With a heart breaking loss in the opening round to Hofstra, Georgia State closes the book on its 2009-10 season. Our men's basketball team finished a disappointing season at 12-20.
The AJC's post tourney wrap with Coach Barnes: http://www.ajc.com/sports/georgia-state-report-365971.html
Coach Barnes' quotes:
“Every night we knew we were going to be able to compete this season,” Barnes said. “Now we’ve just got to win those games.”
“We played in a lot of close games where we just didn’t make the plays we needed to win the game,” Barnes said. “I thought our guys showed a lot of character. I really thought we would get to the [CAA] tournament and be able to close out the close games.”
Barnes said the key returning players for Georgia State will be freshman center James Vincent, junior guard Marques Johnson and sophomore guard Jihad Ali. [No mention of Dante Curry, no shot he's on this roster come Fall]
“I like our returning guys and our recruiting class that we have coming in,” Barnes said. “Between now and next fall we’ve really got to do a great job as far as improving our players.”
Let's take a look at the highlights:
-Joe Dukes was named 3rd team All-CAA
-We increased out home record from 6-8 in '08-'09 to 9-5 this year
-We were competitive with nearly every team on our schedule (10 losses were by double digits)
-Renewing a rivalry from the 90's, we destroyed Georgia Southern (aka Fake GSU) 85-65 in front of our largest home crowd of the season.
What goes up, must come down...
Some of the lowlights:
-A 60-58 loss to a previously winless Florida A&M squad. FAMU finished the season 8-21 and had an RPI of 319.
-A 5-13 mark in CAA play after going 8-10 last season.
-A 62.3 point per game average only a 2 point increase from '08-'09. Ranking us last in the CAA and 297th in Division I.
Who's Back?
Senior Guard Marques Johnson - 2.6 ppg, 2.3 assists per, 1.7 rebounds per. I'm not a fan of Marques. I'm not sure what he really does well other than handle the ball. He'll be a Senior in the Fall and this is 3rd team in 4 years (NC State & Tennessee being his other stops). He'll likely start because Coach Barnes like him but he's not an impact player at all. Career high 9 points vs. Northeastern. Ugh.
Junior Guard James Fields - 3.3 ppg, 1.4 rebounds per. Fields has developed into what Mario West was for Georgia Tech a few years back. A defensive stopper. He consitently was placed onto other team's lead guard and gave them fits. If he can continue to develop his game into a 7 point, 2 assists per game stat line, I'll be pleased with his development.
Junior Wing Jihad Ali - 5.5ppg, 2.9 rebounds per. I'm a fan of Ali. He took a redshirt year last year because it looked like his playing time was going to decrease. Focused on his studies and is an All-CAA Academic performer. He played less than 15 minutes per game this season and if he comes back 5-10lbs. stronger (currently at 195lbs.) he should be in the starting lineup from Day 1.
Sophmore Center James Vincent - 2.5 ppg, 2.3 rebounds per. Also a fan of Vincent. I believe he can eventually develop into a strong big man with averages of 12 points and 7 rebounds per night. He came from a high school with another dominant big man which allowed him to wreak havoc night in and night out. He hurt himself in fall camp and was out of shape for the first 2 months of the season. If he can put the work in and maintain his weight in the 240-245lbs. area, he will be a tremendous back to the basket big man.
Sophmore Guard Mi'kyel Nero & Junior Forward Jamar Taylor - Both are huge unknowns because we absolutely needed athletic upgrades at both positions. If neither are productive in '10-'11 Barnes recruiting class better be great (not good).
Possible subtractions
Dante Curry - I truly believe that all sign point to Curry not being on this roster come Fall because he has no place on this team. He came into Fall camp overweight and Barnes shielded him by saying that he lacked confidence. His scholarship can be used to develop another high school player who can contribute.
