No. 9 – UT Martin Skyhawks
Head coach Jeremy Shulman was wildly successful at the junior college ranks and admits he had a lot to learn as a Division 1 head coach. He did a lot of introspection in the offseason and is excited about the coming season.
Shulman’s team went 14-19 and 9-11 in league play.
UT Martin is another of the OVC programs with a great deal roster turnover. Five players return from last season including fourth leading scorer Afan Trnka (8.3 ppg). He and 6’9 fellow junior Lamine Niang each played over 30 games last season.
Andrija Bukumirovic, Filip Radakovic and A.J. Hopkins all played over twenty games.
Dragos Lungu is a 6’6 San Diego transfer who played just seven games last year after playing in 30 and starting eleven the season before. Luca Golceag (Romania) is a 6’8 Northern Colorado transfer who played junior college ball for Shulman.
But Shulman is bucking the system. He is attempting to build with freshmen. He has seven ‘true’ freshmen on his squad and one redshirt rookie. The growing pains could be difficult to bare, but he believes in ‘building a program and developing his players’.
He landed a pair of three-star recruits in 6’9 Ama Sow (Senegal) and 6’4 guard Damien King. The Anderson, Indiana native averaged 22 points and seven boards last season. Most of the first-year players are foreigners, which works out perfectly.
Shulman’s recruiting strength is international, and his team speaks a common language they call “UT Martin Basketball Language”. It is a seven-page document he expects his players to learn. He jokingly calls his roster ‘Team FIBA’.
Shulman averaged over 24 wins per season at the junior college level and is destined to turn the UT Martin program in the right direction.
The Skyhawks open the season on Tuesday, November 4 at UNLV.