ETSU men’s basketball head coach Murry Bartow said that his top-ranked Buccaneers would probably not face a bigger team, size wise, than Global Sports, who defeated them narrowly last Monday.
That’s good news, as the Bucs are trying to get back to the NCAA tournament for the seventh time in school history. Another positive is having a head coach with the credentials to lead ETSU back to greatness again.
Bartow most recently served as head coach for the University of Alabama-Birmingham from 1996-2002. During his tenure at UAB, he led them to one NCAA tournament birth and two appearances in the NIT.
But Bartow does not really feel any pressure because he’s beaten college coaching great Jerry “Tark the Shark” Tarkanian’s teams before. He has also beaten Division I teams such as Florida, UNLV, Fresno State, Missouri, Louisville and Marquette.
“We have got good players and we have high expectations of them,” Bartow said. “We have a good group of core guys. If they can stay healthy, we have a chance to have a good year.”
ETSU has been picked to finish at the top of the North Division in the SoCon. They are picked right above SoCon runners-up UT-Chattanooga. In the South Division, College of Charleston is picked to be number one.
The Bucs are a deep team. Bartow believes they can go eight or nine players deep if they have to.
“I have a lot of confidence in our bench,” he said. “James Anthony, Michael Tolliver and Sam Oatman have done some good things in the past. James has had some good strong performances in big game.”
Not only is the Bucs’ bench looking to be one of the best, but their starting five are golden.
SoCon player of the year Zakee Wadood and Jerald Fields will dominate the Bucs’ frontcourt.
Both Wadood and Fields are on the brink of eclipsing the 1,000 – point mark for their careers. The two have rewritten the ETSU record books for single-season and career blocks, and both have ranked at the top of the SoCon in rebounding the last two seasons.
In the backcourt, sophomore standout Tim Smith is on target to wow fans again this season. Smith, nicknamed “Tiny” Tim by the Associated Press during the NCAA tournament, scored 15.3 points per game last season.
He was among the nation’s best in steals with 2.4 per game. He was freshman of the year in the SoCon and the SoCon tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.
“We are doing good keeping the intensity up this year,” said Smith, who wants not only to return to the big dance, but has hopes of being in the top 25 this season.
“We want to start off strong early and end up strong. I think we can end up in the top 25 if we win early.”
One of those players Bartow is looking to come off the bench strongly is Michael Tolliver. Tolliver is a 6-foot-3 junior guard who was rarely used under DeChellis, but Bartow has already said he plans to change that.
“I’ve worked hard in the off season,” Tolliver said. “I can come off the bench and knock down some threes and play tough defense.” He also said he believes that he’s not just a defensive or offensive player but a balanced one.
Junior guard James Anthony, one of the key contributors to Bucs late last year, is ready to play the big games.
“I feed off of the big teams,” Anthony said. “Our whole team feeds off of playing big teams.” Anthony has surrounded himself with great players.
In his hometown of Tampa, Fla., he practiced this summer with friends who play for top programs such as Illinois and Ohio State.
Wadood knows his team is good, but as a team captain, he wants confidence, not arrogance.
“I think we are pretty good but it’s not arrogance,” Wadood said. “We are confident that we can play with anybody.”
The Bucs start out with a tough schedule as they head down to Texas to play Houston on Nov. 21 and Bobby Knight’s Texas Tech team Nov. 23. The Bucs then return home to play against Mars Hill for their home opener on Nov. 25.

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