I'm only going to post selective stats each season, and this year, our horrible team shooting stood out above all the rest. Hopefully that changes next year, but we'll see.
The guy who
shoots 35.3% wins Freshman of the Year. What a damned joke.
What's that?
A Top 100 recruiting class for The Citadel?! BOO-YEAH! ...Even though, it's, you know, based on ranking of players. It has to be. Because like, in terms of actual talent, I don't see these guys are necessarily BETTER than who we've brought in the last two seasons.
Recruits By State/Country - Lifetime
Australia - 1
Georgia - 1
Indiana - 1
Pennsylvania - 1
South Carolina - 3
United Kingdom - 1
Washington D.C. - 1
We're slowly developing a reputation as a school that recruits mainly in the South and on the Eastern seaboard, with the odd international grab. Of course, this is only three years' worth of classes, so still small sample size.
Kory Johnson and
Ivan Pugh come in as Red/Green, but
Trent Buckley is Orange/Green, so we're going to see some interesting position battles develop.
I can cut a non-scholarship senior to add a Transfer scholarship, so I dump
Jerry Parenteau, given how we now have 3 PG options on the roster. I pick an Orange/Green freshman center at random to offer the scholarship to. He goes to Stanford. It's all garbage players after that, so we move on.
Recruiting
4 scholarships on tap. Three 3* players are interested right away, including two South Carolina All-State guys, and the #104 ranked player, a small SG who automatically gets a scholarship offer from us. Let's inflate those recruiting rankings, yo!
...Only we're so far down the list, with Florida his #1 even with no offer and 4 other offers, that we drop him off right away.
Target #1 - PF Earnest Manion - South Florence HS - South Carolina All-State
6'8, 257. 2.41 GPA, 1020 SAT
Top 5: South Carolina,
Citadel, East Carolina, Winthrop, Coastal Carolina
Target #2 - SG Joseph England - Seneca HS - Kentucky All-State
GREEN/BLUE and that's all you need to know.
Top 5: Miami (OH)*, Cincinnati, Eastern Illinois*, Western Kentucky, SIU-Edwardsville*
Look, I don't care if he has 3 scholarship offers and that this is a god damned pipe dream. I'm still going to chase after him. He will literally be the single best player we've ever had on campus.
Target #3 - SF George Johnson - King Senior HS - Florida All-State
6'8, 221. 2.79 GPA, 1060 SAT
Top 5: Florida, Florida Gulf Coast, Florida State, Florida International, Miami
He clearly wants to stay in-state, and he's listed as Red/Green, but by the ratings, I would consider him our best player if we landed him. And he has no scholarship offers, so it's worth a shot.
Target #4 - C Jose Mitchell - South Laurel HS - Mr. Basketball Kentucky
7'0, 234. 2.83 GPA 950 SAT
Top 5: Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky, Tennessee, Tennessee Tech, Middle Tennessee
7 feet! 7 FREAKING FEET! No scholarship offers, so we'll throw our hats in the ring. And yes, I know I'm trying to kick way outside our coverage, but the Top 100 recruiting class has me feeling ballsy as hell.
Next Month
Earnest Manion
A familiar foe in Coastal Carolina with a scholarship offer, but we're #1. South Carolina, East Carolina, and Winthrop round out the Top 5.
Joseph England
Down to 3 schools: Cincinnati, Miami (OH) and us. Let's campus visit him and pray like we've never prayed before.
George Johnson
Florida his #1 still with no offer, then Florida Gulf Coast and Florida International with offers, and us. Florida State #5. Campus visit and pray.
Jose Mitchell
Offer from Georgia is #2, and I'm pondering cutting bait since we don't even show up on his list. But screw it. GO BIG OR GO HOME!
Next Month
Earnest Manion
And then there were 2 - us and Coastal Carolina. Let's keep the fight going!
Joseph England
Miami (OH) dropped out, so it's just us and Cincinnati now. Foolish dream continues.
George Johnson
Florida Gulf Coast has moved ahead of no scholarship offer Florida, with us 3rd. NEVER SURRENDER!
Jose Mitchell
Georgia a clear-cut #1, then Kentucky, then finally us. Tennessee and Marquette laze in 4th and 5th, no offer along with the Wildcats. Can we beat the SEC?!
...No.
Jose Mitchell is gonna be a Dawg. Woof.
Lifetime Recruiting Battles
Akron: 0-1
College of Charleston: 1-0
Coastal Carolina: 1-0
Davidson: 0-1
Georgia: 0-1
Maryland Eastern-Shore: 0-1
South Carolina: 0-1
UNC-Greensboro: 1-0
VCU: 0-1
Villanova: 0-1
Winthrop: 0-1
Earnest Manion
Still leading Coastal Carolina.
Joseph England
Still lagging Cincinnati
George Johnson
We've fought our way to #2, ahead of no offer Florida, and are currently behind Florida Gulf Coast.
New Target: C Caleb Ludwig - 3* 6'8, 232 Australian, 2.43 GPA, 1190 SAT
We're offering him blind, because we need to get a big(ish) body in here given our two starters are seniors. And he's the only center who doesn't have a scholarship offer yet.
Kory Johnson's stupid ass gets academically suspended 
. Gonna be another long, long season.
Starting Lineup
PG Trent Buckley (Fr - Orange/Blue)
SG Earle Vega (Jr - Orange/Green)
SF Bobby Henry (So - Orange/Yellow
PF Andrew Peters (Jr - Orange/Green - He's 7' by the way, which I forgot)
C Antony Holmberg (Jr - Green/Green!)
Even with Kory's suspension, on paper, this is the single strongest lineup we've ever fielded here. [b]In fact, we have an 8 man orange rotation). Quite a long way from the days of an All-Red team. Now can we do it on the court, with our first ever Green player?
Game 1: vs Florida A&M
And that's a 58-68 loss to open the year. 16 points, 6 rebounds, a block and a steal for
Antony Holmberg, 14 points, 5 rebounds for
Earle Vega, and 10 points, 3 steals in his debut for
Trent Buckley.
Game 2: vs Quinnipiac
82-69 win, which is a record high for Citadel points scored in my time here!
Antony Holmberg fouls out, and
Colin Ogden steps up big off the bench, winning Player of the Game with 17 points, 13 rebounds.
Bobby Henry scores 15,
Earle Vega picks up 11 points, 5 rebounds, and
Trent Buckley is a perfect 6/6 for 14 points.
Game 3: @ Central Florida
This is evidently a Florida year or something. 63-81 loss, despite 20 points, 7 rebounds from
Antony Holmberg. 12 rebounds, a block and steal from
Andrew Peters. Just missing a double-double is
Bobby Henry with 12 points, 9 rebounds, and
Earle Vega scores 13.
Not the start I hoped for, but not terrible, either. Our longshot bid for
Joseph England ends in failure, as he chooses Cincinnati, but we stay perfect against Coastal Carolina with
Earnest Manion's commit.
Lifetime Recruiting Battles
Akron: 0-1
Cincinnati: 0-1
College of Charleston: 1-0
Coastal Carolina: 2-0
Davidson: 0-1
Georgia: 0-1
Maryland Eastern-Shore: 0-1
South Carolina: 0-1
UNC-Greensboro: 1-0
VCU: 0-1
Villanova: 0-1
Winthrop: 0-1
Not much of a shooter, obviously, but he'll be one of the better defensive forwards we have and a key piece going forward. We're not yet at the stage where we can redshirt guys, but when we are, he's a potential candidate.