With fall season officially here, ETSU basketball season is around the corner. The men’s basketball team held their first practice of the season on Sept. 26.
“I thought for the first day, it was pretty average,” says head coach Steve Forbes.
The Bucs team this season consists of five seniors and juniors, one sophomore and three freshmen.
Packed with experience and maturity, three all-conference selections and previous all-freshman team, red-shirt senior Jeromy Rodriguez (Santiago, Dominican Republic), junior Bo Hodges (Nashville, Tennessee) and red-shirt junior Patrick Good (Johnson City, Tennessee) lead the Bucs as upperclassmen, as well as earning spots on the all-conference team.
The men’s team got some early play already, traveling to Europe in August for a 13-day trip with stops in Prague, Vienna, Munich and Budapest, with big exhibition wins over three local teams.
The Blue-Ribbon College Yearbook predicted the Bucs to be the favorite in the Southern Conference. Rodriguez took the honor of being named the preseason player of the year.
Last season the Bucs finished with a record of 24-10 and a 13-5 in conference play. They concluded their season with a loss in the semifinals in the SoCon tournament against Wofford, 81-72. The Bucs also competed in the College Insider Postseason tournament, falling to Green Bay in the first round 102-94.
Forbes leads the Bucs in his fifth season, compiling over 100 wins in his first four years, marking the most wins over a four-year period in the program’s history.
Basketball season is still a month away, but the Bucs are preparing for another good year.
The Bucs open with an exhibition game against Limestone on Fri., Nov. 1, at Freedom Hall. ETSU then hosts Newberry Wed., Nov. 6, to open the regular season.
