No 2 – Little Rock Trojans
It would be safer to pick the Trojans as the preseason champion. Everyone else has and truth-be-told, their two star players Johnathan Lawson and Tuongthach Gatkek should be enough to carry them to the finish line.
Head coach Darrell Walker is a proven winner and their 19-14 record last year reflected their ability to overcome injury and adversity.
Injury and adversity have hit again. For the second straight year, arguably the league’s best player, K.K. Robinson has been struck down with a knee injury and his season is already over.
Walker recruited Robinson’s two younger brothers to this year’s team and Kellen was penciled in as the other part of the Trojan backcourt, but he too, is out for the year with a knee injury.
Can the Trojans overcome those two heavy losses? Probably.
Walker’s teams are always long, athletic and play aggressive basketball.
Lawson led the league in minutes played, averaged 15.4 points-per-game, grabbed five boards per game and is a very active defender. He is probably the league’s best player. Gatkek is the OVC’s reigning defensive player of the year. The 6’9 forward collected 50 steals and swatted away 45 of Little Rock’s opponents’ shots. He is a defensive game changer.
The new backcourt could be made up of the 6’7 Lawson, grad transfer Braxton Bayless and the third Robinson brother Khasen. Bayless averaged 7.9 points and 2.1 assists at Western Kentucky. Robinson was an outstanding scorer at Pratt Community College.
Joining Gatkek in the frontcourt will likely be 6’9 Xavier transfer Kachi Nzeh, 6’9 freshman Terrion Burgess or a trio of lower division players Cameron Wallace, Travonne Jackson or Truman Claytor IV. Each have been highly decorated.
Burgess is from Benton, Arkansas and some rating services call him the second best player in Bill Clinton’s home state.
Walker’s teams defend like their lives depend upon it and they are very difficult to play. They are the OVC’s most physical team and force officials to call fouls. They should be my top-ranked team, but the loss of two of the Robinsons nudged them down one slot.
The Trojans open the season at home against Arkansas Baptist on November 4.