Mocs’ Paris has big challenge in next month
What does Lamont Paris need in recruiting?
A lot.
Paris begins his second week as the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball coach with more questions than he had when he stepped to the podium upon his introduction on April 4.
Three-star prospect guards Jalen Crutcher and Terry Nolan Jr. immediately asked for releases from their letters of intent after the announcement of Paris as head coach. The coach met with Crutcher on Thursday and Nolan on Sunday, and while the meetings were described as “good” by a source, it wasn’t enough to sway either.
UTC released both Monday afternoon.
“I don’t think there was anything Paris could have said to change their minds,” a source said.
Nolan had developed a strong relationship with former UTC assistant Kevin Easley, who wasn’t retained.
Additionally, two sources told the Times Free Press that Chuck Ester likely will not play for the Mocs next season. The 6-foot7 forward, widely considered UTC’s best player coming out of the preseason last year, tore his ACL and missed the entire 201617 season. He averaged 7.7 points and 4.9 rebounds as a junior, and his presence on both ends of the
floor was vital to the team’s 2016 NCAA tournament run.
He’s a versatile all-around player who can dribble, pass and shoot and can guard multiple positions, and his length would have been valuable at the front of the press this past season.
Ester would have to apply to the NCAA to be granted a sixth
year of eligibility, based off a nonmedical redshirt season at East Mississippi Junior College in 2012-13 and last season’s redshirt due to the injury. The previous coaching staff felt good about his chances of receiving that final year.
His loss would leave the Mocs with nine scholarship players
on the eve of April’s national signing day. The signing period doesn’t end until May 17, so Paris will have a month to find quality players to fill four scholarship spots.
The biggest, most glaring immediate need will be a backup point guard. Sophomore Rodney Chatman came on strong at the end of his freshman campaign — averaging 7.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists in three starts at the end of the season — but the most likely replacements for him off the bench would be sophomore Makale Foreman or redshirt freshman David Jean-Baptiste, both of whom are better suited to play off the ball.
Foreman was a pretty good shooter from 3-point range (33 percent) and Jean-Baptiste, redshirt sophomore Andrew Fleming — a transfer from Iowa — and junior walk-on Dylan Brewster are all capable shooters, but another shooter or two to fit Paris’s style of play is necessary.
There’s plenty of size on the roster, but not a lot of experience. Makinde London could provide matchup problems with his 6-11 height and outside shooting ability, but another versatile big could be useful. Incoming junior college transfer Joan Duran could fit that bill, having shown an ability to score from long range, and while incoming freshman Demarcus Mitchell has a solid build, he was considered a “down the road” player who would be really good later in his career.
Paris has been known as a really good recruiter who poached the likes of Nigel Hayes and Vitto Brown out of the state of Ohio to play at Wisconsin.
He’ll have to be that same guy for the next month at UTC.
Contact Gene Henley at ghen ley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.