By Ryan Rogers
LSUsports.net
The Tiger backcourt is very young and inexperienced, but is extremely talented. The Tigers start fresh in the 1999-2000 season after losing its entire backcourt from a year ago with the graduation of Maurice Carter, and the departures of Omar Mance, Jamaal Wolfe, and Daryl Cooper.
With new faces like Lamont Roland, Torris Bright and Collis Temple III, the Tigers will have a new look this season. The Tigers have tremendous talent in the starting lineup. A lack of depth in the backcourt due to the Tigers scholarship limitations could be a problem, however.
Roland (6-4, 205) was a huge pickup for the Tigers. He comes to Baton Rouge after earning National Player of the Year honors on the junior college level at Barton County Community College (Kan.). He was on his way to play for the defending national champion UConn Huskies, when he changed his mind and headed to LSU. “I just felt it was a good fit for me at LSU”, said Roland.
Roland possesses tremendous range and will fill the void left by Carter. Where Roland will excel, however, is with his all-around complete game. He is a tremendous passer and can post up smaller defenders when given the opportunity. In addition, he is a tenacious defender and is not given enough credit in this area due to his explosive offensive capabilities.
Roland suffered a sprained ankle in the Tigers exhibition opener, but has since rejoined the team at practice and may even see some time in the Tigers home games against Grambling and SLU before they head off to Hawaii.
Torris Bright (6-4, 200) is also a great addition to this basketball team. One of the things that LSU head coach John Brady wanted to improve on was to was the Tigers assist to turnover ratio. Bright will help the Tigers accomplish this. The point guard area is one that we needed to address in the off-season, said Brady. We needed to improve our decision making and ball-handling ability and we feel like weve done that with Torris.
Last year consistency at point guard was a nice dream that never came true. The Tigers desperately needed to find a point guard. Bright was a highly sought after recruit coming out of Slidell High School. Bright averaged 33 points per game as a senior last year, including a well-documented 70-point effort last February. Bright is not a one dimensional point guard, however. He is also an excellent passer. He averaged 10 assist a game in high school. Under Brady’s system he is beginning to flourish as a point guard who distributes the ball very well. Look for Bright to quickly make a name for himself this year in the SEC.
Collis Temple III (6-6, 205) is back for his freshman season after missing all of last year with an injury. Good basketball bloodlines are in Temple’s favor. He is the son of Collis Temple Jr., an LSU basketball star in the mid-1970’s. The Tigers will count on Temple to backup at both the point guard and shooting guard positions. Already blessed with talent, Temple is developing into a better basketball player with every practice and has demonstrated the ability to stick the outside shot while making solid choices passing the ball.
The Tigers have two walk-on backup point guards in Brandon Landry (6-0, 175) and Edmond Davis (6-0, 185). The two will have to give the Tigers some minutes off the bench. Neither are big scoring threats, but they can step in and run the offense. Both will work very hard defensively too.
Jermaine Williams (6-6, 180), a natural forward by trade, will also see time at shooting guard for the Tigers. His versatility will give Brady another option if necessary and in Rolands absence, he will likely start at the two. The Tiger backcourt will need time to develop a rhythm. To begin the season it is important that they are able to get the ball to the Tigers inside weapons while they continue to develop. If the reserves step up and Roland and Bright start to flourish, this group could surprise a lot of people.