Catawba men picked to finish No. 1 in basketball

HICKORY— Most coaches will tell you they’d rather have a root canal than be picked first in a preseason poll.

Not Catawba’s Jim Baker. Getting to the root of the matter, his men’s basketball team won the South Atlantic Conference regular season and tournament titles last year and returns all but one of the key components, Ned Gusic, who is currently playing in Italy.

“We’ve been picked No. 1 in the league before,” the eighth-year coach said matter-of-factly.

Carson-Newman and Wingate return several All-SAC players. Presbyterian is well-coached. But on paper, no one looks as good as the Indians, who are predicted by many to better last year’s 25-5 record.

The SAC held its annual press conference Thursday and Baker seemed to relish his team’s preseason status.

“I think it helps your kids focus and concentrate more,” he said. “The optimism helps the kids because everybody’s going to come at you.”

With returning guards Kevin Petty and Duke Phipps, to go with front-liners 6-6 Terrence Hamilton, 6-6 Bryan Carter and 6-10 Alex Luyk, the Indians should be able to handle the pressure.

“You really don’t know how the kids are going to react,” said Baker, whose overall record at his alma mater is 138-63. “Our kids grew up a lot last year. I think you’re going to see a different type of player.”

Baker has been in the SAC long enough to know nothing’s set in stone. Wingate, Carson-Newman and Presbyterian were picked 2-3-4 by the coaches.

“Any of us four could get it done,” he said. “I have a lot of respect for the coaches. I’ve had the chance to be at several different levels and the level in our conference is second to none.”

Baker has a formula for repeating.

“You’ve got to take care of the seven games at home,” he said. “And you need to go 4-3 on the road. If you look back at the other two times we’ve won the league, we were 10-4 or 11-3.

“Look at any league. You’re going to lose one or two on the road. You’ve got travel, hostile environments, stick a few bad calls in there, sickness, injury ... but you can’t go .500.”

Luyk and Phipps are just sophomores. Petty and Carter are juniors. Hamilton is a senior.

The key may be how Hamilton bounces back from a broken leg, suffered early in the season in a loss at Wingate, perhaps the toughest place in the SAC to play.

“When he couldn’t play, he was lifting, so he’s bigger and stronger,” Baker said of the popular “T-Ham.”

He also said Carter may play more outside so Hamilton and Luyk can man the inside.

But the Indians will definitely be challenged.

“You look at everyone’s roster and there’s 3-4 starters returning,” Baker said. “And 80 percent of their offense. It’s going to be tough.”

After the top four, the coaches chose Lenoir-Rhyne fifth, followed by Newberry, Tusculum and Mars Hill.

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Contact Ronnie Gallagher at 704-797-4256 or rgallagher@salisburypost.com