By GARY STALLARD

AC Athletics

Basketball media days can be a mixed bag of coaches simultaneously praising opponents while downplaying their own teams' overall potential. It's part of the game: Keep the other guys guessing.

Wednesday was no different, as Region XIV basketball held its annual Media Day at Trinity Valley Community College in Athens. There, Angelina College Lady Roadrunner head coach Byron Coleman and Roadrunner head coach J.J. Montgomery offered their usual tips of the caps while discussing their teams.

In the coaches' pre-season poll, the Lady 'Runners are picked to finish third behind Trinity Valley and Tyler. The Roadrunner men are picked to finish in the third spot in the South Zone behind Lee College and Blinn College. AC's men received one first-place vote in the polls.

Coleman, up to the podium first, described last season's finish as a little disappointing. AC's ladies finished fourth in the conference and fell in the first round to a strong Panola College team.

"We definitely didn't finish the way we wanted to," Coleman told the crowd. "We lost to Panola in the first round, and they did a great job against us defensively.

"We needed to get better offensively," Coleman added. "We just couldn't score last year. We were third in the country in rebounding, and first in offensive rebounding, but we just could not put the ball in the basket. We feel we've changed some of that in our recruiting."

Coleman has just two players returning from the 2022-2023 campaign: Marie Kenembeni, who earned two-way All-American status and was a JUCO All-Star selection; and Makenzi Paul, an "athletic guard who is shooting the ball extremely well."

Coleman said several transfers will make an impact, including three-point shooter Amyria Walker; "spark plug" Janay Quinn; and Jade Fry, a physical presence in the paint and on the boards.

Freshmen Coleman mentioned include the 6'1" Maria Escobar from Colombia, whose rebounding and ball-handling skills make her a solid addition to Coleman's transition game.  

Coleman said the bottom line for his team will be how well – and how quickly – all the new faces mesh in learning his system.

"I'm really excited about our group, but we're waiting on another freshman or two to step up and fill some roles," Coleman said. "We're trying to step up our transition game so we can play fast, but right at the moment, we're not all running the same type of transition game. Once we get this down, we're going to be OK."

"We'll definitely see how this thing looks in March."

Montgomery's Roadrunners enter the new season with a considerably bigger advantage: The team is returning eight players, including all five starters from 2022-2023.

"I'm excited about our group this year," Montgomery said. "The experience is there. We also added four transfers, so we got a little bit older, and we've got some good freshmen coming in from the high school level."

Three of those returners include last season's All-Conference selections: Patrick Johnson, Kanaan Holder and Xavier Owens. In addition, board presence Nehikare Igiehon returns after missing much of last season.

New faces include the 7'1" Damjan Vukcevic from Serbia – "He'll bring some size and rebounding we didn't have last season" – along with combo guards E.J. Evans and Aaron Carter.

"He [Evans] is just a guy who can put the ball in the basket," Montgomery said. "We didn't have that last year. We had a good defense, but we just didn't have the guys we could go to when we needed a basket."     

Most of all, Montgomery said, he's liking what he's seeing in his squad's competitive nature. The team went 3-0 a series of scrimmages this past weekend in the Fort Worth Blowout, including a win over last season's fourth-ranked team in the nation.

"Overall, we've got a very experienced team, and we also have a couple of dogs, and we all know what that can bring to the table," Montgomery said. "We're looking forward to this year."

The Roadrunner men will host a home scrimmage against Jarvis College at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 18 at Shands Gymnasium. The 'Runners host their home opener against Strength and Motion at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 4.

The Lady Roadrunners open the regular season at Hill College on Nov. 1; AC's ladies will host their first home game at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 7.

To view full schedules, visit the AC Athletics web site at angelinaathletics.com.

The email address for AC's Sports Information Director is gstallard@angelina.edu.