49er backcourt solid
By Eric Boyum and Andres Cardenas
Daily Forty-Niner
It is a nice accolade to be forecast as
the top player in any conference.
It's even better to have a backcourt considered
the best as well.
LBSU's junior shooting guard Ramel "Rock"
Lloyd will anchor the backcourt and has been picked by many publications
to be the top player in the Big West Conference.
Joining him will be three players with
experience running the 49ers offense at the point guard position.
Senior Charles O'Neal, at 6-foot-3 and
sophomore Ron Johnson, 6-foot-1, give the 49ers two natural point guards
with Division I experience.
In addition, Antrone Lee has played the
position for the 49ers.
Last year, O'Neal dished out a team-high
58 assists and scored 9.2 points a game.
Morgan said that O'Neal has had health
problems over the off-season that could hinder him.
"He has been hurt off and on throughout
the preseason," Morgan said.
"We have our fingers crossed that he's
going to be able to play through the aches and pains."
Morgan said that Johnson is his most improved
player.
"He's bulked up, he's more mature and he
understands what we want," Morgan said.
"He is one of the hardest working guys
we have."
Johnson played in all 28 games and started
in seven of them last season.
Keith Felton is a 5-foot-10 guard who transferred
from Highlands Junior College.
Felton will help out in the backcourt as
a third guard and is a true team player, Morgan said.
"He's more interested in distributing the
ball than shooting," Morgan said.
But back to the cornerstone of the backcourt,
Lloyd.
Lindys Basketball Yearbook and The Sporting
News named him the pre-season Big West Conference Player of the Year.
However, Lloyd said he feels little pressure.
My talent will speak for itself," he said.
"It's just a matter of working hard and giving a constant effort for my
team."
LBSU Head Coach Wayne Morgan said he likes
Lloyd's strength and courage, but would like to see improvements from Lloyd.
"I'm expecting him to have better shot
selection with a year under his belt, to be more consistent and to become
more of a leader for us this year," Morgan said.
Lloyd is one of the strongest guards around
and is able to post his man up Morgan said.
"He is not afraid of anything or anybody,"
Morgan said.
Morgan recruited Lloyd to Syracuse when
he was an assistant there.
When Morgan left to take the LBSU head
job, Lloyd followed a year later.
After sitting out the 1997-98 campaign
following his transfer from Syracuse, Lloyd led the 49es in scoring and
finished third in the Big West Conference with 18 point per game.
He was named to the second team All-Big
West Conference team.
Lloyd was also named 49er Co-MVP with Mate
Milisa.
"I thought I could focus more out here,"
he said.
"I didn't know anybody, It was like a new
beginning."
Lloyd said anything short of a qualifying
for the NCAA tournament by winning the Big West tournament would be disappointing.
"It is really hard to talk about The Big
West Championship now, but I think it's our goal at the beginning of this
year," Lloyd said.
"Anything short of that, and we have underachieved
as a team."
Morgan has added one more secret weapon
to the 49ers backcourt this year.
Brad Smith is a 6-foot-4 guard, who transferred
from Cypress Junior College.
An outside three-point threat, Smith made
73 three-pointers in 30 games as a sophomore and 72 three-pointers as a
freshman for the Chargers.
With all of these weapons, the 49ers' backcourt
is solid. |
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