When Rick Pryor assembles his team for practice Saturday, he’ll see something he hasn’t seen in his three previous years as coach: a squad all his own.
“One of the reasons I’m optimistic about this season is that for the first time this will be all guys that I brought in,” said Pryor, who hopes to rebound from a 4-23 disaster. “These players are all from winning backgrounds. It’s a good group.”
The Cougars should be strongest in the backcourt, where leading scorer Jason Hodges (15.5 points a game) and Ryon Malone hold forth. Among the holdovers who will vie for playing time up are 6-4 Desmond Rice, 6-7 Reggie Ward and 6-7 Tyrone Maxey.
Three newcomers-guard Jasmine Bradford, 6-5 forward Coleco Buie and 6-6 forward Corey Billups-also will get a long look during practice.
A few former players will be missed, notably guard Lee Sims, who averaged 14.6 points, and forward Frank Thames, who averaged 9.6 points and a team-high 5.1 rebounds.
Chicago State begins play this season in the East Coast Conference, with a Jan. 13 home game against Northeastern Illinois the official tipoff. Before then, the Cougars have some difficult non-conference assisgnments, including their opener Nov. 27 at De Paul, road games against Illinois and Cincinnati and home games against Bradley and Utah.
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