Eagles still sorting out starting five

By Gary McCann - gmccann@heraldonline.com

It came as no surprise that one of the first questions Winthrop coach Randy Peele had to field at his first weekly basketball luncheon on Monday was this.

“Coach, who you gonna start?”

After 20 practices and scrimmages against UNC Wilmington and Wofford, Peele wasn't ready to make a commitment about which five will be introduced when the Eagles open the season at home on Saturday against Limestone.

“Good question, isn't it?” he said, smiling at questioner. “I wouldn't be surprised if Joe Mantesta started.”

Joe Mantesta is the Eagles' senior manager and has been known to drop a shot or two after practice. Peele was kidding, of course, but after last season when the Eagles made a frigid 41 percent of their shots overall and 28 percent from 3-point range, he might be willing to look anywhere if the shots don't fall this time around.

Through three weeks of practice, Peele says the competition for playing time and the chance to take — and hopefully make — some shots is still going strong.

“I've got to get away from that word ‘starter,'” Peele said later during his radio show. “It bothers me.”

Peele acknowledged that freshman Robbie Dreher, junior George Valentine, sophomore Andre Jones, sophomore transfer Matt Morgan, senior Mantoris Robinson and sophomore point guard Reggie Middleton have had their moments. He called the 6-foot-8 Valentine the team's most improved player, said Robinson had worked extremely hard, that Jones is better with the ball and that Morgan could be the team's best inside threat.

Peele even said for the first time during his morning meeting with his assistants that he's pondering playing a small lineup, a style he doesn't enthusiastically embrace, which would include Dreher, Jones, Middleton, Robinson and a big guy in the middle.

Perhaps it's a good thing that this late into practice, Peele isn't ready to set anything into stone. He has a deeper, more athletic team and so far not many players have separated themselves from the pack. That could also be a bad thing, considering the season opener is almost here and the Eagles are facing a road game at College of Charleston next Tuesday, a home game with USC Upstate Nov. 21 and a road trip to Clemson two days later.

“There are a lot of things we can do with this ballclub,” he said.

But with the opener four days away, the major question with this team remains — can the Eagles make a shot? At least early on, Peele knows what that will mean.

“If I'm coaching against us,” he said, “I'm going to sit in a zone and say ‘Show me the money.' Our No. 1 concern is we've got to make shots.”

The Eagles, he said, had a mixed bag of results in the scrimmages at UNC Wilmington on Oct. 31 and Sunday at Wofford. Peele said he purposely took the Eagles on the road for both in order to show his team “how hard it is to win.”

Bright spots at UNCW were the fact the Eagles won the segment when the teams played zone defense and that coach Benny Moss later told Peele his Seahawks couldn't contain Middleton. There were too many defensive lapses and the ball-handling wasn't the best.

The Eagles played Wofford, a team picked to finish third in the South Division of the Southern Conference, about even, with good performances turned in by Dreher and 6-9 Andy Buechert. But Peele said the team's interior defense was lacking and that overall shooting wasn't the best.

Generally, Peele has had few surprises.

“This is a time to figure out who you're going to play,” Peele said, “and what weaknesses your team has. This team's got a lot of potential.”

And, of course, one other question came up. Peele was asked his expectations for this team coming off last year's 11-19 season, the program's first losing record since the 1997-98 season.

“That's a great question,” he said. “We always have a long-term and short-term goals. The long-term is to get to the NCAA tournament with a chance to win. I'll say that every year. In the short term, we concentrate each day on the things we need to improve.”

And picking a first five.

“The bottom line is we've got four more days of practice,” Peele said.