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Men's Basketball Keith Kelley

Season Preview: Men's Basketball

CONWAY, Ark. - After falling shy by 10 points in the 2018 Southern Athletic Association Championship Game to Berry a few months ago, Head Coach Thad McCracken will look to continue the success of the Hendrix Men's Basketball program into the 2018-19 season. During the summer, Coach McCracken announced that Ta-Rel Franklin was joining the program as the assistant coach of the men's team. This is a basketball team that could be dangerous for the entirety of the season. A team that brings back 11 returners, all of which still have the 88-78 setback to Berry in the SAA title game in their mind, and seven freshman altogether. 

Returners
Out of the 11 total returners, Preston Smith and Michael Calamese are the lone seniors. Smith, an All-SAA Second Team selection for the 2016-17 season and All-SAA Honorable Mention pick for the 2017-18 leads the way for the Warriors offensively. A native of McKinney, Texas, Smith was among the best in the country for the 2016-17 year after shooting an invincible 48.8% from beyond the arc. Calamese, a Little Rock, Ark. native and product out of eStem Public Charter School, brings a lot of quickness and decision making to this squad. In 28 games for the 2017-18 season, Calamese recorded 88 dimes to just 63 turnovers. His 3.1 assists per game average was good enough for sixth in the entire SAA, right behind sophomore guard Kam Brasfield (3.5 apg). Brasfield added 14.6 points per contest in 27 games of action a year ago while junior forward Jacob Link 14.0 points and a team-best 7.2 boards per game. Joining Smith, Calamese, Brasfield and Link are Trey Rouse, Damecko Johnson, Stephen Abell, Trace Crawford, Adam Phillip, Jack Eaton and Zachary Prins.

"We are really excited for the start of the season and look forward to beginning the process of building our team," stated Coach McCracken. "One of the reasons for our excitement is the group of returners we have coming back.  Finishing the year last season the way we did gave those guys a taste of what we are capable of and it seems that they all have put in a lot of time and hard work in anticipation of this season.  We bring back all of our guards from the end of the season last year and I look for those guys to have big years and to lead us as the season moves along."


Newcomers
Out of the seven total newcomers, Coach McCracken was able to land four of those as in-state players. Alex Conrad, Seth Stanley, Jake Riding and Carl Fitch each bring lots of height and size in the paint which is always nice when you don't have too many returning posts. Sean Coman, a 6-2 point guard from Dallas, Texas, finished his high school career recording over 1,000 points and was also a First Team All-State selection as well as a two-time First team All-District pick. Adam Phillip, a native of Springdale, Ark. averaged 10 points and six rebounds per contest for Providence Academy a year ago. Phillip was all named to the all-conference team and was also a member of the National Honor Society. Rod Cummings II, Adam Phillip, Seth Stanley, Peyton Maxwell, Jake Riding, and Carl Fitch round out the list of newcomers for the Warriors.

"We are also very excited about our newcomers as it is a great group of players at every position," Coach McCracken said. "Our team should be much bigger than we were last season but we also added a lot of depth to the team as well.  These freshmen should bring some healthy competition to practice and I am anxious to get started on the floor with them."


Schedule
Hendrix travels across town Nov. 8 when the Warriors take on the Bears of Central Arkansas as an exhibition contest. The team opens the season officially Nov. 10 in Richardson, Texas when it'll take on UT-Dallas before playing its last exhibition Nov. 13 against Arkansas-Fort Smith in Fort Smith, Ark. The Warriors open the season up inside Grove Gymnasium Nov. 15 against Dallas at 7:30 p.m. before hosting the SCAC-SAA Challenge Nov. 17 and 18 against Centenary (La.) and Austin College. The Orange and Black open up SAA play Jan. 2 when the Warriors travel two hours northeast to Memphis, Tenn. to take on Rhodes and will open up SAA play in Conway Jan. 11 against the Major of Millsaps. Hendrix gets a revenge game on Berry Jan. 18 in Grove Gymnasium and then will take on the Vikings in Georgia Jan. 25. Senior Day will be held on Feb. 16 in a regular season finale against Rhodes. The 2019 SAA Tournament will be held at the regular season champions court as the 2019 regular season champions will serve as host Feb. 22-24.

"We have talked a little bit about our mission and goals for the upcoming season but most importantly we have talked about our team chemistry and belief in ourselves and in each other," Coach McCracken went on to say. "This is a close group of guys who I think will do a great job of pushing each other every day in practice and will support each other every night we play. Our non-conference schedule will be strong but it was built that way very intentionally. Those games will challenge us and prepare us for the upcoming SAA season. We expect our conference to be strong from top to bottom so hopefully we can be playing at a high level after the holidays and start the conference season on the right foot. Sustaining that momentum will be important but I am confident that our seniors, Preston and Mike, will do a great job of making sure our team takes it one day at a time."
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Players Mentioned

Michael Calamese

#14 Michael Calamese

G
5' 8"
Junior
Trace Crawford

#25 Trace Crawford

G
5' 10"
Sophomore
Jacob Link

#23 Jacob Link

G
6' 3"
Sophomore
Zachary Prins

#44 Zachary Prins

F
6' 4"
Sophomore
Preston Smith

#21 Preston Smith

G
5' 11"
Junior
Trey Rouse

#10 Trey Rouse

G
6' 1"
Freshman
Kam Brasfield

#11 Kam Brasfield

G
5' 9"
Freshman
Stephen Abell

#22 Stephen Abell

G
6' 1"
Freshman
Jack Eaton

#33 Jack Eaton

G
6' 3"
Freshman
Damecko Johnson

#34 Damecko Johnson

G
6' 0"
Freshman
Adam Phillip

#32 Adam Phillip

PG
6' 4"
Freshman
Rod Cummings II

#20 Rod Cummings II

G
5' 10"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Michael Calamese

#14 Michael Calamese

5' 8"
Junior
G
Trace Crawford

#25 Trace Crawford

5' 10"
Sophomore
G
Jacob Link

#23 Jacob Link

6' 3"
Sophomore
G
Zachary Prins

#44 Zachary Prins

6' 4"
Sophomore
F
Preston Smith

#21 Preston Smith

5' 11"
Junior
G
Trey Rouse

#10 Trey Rouse

6' 1"
Freshman
G
Kam Brasfield

#11 Kam Brasfield

5' 9"
Freshman
G
Stephen Abell

#22 Stephen Abell

6' 1"
Freshman
G
Jack Eaton

#33 Jack Eaton

6' 3"
Freshman
G
Damecko Johnson

#34 Damecko Johnson

6' 0"
Freshman
G
Adam Phillip

#32 Adam Phillip

6' 4"
Freshman
PG
Rod Cummings II

#20 Rod Cummings II

5' 10"
Freshman
G
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