Tulsa celebrates the start of men's basketball practice with Friday night's "Hoopfest," a free scrimmage open to the public. The hour-long event will start at 8:30 p.m. at the Reynolds Center. It will include contests and an autograph session.
It is the first time the Golden Hurricane has had an opening day scrimmage since the beginning of the 2005-06 season. "The timing of homecoming coinciding with the start of practice is a perfect time (for the scrimmage)," TU coach Doug Wojcik said. "While the fans know a lot of our players, there is a lot of anticipation with the players that sat out last year and the hype that the new freshmen have received." Three questions 1) With the departure of Ben Uzoh and Jerome Jordan, who is expected to assume leadership? Senior Justin Hurtt and redshirt junior Steven Idlet have been named captains. It's a good move, considering both are entering their fourth season in the program. There's also on-court credibility. Both are projected on nbadraft.net's draft board as second-round picks (Hurtt in 2011, Idlet in 2012). Hurtt is also a first-team selection to the Conference USA preseason team and Idlet is the reigning co-sixth man of the year. 2) How important is Donte Medder's health? Medder tore his ACL during the Conference USA Tournament last March when he was playing his best basketball. TU coach Doug Wojcik said Medder has been going through individual workouts the past few weeks and will be ready for the opening of practice. TU will look to Medder to fill Uzoh's point guard spot. 3) How different is this team from last year, and how important is building chemistry? Seven different players will be available this year, but four - Glenn Andrews (medical redshirt), Scottie Haralson (transfer), D.J. Magley (transfer) and Kodi Maduka (redshirt) - were members of the team last season. Freshmen Blondy Baruti, Jordan Clarkson and Tim Peete will be introduced this year. Chemistry is important with any basketball team, but what helps TU is the four returning players know what is expected. Wojcik has been impressed with the basketball IQ of the freshmen and expects them to get acclimated quickly.
