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Friday, November 14, 2008

Lobos Face Wounded Team

By Mark Smith
Journal Staff Writer
      It wasn't something that Zac Roman asked for.
       Fortunately for Roman, it wasn't something entirely new.
       And now he's trying to make the best of a trying situation, which begins tonight in the Pit against a Lobo men's basketball team licking its chops to devour some fresh meat — whether the victim is severely wounded or not.
       “Stressful?” Roman, Southeast Missouri State's acting coach, says with a laugh. “Yes, it's been challenging. It's been stressful, but I've accepted the challenge and we'll be OK. It will take a little time, but the kids are responding.”
       Tonight the Redhawks will try to respond to their recently named acting coach when they visit the Pit and the University of New Mexico in the season opener for both teams.
       While Lobo coach Steve Alford and Lobo fans are eager to see how UNM's six scholarship freshmen react to their first real game, Roman is curious to see how his entire bunch reacts to a new regime — and all that's happened to it the past few months.
       To say SEMO is in disarray is an understatement. Last month athletics director Don Kaverman was fired, three months after the men's and women's basketball teams forfeited 44 victories amid an NCAA investigation. Just prior to the start of official practice, head coach Scott Edgar was put on administrative leave. His two-year career at the school appears to be over.
       Enter Roman, a 39-year-old assistant who came to the school just last season and whose only head coaching experience was taking over late in the season at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kan., a few years ago after the team's head coach took ill.
       “That experience helped, but this is really a different deal,” Roman says.
       To further complicate the situation, two freshmen signees left the program this fall and Roman says he has suspended 6-foot-9 junior Calvin Williams for the trip to New Mexico.
       Still, the Redhawks feature an athletic group, led by 6-6 senior forward Jaycen Herring (13.1 ppg, 3.6 rpg last season) and senior guard Kenard Moore (10.4 ppg).
       They beat Missouri Baptist 81-73 and MacMurray 109-76 in their two exhibition games.
       “Everything we're throwing at them is new, everyone has to adjust,” Roman says. “I have a different philosophy than coach Edgar.
       “But we're moving forward, it's going to take time, it's a slow process. The kids were feeling a lot of different emotions when everything happened. They were shocked like everyone else around here, then they were in limbo. They didn't know who would be the acting head coach for another week after everything happened.
       “But we're trying to stay positive and are still going to play a season and come out and get better every day. This kind of thing doesn't just happen in basketball, but stuff like this happens in life, and you need to grow from it and learn from it.”
       The Lobos, meanwhile, are hoping their standout freshman class can learn the Division I game in a hurry, and tonight is the first official step.
       “Openers are always a concern, because you don't have a lot of information on (an opponent),” Alford says. “It's always more of a concern when you've got six new guys trying to figure it out, too.”
       As far as the Redhawks' problems, Alford says “I don't know any of the things going on, but sometimes that can bring a team together.”
       BACK IN THE SWING: Former UNM golfer and 10-year PGA Tour veteran Kent Jones attended Wednesday's UNM men's practice. Jones, who failed to retain his PGA Tour card after this season, says he will take part in the second stage of this year's PGA Tour Qualifying School next week in the Dallas area.
       TICKET UPDATE: Season tickets have surpassed last season and stood at more than 10,300 sold as of Thursday. They will be available through today. For more information, call (505) 925-5626.
       

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