By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN, Advocate sportswriter
The guy enjoying the start of Southern’s basketball season most is easily senior guard Joe Holliday.
There’s the smile. There’s the bounce in his step. There’s the command and excitement as he calls out to or congratulates teammates.
Holliday missed all of last season with a hip condition — rheumatoid arthritis amid the ball-and-socket joint.
His season ended in late January after playing in just four Southwestern Athletic Conference games.
“It’s a blessing to be back,” Holliday said. “I’m taking it one day at a time. &hellip I have to make the best of it. I should last the whole year.”
A year ago, Holliday, a former Lee High standout, had transferred from Copiah-Lincoln Community College and was expected to make a big difference.
Instead, he played in 15 games, starting just two, and averaged 5.0 points and 2.0 rebounds per game as Southern went 10-21.
“I felt like I was just taking up space last year,” Holliday said. “I’m not for that. It hurt.
“Last year, it was very painful sitting on the end of the bench. I want to just make a difference. That’s all I really want to do.”
For three months, Holliday was more out of than in the lineup, and finally the decision was made to let him rest.
“The pains were too sharp for me,” Holliday said.
Holliday started running and playing some in April and then played in a YMCA summer league.
Photo: Senior Joe Holliday is happy to be playing in 07/08.
Though Holliday, 23, likely will eventually need hip replacement surgery within a few years, he said he’s doing much better. The rest helped, and so has a disciplined regimen of stretches and hip thrusts.
“I’ve got my movement back, my coordination back,” Holliday said. “I’m extremely happy. I feel my game has gotten better.
“As long as it’s not bothering me, I’ll keep on pushing.”
He said he’s lost about 15-20 pounds from last season.
“Just to see him out doing what he’s doing right now is encouraging for me, and I’m hoping we can get him through the year, where he can play full speed,” SU coach Rob Spivery said. “If so, it’s obvious he’s going to be able to help us out. So far, so good with him.
“He’s got the quickness we’re looking for at that position. He can shoot it. That’s what we missed last year. We brought him in expecting that. When he wasn’t able to go, we lost a lot.”
SU begins Nov. 10 at Southern Methodist. The Jaguars also have an exhibition Nov. 3 against Tougaloo College.
“It’s life,” Holliday said. “You just make the best of it.”
Just once
SU, which had “Early Night Madness” on Friday night, had scheduled two two-hour practices Saturday, but Spivery instead opted to stretch the first one to three hours and not go another practice.
“I thought we working well,” Spivery said. “And any time it’s going well, you hate to quit, so we threw it all into one.”
SU returns to practice Monday.
Wollman transfers, sits
Walk-on guard McCall Wollman, a transfer from Division III George Fox University in Newbert, Ore., can practice but will not play this season.
Wollman is likely the first white men’s basketball player at Southern.
“In our recruiting, if we can find and diversify our team, that’s what we want to do,” Spivery said. “It’s just a matter of being able to identify the guys to recruit. He wanted to be here. That’s a good start.”
Talley commits
Duncanville (Texas) senior point guard Brian Talley has committed to Southern.
If Talley signs in the early period, which begins Nov. 14, that could conclude Southern’s signing class.
The Jaguars aren’t expected to have any more scholarships available for next season.
SU will lose only two seniors after this season — Holliday and center Joseph Jack. Guard Geri Guillory, listed as a senior, is expected to earn a fourth season of eligibility and return.
Talley, 5-foot-9, averaged 7.7 points and 3.5 assists as Duncanville went 39-0 and won the 5A state championship.
According to the Dallas Morning News, Talley chose SU over Boise State, Florida Atlantic, Prairie View A&M, North Texas and Wichita State.
Notes
Junior college transfer Earnest Jones, a small forward, will be out at least another week with a stress fracture in his lower left leg. Walk-on sophomore forward Derrick Richardson, a former Capitol player who went to Copiah-Lincoln Community College, will have knee surgery Oct. 19 and miss this season. He’ll get a medical redshirt.
They all gathered at a restaurant on Coursey Boulevard to celebrate a championship, eat some food and find out where they’ll play in the big dance. Yet as the Southern women’s basketball team watched ESPN on Monday night, waiting to learn their first-round matchup in the NCAA tournament, their banquet room erupted well before the Jaguars saw their school name on the TV screen, paired with Connecticut — the No. 1 team in the nation, winner of 72 straight games and the reigning national champion.
