look To Replace All 5 Starters

Luke McKenzie, last year’s leading scorer, a 1,000-point career scorer and one of the best players in program history is gone. Same goes for his frontcourt mates Kaleb Prather and Brayden Frazier. Alex Hunley is also gone. All four graduated. And, Brennan Frazier, who started every game at point guard a year ago, transferred.

Starkville Academy’s entire starting five from a year ago has vanished. Poof. Throw in the graduation of six more seniors and some opt-outs, and the Vols return just five players from last year’s 21-man varsity roster as they embark on a new season.

SA hosts Jackson Academy tonight in the season opener for both teams. Needless to say, the Vols, like the Lady Vols, will have entirely different look than a year ago.

“It seems like as soon as I was saying hello to all those guys, I was saying goodbye,” bemoaned SA coach Mark Alexander, who returned to Stark Vegas a year ago to begin his second stint with the Vols. “We are basically starting over from scratch this year. I don’t ever recall being in a situation where I had to replace all five starters. But, like they say, it is what it is. Our school policy here is we don’t recruit, there’s no portal or NIL like there is in college, so it’s not like we can just go out and bring in a new starting five seemingly every year like some schools do. I really like the guys I have, we’re just going to be extremely young, inexperienced and small compared to last year.”

SA enjoyed a turnaround season a year ago, finishing 17-9 overall, 5-5 in district play. The Vols won 10 straight at one point, despite shooting 48 percent from the free throw line, 18 percent from 3-point range and committing 20-plus turnovers per game. It wasn’t always pretty on the offensive end, but it proved effective.

SA won more than its fair share of close games, too. The Vols rallied from 11 down in the fourth quarter to beat Lamar, beat Choctaw County in overtime after trailing by 10 points with two minutes remaining in regulation, won by three on the road at Wayne, etc.

Speaking of close games, Alexander has been involved in a lot of them in his four years coaching at SA. In the two winning seasons, including last year, the Vols won 17 games in each for a total of 34 wins – 23 of those 34 wins were decided by five points or less, including a handful of overtime games (one triple OT). The Vols are 19-4 in those games dating back to his first stint.

“That’s how thin the margin of victory vs. defeat is a lot of times at a program like ours,” Alexander said. “You have to have a little good fortune . . . things have to go your way at the end of games . . . but at the same time those guys last year hustled and played so hard they made it happen. I can’t tell you how many times we had a different guy step up and make a key basket, a key steal, a key block, late that allowed us to win games. That’s a true testament to those guys and their competitiveness. We’re going to miss them for sure.”

Defensively, SA allowed only 39 points per game in its 17 wins.

“That’s one of my biggest concerns this year, our defense,” Alexander said. “That, and defensive rebounding. We had so much size inside last year with Luke, Kaleb, Brayden and (Chandler) Wax off the bench . . . those guys were all 6-4, 6-5 range. It was a huge plus for us on both ends of the floor. We won’t have that this year. Our tallest guy will be somewhere in the 6-3 range and he’s more of a guard than a post. We’re going to be mainly all guards.”

Whereas a year ago when SA’s players had to adjust to a new coach and a new system, that’s not the case this year. The Vols already know the system, it’s just a matter of figuring out a new starting lineup, a new rotation, a new identity, and likely a little different style of play that features a more five out, perimeter-oriented look. That is a big plus considering Alexander is also coaching the girls this season, meaning split duties.

“We still don’t have our football guys because we’re still in the playoffs, so we are really behind,” Alexander said. “That’s the case with a lot of schools, though. I’ll know more once I get those seven guys and we’ve had some time in the gym together. We went to a couple of summer camps, so I got to see everybody together for a few games. We’ll see. I do think we will be better offensively than we were a year ago. I would be really surprised if we don’t shoot the ball better and score more.”

Guards D.J. Spencer and Gibson Nickels headline the small list of returning players. Both are seniors. Both gained valuable playing time a year ago, something they should benefit from this season as they move into more prominent roles.

“D.J. can really shoot it,” Alexander said. “I was anticipating a bigger year from him last year, but it took him some time to get all the way back from his knee injury. He should be ready to go from Day 1 this year. We need a big year from him, and he’s certainly capable. Gibby is a guy that can play both guard spots. He can shoot it, too. I’m looking for him to be one of our team leaders this season.”

Other returnees in the backcourt include Ty Marconi and Carter Basel. They will be joined by newcomers Jackson Knight and Lex Broadus. “Ty is a good 3-point shooter, and Carter has really improved,” Alexander said. “Both of those guys should help us, and the same goes for Jackson. He’s had a big year at receiver in football, and I expect the same thing from him on the basketball court.”

The rest of the roster is mainly sophomores, who a year ago went 22-2 and won the junior high district championship. That contingent includes point guard Thomas Graves, swingman Sil Santucci, guards Jackson Pounds and Eli Roberson, small forward Rollins Burkhalter, and post Harrison Hallberg. Bristo Santucci, Sil’s older brother, also returns along with Draper Williams, who didn’t play last season.

“Bristo is a high energy guy,” Alexander said. “He was injured some last year and didn’t play much, but we are counting on him heavily this season. Draper is a bigger kid, who should give us some minutes in the post. Same for Harrison. Thomas and Sil were two of our better players on the junior high team a year ago. I’m very excited about that group moving up. With what we lost, they’re probably all going to play a lot of minutes. There will be some growing pains, always is moving up from junior high to the varsity level, but I think they will be fine in the long run.”

The schedule is a tough one, starting with tonight’s game against JA. Fortunately, it includes more home games than a year ago when the Vols played five of their first six games, 15 total, on the road.

“Last year was tough from that regard,” Alexander said. “We were on the road a lot, and a lot of those trips were rather long ones. We spent a lot of time on buses it seemed. So, we’re looking forward to having more home games this season. Hopefully, we’ll put a product on their floor our fans will enjoy.”