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Pilots ranked #2 in nation;
picked to win GCAC again

LSUS head men’s basketball coach Chad McDowell says the Pilots are “looking forward to another great season of exciting basketball.” He also has an answer for fans wondering how he plans to replace the handful of players he lost to graduation from the 2005-06 team that won the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular season and tournament championship trophies.

McDowell’s quick recruiting – three players from NCAA Division I schools and a JUCO standout – gained favor with a prestigious sports journal and his fellow GCAC coaches.

In early October, the Pilots captured the No. 2 spot in the Street & Smith’s Sports Annuals’ College Basketball Preview pre-season NAIA national ranking and were picked by GCAC coaches to win the conference championship for a third consecutive year. Street & Smith’s also picked LSUS senior guard Josh Porter as one of its five pre-season NAIA First Team All-Americans. A Shreveport native who played at Byrd and Southwood High Schools, Porter was an NAIA third-team All-American at the end of last season.

“This is a fitting tribute to the outstanding talent and character of our basketball players and our coaching staff,” commented LSUS Chancellor Vincent Marsala. “To have this level of success and recognition at the beginning of only their fourth season is simply phenomenal.”

Street & Smith’s also selected Kyile Byrd, an LSUS senior forward who transferred from UT-San Antonio, as an NAIA All-American honorable mention.

Byrd, a 6’6”, 235-pound senior forward from Grand Prairie, Texas, led the UT-SA Road Runners last year in three-point field goals, shooting 50 percent (23 of 45) from “downtown.”

Blake Whittle, a 6’6”, 212-pound senior guard from Baton Rouge, played last year for Lamar University. Appearing in 30 games, his field goal percentage was .408 (82-201) and he shot .377 (40-106) in three-pointers.

Clarke Jackson, a 6’3” guard from Centenary College, was a standout player at Southwood High School under McDowell, including a state championship game in 2002, and a 37-3 overall record in 2003. His .473 (43-of-96) shooting percentage from beyond the three-point line was a Centenary team high last year and was good enough to be ranked 5th in the Mid-Continent Athletic Conference.

Jamon Morris, a 6’5” post/forward from Fort Worth, played last season at Cedar Valley College in Lancaster, Texas, averaged 12.6 points and 7.5 rebounds a game for the Suns, while shooting 56 percent from the floor.

“With everyone healthy,” McDowell said, “we are as talented as we have ever been. We’re looking forward filling up ‘The Dock’ every home game as we did last year.”.