basketball preview 2013-2014 season [men's]

By Dan Elledge     11/5/13 6:00pm

The Rice University men's basketball team is ready to kick-start the season and will host the University of St. Thomas at 2 p.m. this Saturday in Tudor Fieldhouse.

 Freshman shooting guard Marcus Jackson said he could hardly contain his excitement and is more than ready to put on his sneakers for the first time in his college career. 

 "I'm pretty excited," Jackson said. "I just pretty much want the season to be here now. It's getting so close, I can feel it. I just want it to be here."

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The Owls are coming off a rough 5-26 campaign last year, including a 1-15 record in conference play. One of Conference USA's players to watch, sophomore point guard Max Guercy, said that as painful as last year's experience was, he feels it was a necessary learning period for the team and that the Owls will be better for it.

 "Last year was definitely a learning experience," Guercy said. "We definitely had our downs during the season. I believe [in] the returners; we are not going to throw away the past, and we are going to use it as motivation coming into this year. We definitely know what the feeling was like on the other side and we want to bring some wins to the program and start a winning tradition."

Jackson said this year's team will be different because of the added depth from the incoming freshman class. Jackson said the additional talent will go a long way in helping the Owls succeed this year.

"For one, we were a lot bigger than we were last year," Jackson said. "[Last year's team] did not really have any depth, and they got tired in a lot of games, so they kind of faded out in the end just [because] of depth. I think this year, with seven freshmen and also [redshirt freshman guard Nizar Kapic], we have a lot of depth at each position."

Guercy said despite the team's struggles last year, this year's squad is talented. He is confident the Owls can do something special and possibly end Rice's 43-year NCAA tournament drought.

"First, my goal and most of the guys' [goal] is that we want to make it to the NCAA tournament," Guercy said. "That's always going to be a goal of our program. I believe we have the pieces to do it this year along with the incoming freshmen."

While not as far-reaching as Guercy, Braun said he expects the team to improve in multiple categories and to be a factor in conference play.

"We want to get back to [improving and making] sure our team is getting better game to game and day to day," Braun said. "We want to be competitive in our new league. Although Memphis is out and certainly that's a loss to our conference, the other teams coming into the conference are a gain because they are bringing in more wins and more postseason experience." 

The Owls feature eight freshmen this season with only two seniors, guard Austin Ramljak and forward Bahrom Firozgary on the roster. 

Jackson said there are ups and downs for both him and the team, but the team is growing every day as the season quickly approaches.             

"Team-wise, we are getting better and better each day," Jackson said. "I'm really proud of my teammates because we have practiced really, really hard and done everything [Head Coach Ben Braun] has given us, and we have been perfecting it."

 Jackson said leadership is necessary for Rice to succeed. He said that many of the upperclassmen have helped him and the other freshmen get acclimated to the college game. He feels that junior forward Seth Gearhart, junior guard Dan Peera, Guercy and Ramljak have been the true leaders of this team from the start.

"I definitely see [Ramljak], [Gearhart] and [Guercy] and also [Peera]... [as] big-time leaders because they are vocal, and they know what to say," Jackson said. "They are [really] familiar with the team concept, and they help the freshmen out a lot."

Braun said leadership is necessary for the freshmen to succeed in their first year, and he thinks the upperclassmen have done a tremendous job helping the new players get ready for the upcoming season.

"Having a young team, it's imperative that you get leadership and it's good to see some of our upperclassmen starting to step forward, whether it's Max Guercy or Seth Gearhart showing the big guys the ropes and helping them with defense."

While a youthful team can be seen as a negative thing, both Jackson and Guercy said they see it as a potential positive. Jackson said the freshmen are not afraid of the increased level of competition, so they will be ready from the opening tip.

"We don't know what to expect yet, but I think we will be all right," Jackson said. "I think we are a pretty talented freshman group, and I think a lot of the freshmen have played big games in the lights, so I think we are pretty prepared."

Guercy said the freshmen cannot just sit on the sidelines and watch their first season. He said they need to get out there and contribute immediately. Guercy said he does not see the Owls making it to the coveted NCAA tournament without strong contributions from the freshmen. 

"I expect all seven of our freshmen to come in and contribute to the team," Guercy said. "With the returners and the incoming freshmen, we have experience and youth at the same time. That's going to help us go [on] this journey throughout the season."

Braun said the team is brimming with confidence heading into the season opener, which is something he hopes they will keep up throughout the season. He feels that confidence will be the key to bringing success to the program.

"There is nobody that can take away our confidence," Braun said. "We have to go out there and earn it by repetition in practice. We have to go out and get that confidence. Once we do that, it does not matter whether you are young or older, [we've] got to get over the [pain] of last year and [move] on to this year and [see] this as a new season."

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