Senior night is always tough when you've developed, built, banged heads, nurtured, groomed, taught and learned a group of young folks. Senior night represents the last time the group of present senior will put on the home uniforms in front of the home crowd! They are greeted at center court...often times with their loved ones and sometimes in the case at "The Hill" (yeah I'm calling it that) on Saturday the whole team! Our seniors, Rogers Barnes, Jermaine "Itchy" Bolden and Marquise Kately are all unique, they all took different paths to Morgan and play a significant role on this year's squad. Rog is the energizer cat! He is always at full speed (not always for the positive :)...that's just for him if he's reading this) and joined the program as a walk-on before I arrived. He has always remained humble. When I first arrived at Morgan I had him try out all over again and from day one he has been 110%. He's a starter and a major reason why Da Bears are the #1 seed going into the MEAC tournament.
Itchy, is the bus driver! He really is the one that puts da "GO" in "Go Bears!" (I thought that was pretty cool ya'll...stop trippin) If he played at full speed...Wow...would he be off the charts (that again, is my version of a subliminal message..lol). Itchy came to Morgan from South Plains Community College via Douglas High School in West B-more! He is the most popular recruit that we've since we arrived on campus. When we announced that we signed Itchy Bolden...Whew! That's all I heard from folks when I went around town. He's won everywhere he's played and to his credit...he's adjusted his game to become a true Point Guard! He was a scorer in a PG's body and the coach at South Plains started him on the right path in terms of being a true PG (his high school coach had him do what he needed him to do and that was win ball games! State Title while at Douglas!). In AAU and high school hoops one can get away with being a 5-9 scorer but as you move up you have to adjust alittle which he did. He wasn't always reading from the same page I was but by the 5th or 6th game this year he made the switch. Last year Jerrell Greene ran the show so there was no pressure. Thanks Itchy for buying in! And driving da bus...that's without a CDL and telephone books to see over the dash! lol Lighten up folks...it's just a joke! Or suppose to be anyway!
Quise is the ultimate team mate! He takes alot off his team mates and really cover for them on defense like you wouldn't believe! If they could help him remember more plays he could help them more on offense. Oops thinkin out loud again...my bad! :) Na...we really try to run everything thru Quise and he can definitely handle it! He came to Morgan as a transfer from Cal. Yes that Cal! How many Cal's do you know of...:) He was a freshman starter and made the Pac-10 all rookie team but things didn't work out for him in da Bay and he came East (he actually attended Prep school back east as well) to play for a coach that things didn't work out for at Cal. Last year when we were playing at Saint Francis of PA...our offense was struggling a little like the year before and went to him 3 straight times and he delivered! Jerrell and I looked at each other at the same time and smiled...yeah boy! We got a go to cat now...watch out! We won the game and from that point on the teams confidence grew. He has been a lot of fun to coach and is our best player because of his basketball IQ and abilities! He is truly a great team mate too!
Aiight ya'll that's our version of da big three! They closed out their regular season home schedule with a "W" which brings their two year record in "Da Hill" to 22-2. i know it was different earlier...stop being petty! :) You guys also put up 2 banners for Back to back regular season championships!
Thanks fellas for your commitment, dedication, hard work, sacrifice, staying da course and puttin up wit Boze! Lord knows dat ain't EZ! :)
1 comment:
WELL SAID COACH......YOU GOTTA LOVE ALL THREE OF THOSE CATS...THEY ARE WELL DESERVED OF THE CHAMP RINGS.....ITS HARD FOR ME TO BELIEVE WE HAVE ONLY LIKE 14 TOTAL WINS AGAINST COPPIN...WELL HOPEFULLY TOMMORROW WILL MAKE 15..GOOD LUCK TO YOU CATS.....
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