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Breds ready to run

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Kentucky State men’s basketball coach Clarence Moore, right, talks with Patrick Dawson during Media Day Tuesday. Moore is entering his second season as interim head coach after taking over for Thomas Patterson midway through last season. (State Journal/Kelly Mackey)

Entering the 2009-10 season, the Kentucky State men’s basketball team is undersized, undermanned and under the guidance of an inexperienced coach.

So why do the Thorobreds’ seem so excited for the Nov. 24 season opener against Claflin University?

“We’re going to run and gun,” senior center Parysh Munroe said, “like the Phoenix Suns.”

With only nine players on the squad to begin the season and only three players that saw action on the team last year, K-State plans on showcasing an up-tempo brand of basketball this season to capitalize on its team speed.

“We’ll be getting up and down a lot,” said senior guard Jarrod Gay, the Thorobreds’ leading returning scorer.

“We’ll be playing a lot of man-to-man full court and just pick up the pressure and intensity of the game.”

KSU coach Clarence Moore returns for his second season at the helm after taking over as interim coach midway through last season when former Thorobred coach Thomas Patterson left the team.

The Thorobreds won seven of their nine games last season under the direction of the 28-year-old Moore and finished the season 11^th in the SIAC with a 7-17 conference record.

K-State returns two players taller than 6-5 in Alex Somerville (6-foot-9) and Munroe (6-foot-7), seemingly putting the Thorobreds at a severe disadvantage in the paint.

Moore, a member of the 2003-04 Georgia Tech team that lost to Connecticut in the national championship game, sees it a bit differently.

“The year that we went to the Final Four we were undersized and ended up playing in the national championship game,” he said. “It can be done, they’re doing it all over the country.”

For the scheme to work, K-State will lean heavily on its guards, including former Ballard player Tony Johnson, who is back with the team after not playing last year.

“He’s a good floor general, gets the guys into sets,” Moore said. “He’s very aggressive on offense.”

Johnson, who admitted to having his differences with the departed Patterson, said he’s just glad to be back playing basketball.

“When I didn’t play last year it was the worst year of my life,” he said.

“Me and Coach Moore, we see eye-to-eye. We fit right together like a puzzle.”

The team also welcomes two freshmen from Finneytown High School in Cincinnati into its wings. Moore said guard Patrick Dawson and forward Jabari Wright will bolster the Thorobreds’ ranks right away.

“It takes some adjusting,” he said. “They won’t just get out of the gates running. Hopefully by January they’ll start finding a rhythm and really start coming on strong for us.”

As a young coach, Moore said he consults his father-in-law, former Louisville basketball player and assistant coach Wade Houston, when seeking guidance.

Houston will be serving as a volunteer assistant on staff and attending K-State’s home games this year.

“He’s really been the backbone to a lot of things,” Moore said. “A lot of the questions I have as a young coach he answers because he has a lot of knowledge.”

Though not much older than his players, Moore seems to have gained the respect and trust of his players – a dynamic that was missing at times last season.

“Because he is younger he knows how the game has changed and he knows what it takes to get to that national championship level,” Gay said.

“It’s more like a big brother telling you what you have to do than a father figure telling you it has to be this way. The big brother is more understandable.”

Solid team chemistry may play a critical factor in how much progress this team makes during the season.

Moore said he’s not expecting to hang any banners, but hopes this team can lay a foundation for future success.

“I’ve always told the guys the only thing I want to see is energy and effort,” he said. “If I see that then I know we have a shot of being in any game.”