Big changes have occurred since the ETSU men’s basketball team last played. Of course, as any fan knows, Zakee Wadood and Jerald Fields said goodbye to ETSU last semester and moved on to the Eurobasket League in Spain. These two put up some big numbers for the Bucs and aren’t replaceable.
With some big recruits ETSU was able to grab four new members to help the Bucs in their route to tournament glory.
“It is hard to replace those two (Wadood and Fields),” said ETSU coach Murry Bartow. “We do have four new guys, three are insiders, Sneed, Mitchell and Reed. All lack experience at this level. They will make mistakes.”
Junior Dillion Sneed is a 6-7 transfer from Colby Community College in Chicago. He averaged 6.7 points and 6.0 rebounds his sophomore season. Chris Mitchell is also a junior transfer, coming from Highland Community College, also in Chicago, who will post big numbers for the Bucs. Mitchell is a JuCo first team All-American, landing 17 points and 10.5 rebounds per game.
Two freshmen that are new to the team are Andrew Reed from Ridgewood High School in Florida and Canadian Greg Surmacz from Peterborough High School. Reed is an all-conference, all-county, and honorable mention all-state, who tallied an average of 15 points, 12 rebounds and 2.3 blocks his senior year.
Surmacz is the second leading scorer of all time at his alma mater where he averaged 30 points and 14 rebounds a game as a senior.
“We like the new guys,” Bartow said. “Chris Mitchell is an inside guy who can score and Dillion Sneed is a big strong inside guy who can do a little of everything. Andrew (Reed) is an exciting freshman athlete. We have to be patient with them.”
Tim Smith is hoping that these guys will be able to adjust quickly. “You have to take Zakee and Jerald out of there, no other guys will replace them,” Smith said. “(The new guys) will have to go out and place the best to their ability. They can just come in and do what they can do.”
As for the new guys, Andrew Reed is excited to be here. “(I’ll do) everything I can,” Reed said. “I will block shots, rebound, just an all out hustle.”
As for Sneed, he knows that there are big expectations for these four new guys, but is prepared to handle them.
“I put big expectations on myself,” Sneed said. “(ETSU) is a much faster pace; I can’t overwhelm everyone with my size. With Tim Smith on the team, I won’t have to score much, but I will do what the team needs … rebound, block, or shoot.”
The basketball team knows this is going to be a tough season, with a lot of expectations put on them.
As for falling short in the NCAA Tournament, Smith knows that what they are capable of.
“It’s motivating … we can get there, but not get past it,” Smith said. “It’s always in the back of our minds.”
Being Southern Conference champions back-to-back does give this year’s basketball team something to reach for. “The sky’s the limit, Sneed said. “(We) brought in a good recruiting class. We have to step in and keep rolling once we get going.