Dement Article, for those that care
Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2005 8:41 pmCarolinian - Sports
Issue: 6/21/05
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Dement preparing for a second tour of duty
By Brad Howell
UNCG men's head basketball coach Mike Dement has been hard at work trying to prepare his young team for the upcoming season. Since arriving in early April, Dement has been busy with numerous tasks, most notably, recruiting and scheduling.
"We still have some dates and things to finalize, but we're playing a very aggressive schedule for such a young team", Dement commented during a phone interview in early June. "We're playing Duke in the Coliseum, at NC State, at South Carolina, Vanderbilt, and at the BCA Classic at the University of Washington, so it is a very aggressive schedule."
Dement replaced Fran McCaffery who left to coach at Siena College after the end of the 2005 season. Dement may be new for this season, but he is no stranger to the program having coached the Spartans from 1991-95. He left in March of '95 to coach Southern Methodist University. With the Mustangs, Dement compiled a 138-120 record over nine seasons.
Despite the lack of senior leadership, Dement remains positive about UNCG's chances this year due to a plethora of experienced young players headlined by Kyle Hines and Ricky Hickman. "Our schedule may be a bit too aggressive given that the team is made of predominantly freshman and sophomores," said Dement.
"Ricky Hickman is the lone returning junior with playing experience, and first and foremost, things start with him and Kyle Hines. Those two guys have seen success and have college experience under their belt. Also, even though they're sophomores, Brian Beckford and Dwayne Johnson both have minutes under their belts, as well as Dustin Everette. Oleksiak is a guy that will be very important. He played some as a freshman and he will be a key guy that I will expect to step up and play a significant role."
Despite being burdened with the disadvantage of recruiting late, Dement feels good about the players that have committed. "David McClenny, a freshman from Ravenscroft, has a chance to play, and play a lot. Derrick Bernard has a chance to be a pretty good player, and Marc Campbell I think has a chance to run our team as a point-guard. But of course the drawback is going to be that they are so young playing against league-play that is much older. So there will be a real learning curve, but overall I feel good about this group."
Dement has surrounded himself with a pair of talented assistants in Brooks Lee and Rod Jenson. Jenson brings a wealth of experience to the table, having assisted at Virginia, Penn State, and the University of Redlands, while also serving time as head coach at Boise State in Idaho. Dement was very familiar with Jenson, having faced his Boise state teams during his tenure at SMU.
Lee is the son of retired Campbell University head coach Billy Lee. Brooks played two seasons at High Point before transferring to play for his father in 2002. Last year he assisted at East Carolina, serving as Director of Basketball Operations. Before that he was an assistant coach at Wofford in 2002-03.