Click HERE for the complete 2009-10 UNF men's basketball roster
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – University of North Florida men’s basketball coach Matthew Driscoll announced today his 2009-10 UNF roster, in addition to discussing a number of topics involving the program.
Driscoll, beginning his first year at the Ospreys helm, welcomes a 15-player roster that includes six returning players, five freshmen, a junior college transfer, a Division I transfer and two freshmen walk-ons.
Returning for UNF are senior guards Eni Cuka and Germaine Sparkes, senior forward Stan Januska, junior forward Kyle Groothuis, and sophomore forwards Zack Riggins and Matt Sauey.
Entering as freshmen are guards Stephen O’Reilly (5-11, St. Croix US Virgin Islands, Country Day HS/South Kent Prep School) and William Wilson (5-10, Vero Beach, Fla., Sebastian River HS), forward/guards Andy Diaz (6-7, Miami, Fla., Hialeah-Miami Lakes HS) and Jerron Granberry (6-4, Miami, Fla., Coral Reef HS), and forward David Jeune (6-6, Okeechobee, Fla., Okeechobee HS).
The two freshmen walk-ons are forwards Logan Bridges (6-7, Mt. Dora, Fla., Mt. Dora HS) and Etienne Effenberg (6-6, Neuwerk, Germany, Bishop Verot HS (Fla.)).
Junior guard Brad Haugabrook (6-0, Newark, N.J.) is joining the Ospreys from Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Fla. He also spent one year at Northwood University in West Palm Beach, Fla. The other transfer is sophomore guard Parker Smith (6-3, Columbus, Ga.) who spent his freshman year at Tennessee State. Smith must sit out the 2009-10 season and will become eligible for the 2010-11 season.
Thirteen of the players are currently enrolled and on campus, with Haugabrook and Bridges joining the team in the fall. One of the challenges Coach Driscoll and his staff face is having never worked with any of the roster in person.
“The one thing we have not been able to do, unfortunately, since we’ve been here when I took over the job April 7, is been on the floor yet with our guys, with the returners especially,” said Driscoll. “With that said, we have been able to watch film, we have been able to watch games, we have been able to go into those kind of archives and try to get a feel for what the guys could do down the road but we really haven’t been able to get a visualization of what its going to be like.
“We’ll try and get an idea on August 24 when we get on the floor,” he added. “It’s almost like the entire team are rookies, in the sense that we have never been on the floor with any of them. It’s kind of a neat thing, a place where I have never really been yet in my career, stepping on the floor with 15 new guys that you really haven’t done anything with, basketball wise.”
One impressive accomplishment by the staff was signing a six-player incoming class without bringing any of them to campus.
“One of the things we pride ourselves on, hang are hats on so to speak, is that we work efficiently,” said Driscoll. “When we came here, the one thing we did, we immediately got after who we needed to get after, the guys we thought were available and were a fit for us. Now there may have been some guys a bit more talented or a little less talented, or didn’t have the tangibles, the character, the family, the things we need to make this program grow and get us where we want to get to. So we hit it hard and we got those guys to commit without making a visit. None of those guys ever made an official visit prior to them signing with us. And that was something that was kind of unique. When we brought them in in June for an official visit it really made it a neat time for those guys to really start to bond.”
And the fact that 13 of the 15 players are already enrolled and on campus has made the transition smoother.
“I think what has really gone well for summer school is that we have all the guys here but one of the walk-ons and one other guy who is finishing up,” said Driscoll. “But these guys have done a great job bonding. Because they live in the same area they have been able to do a lot of things together. We have gotten them into classes together so we have been able to do that early work as far as making sure that they understand what each other is about, what they’re not about. It’s kind of refreshing for us to see this.”
The Ospreys went 8-22 last season and 6-14 in the Atlantic Sun Conference, finishing 10th out of 11 in league play.
One of Driscoll’s goals is to win Atlantic Sun Conference championships and the Ospreys return six of their top seven scorers to along with the nine newcomers. The six returners accounted for 70 percent of the team scoring last season, 63 percent of the rebounding and 54 percent of the assists.
Leading the way for UNF last season was Cuka who averaged a team-high 13.2 points. Januska averaged 8.9 points and led the team in rebounding at 4.4 an outing. He was also second on the team with 61 assists. Sauey, Groothuis, Riggins and Sparkes all averaged more than five points per game last year.
One thing that has not been promised to anyone is guaranteed playing time.
“What we told the returners when we first met with them, and what we told all the new guys before we signed them, and then we told them all as a group, is that starting line-ups and minutes have been promised to no one and it’s one of those things where opportunities are going to be had for all,” said Driscoll. “Everybody is going to get a fair shake, so to speak, to show what they can and can’t do. And some guys, because obviously they have more talent, are going to be able to do more and be able to produce more.”
There is one thing Driscoll’s players are going to do, and that is compete. And compete at everything.
“We told them from day one ‘someone is going to lead us in scoring next year, someone will lead us rebounding, someone will lead us in assists.’ It’s just the way it is on every single team. Who that someone is I don’t know, but what is important is are we competing every night, and are we competing in order to win championships. That’s how we are going to measure our success.”
“And we are not going to talk about hard work because every one does it, every team in the country. Everyone says ‘we work hard, we work hard, we work hard.’ We’re going to separate it, in the fact that we compete and we want to compete in everything that we do. From the weight room, to conditioning, to the classroom, to whatever, who’s going to get the peanut butter and jelly first? Whatever it may be, we are going to compete, and with that said, that’s when guys are going to separate themselves.”
UNF just completed the final year of the four-year transition period to a full-fledged member of Division I athletics. The Ospreys began their transition from Division II athletics to Division I at the start of the 2005-06 season and beginning this year will be eligible for all postseason play on the NCAA Division I level.
“Recruiting, initially, is obviously going to become different in the sense that we’re able to talk about being able to do certain things, where in the last several years it’s been a little bit more difficult to do certain things because there has been no care out there, so to speak, there has been no post-season as far as what you’re going to do for the school and the excitement that that brings,” said Driscoll.
“The NCAA tournament is one of the most exciting events in sports, maybe only second to the Super Bowl,” Driscoll added. “And because there is a large population that understands that, and since we don’t have football, then obviously it puts us on a different pedestal. And that is an exciting thing. So I think this, along with the fact that we are going to compete for championships, is going to help drive us and get us out in the community and get more students and get more fans in here so we can compete.
“Because to compete for a championship a lot of things have to happen and the one thing is, is that the product on the floor has to be worthy for them to come. Forget about the price, if it’s $5, $12, I mean people pay $10 to go to the movies to see a bad movie, but if it’s a good product and it’s something you really can relate to, or really understand the love and the feeling for the community on campus, then it can really go crazy. That’s how you win games, because if you don’t, now the crowds are not there.”
One thing Coach Driscoll and his staff are not going to do is put a number on success, but his one main goal is, as he calls it, is “very simple.”
“Very simple. To every single day, to improve, because we really don’t know where we are, where our starting point is, but every single day, to improve.
“With that said, when you say a goal and a number, we’re not going to put a number on anything. But the one thing that we are going to hang our hat on is that when we step between the black lines - I do know how we turned it around at Baylor and why we became so successful - is because when we stepped between the lines and we’re able to compete at that level, at that next step. And when we understand that and when the culture is set and when the guys truly understand that, you’re going to know the difference from one and the other and that’s what we need to do. If we compete every single day you’re going to put yourself into position to be successful and when you do that good things happen.”
Click HERE for the complete UNF men’s basketball roster.