The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Men's Basketball Team Pleased With Preseason Practice
11/3/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 3, 2008
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - With less than two weeks remaining before the start of the 2008-09 basketball season, UAB head coach Mike Davis and his team continue preparations for the upcoming season. The Blazers open the campaign on Nov. 15 when they meet Troy for the first time in school history.
Davis and his staff are excited for the season to begin and can sense the excitement within the team, the campus and the city of Birmingham.
"We can see how much excitement there is about this year's team," Davis said. "The players have been working very hard and are definitely ready to get things going. We need to continue to work hard every day and try to find our identity. We still have a long way to go, but we are headed in the right direction."
UAB associate head coach Donnie Marsh echoed Davis' statements.
"Coach Davis opens practice to fans and we are seeing more and more people every day," Marsh said. "We are seeing new faces as well as some of the same faces. There is no doubt you can feel the excitement around campus and around the city of Birmingham."
Part of the reason for the excitement is the return of six seniors, nine letterwinners and four starters from last year's 23-11 team. Not only did the 23 wins mark the third-most single-season victories in school history, but last year's squad also finished in second place in Conference USA with a 12-4 mark, and reached the second round of the 2008 NIT.
Leading the way for this year's UAB team is 2008-09 Conference USA Preseason Player of the Year Robert Vaden, who returns for his senior season after breaking conference and school records in three-pointers made (142) and attempted (355). He also broke the school record for points in a season with 695.
Seniors Paul Delaney III and Lawrence Kinnard are also going to be key cogs on this year's squad. Delaney was a preseason first-team all-conference performer in 2006-07 before an injury sidelined him last season. During his junior campaign, the Chamblee, Ga. native averaged 15.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game.
Meanwhile, Kinnard earned third-team all-league accolades a year ago and returns as the team's leading rebounder (6.8 rpg) and second-leading scorer (11.1 ppg).
In essence, that gives Davis and his staff three all-conference performers at his disposal. However, despite the talent, Davis does not say if any players are standing out during the preseason practice.
"I'm not going to single any one player out," Davis said. "We are still in a feeling out process as far as what we're going to do in several areas. We know we want to give other teams problems but it will be a game-by-game scenario."
"I think of it as we coaches are in the laboratory right now," Marsh said. "There are days when we are working on half court execution on offense and defense. Then there are days we get up and down and are impressed with how good we can be.
"Coach is trying to get our guys to execute at a different level," Marsh continued. "Regardless of who we play, we want teams to adjust to us as opposed to us adjusting to them."
One thing the coaching staff concedes is that this year's edition of the UAB Blazers will be fun to watch. The team features a very athletic lineup that can shoot the basketball. However, the Blazers will lack size on the interior post, which caused some concern for the coaching staff. After going back and forth during the offseason as far as whether to change schemes with a smaller lineup, Davis ultimately made the decision not to change too much and it is a decision Marsh feels that the third-year head coach made a great choice with.
"We played with a lot of different ideas during the offseason," Marsh said. "Coach finally decided what we did last year was pretty good and we were going to stick with it. Instead of having to re-teach all the guys a new system, we just tweaked a few things. We have so many veteran players who have been in this system and it's amazing how quick guys are picking it up."
"We're not close to where we want to be," Davis said, "but we have seen some good signs. We just have to keep moving forward and practicing hard and we're going to be fine."
Season tickets for UAB men's basketball games are now on sale at the athletic ticket office and can be purchased online at UABsports.com, or by calling (205) 975-UAB1.
The Blazers and Trojans will tip-off on Saturday, Nov. 15, at 2 p.m. CT.
