The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

ONE of six lettermen to return this season for the Houston Cougars basketball programme and one of two Bahamians on the roster, Danrad Knowles will be a player head coach Kelvin Sampson will depend on as the team looks to contend in the American Athletic Conference.

The Cougars hosted local media day this week and Knowles’ improvement in the offseason was a major topic of conversation for Sampson.

“The thing I’ve observed with Chicken is just getting into the gym working on his game. Not every kid loves basketball. There are some that love to play but very few that love to work. There’s a big difference in those two areas. I do think he’s a better player. Sometimes a guy like Chicken forgets to compete. He wanders and his mind wanders instead of focusing on competing,” he said.

Knowles averaged 9.9 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, third on the team in both categories, despite playing out of position many times at the centre.

“We were putting guys in positions that they shouldn’t have been in. For instance, Chicken didn’t sign up to play the five spot. That just gives you the difference in our personnel. We’ve got guys in the right position,” Sampson said. “Chicken should be defending guys on the perimeter or mid-post, not to say he won’t play there. If we were to go small, maybe we would play Chicken there... who knows? He’s not going to stay at the five spot.”

Knowles, the 6’ 10” 210 pound junior, said the team’s depth and leadership should help them to improve from last year’s team, which recorded 13 wins, fell in the second round of their conference tournament and did not advance to the NCAA tournament.

“Everybody has the same mindset that they want to get better,” he said. “Everybody wants to be a leader at this point. Everybody has been pushing themselves pretty hard. We have more players and more depth. We’re more talented. We have 13 guys that can actually play, it’s a big difference.”

Point guard LJ Rose, son of Bahamian basketball great Lynden Rose, has experienced injury issues for the past two seasons.

Playing with Team Bahamas at the 2014 Caribbean Basketball Confederation Championships,  Rose sustained an ankle injury which hampered him for much of his sophomore year. He finished with 9.8 points, 5.3 assists and 2.5 rebounds per game, but has just recently been cleared to practice.

“This time last year, we didn’t have a point guard. LJ had come off his second broken bone in his foot, and I don’t think we got hit until mid-December. Right now, I have two point guards who can start. Galen Robinson could absolutely start at point guard for this team but so could Ronnie Johnson. LJ hasn’t practiced yet because he’s still going through conditioning. He just got cleared to do stuff on Sunday, so we really haven’t seen him yet,” Sampson said.

Sampson, who took over the Cougars’ programme following the departure of James Dickey last summer, said both Bahamian players will add to the team’s depth this season.

“We have 10 guys that I feel comfortable putting in a basketball game but I think what really helps us is practice. Last year we finished the season with seven scholarship players and although that team won four in a row down the stretch. Sometimes it felt like we were getting better and the way you get better, especially in college basketball, is through competition and practice. What I’m excited about is how we’re competing and practicing everyday,” Sampson said. “We try to instil the most important thing at this time of year because this is when you form your identity. Every team is going to be known for something. The good thing about this time of year is that we get to determine what that something is and, for us, we want it to be really competitive.”