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Coaches pick Rush 2nd; Coleman preseason All-GCAC

Xavier's Sydney Coleman

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana narrowly missed the top spot in the 2014-15 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference preseason men's basketball coaches poll announced Thursday, and XU senior Sydney Coleman was named to the preseason All-GCAC team.

The Gold Rush, 23-9 last season and winner of the last three GCAC regular-season championships, received 2 1/2 first-place votes and 53 points to finish second in the poll. Talladega, the 2014 GCAC Tournament champion, is the preseason favorite after receiving 3 1/2 first-place votes and 54 points. Philander Smith was third with 52 points and received the other two first-place votes.

It's the seventh time in eight seasons that the Gold Rush were picked second or higher.

Coleman, a 6-foot-7 forward from Meridian, Miss., and a graduate of Meridian High School, averaged 12.9 points and a team-leading 6.9 rebounds last season, his first at Xavier. Coleman also led the team with a .543 field-goal percentage and 28 blocked shots, and he was the only XU player to start all 32 games.

Talladega senior guard Brandon Peters was named preseason GCAC Player of the Year. Also named preseason All-GCAC were Nathaniel Hill of Edward Waters, Ronald March of Philander Smith and Charles Winborne of Talladega. Xavier's Morris Wright did not make the team but received votes.

Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Men's Basketball
2014-15 Preseason Coaches Poll
(first-place votes in parentheses)

No. School Points
1. Talladega (3 1/2) 54
2. Xavier (2 1/2) 53
3. Philander Smith (2) 52
4. Edward Waters 38
5. SUNO 35
6. Tougaloo 20
7. Dillard 15
8. Voorhees 14

Xavier in previous GCAC polls
2013-14 — 1st
2012-13 — 1st
2011-12 — 1st
2010-11 — 1st
2009-10 — 2nd
2008-09 — 1st
2007-08 — 2nd
2006-07 — 3rd
2004-05 — 1st
2003-04 — 2nd
2002-03 — 2nd
2001-02 — 1st
1999-2000 — 1st
1993-94 — 1st

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director

XULAATHLETICS

HBCUs boast several intriguing NFL prospects

ESPN, USA -- If you have been following the NFL draft over the last few years, there haven’t been very many black college football players taken in the draft. But that’s not an accurate reflection of the talented players coming from HBCU football.

In the past three years, the NFL has received some quality players from the HBCU ranks such as Terron Armstead (New Orleans Saints, Arkansas-Pine Bluff), Larry Donnell (New York Giants, Grambling State), Chris Baker (Washington Redskins, Hampton), Ryan Davis(Jacksonville Jaguars, Bethune-Cookman) and Isaiah Crowell (Cleveland Browns, Alabama State). The MEAC and SWAC have a number of available prospects for the 2015 draft.

These players should receive invitations to the NFL combine as well as the college all-star games to showcase their skills in front of the pro scouts and general managers. Of course, they will have an opportunity to display their talents during the NFL pro days. Right now, it’s time to get an early look at some of the top HBCU players.

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Chesterfield programs producing leaders on the field at NSU

NORFOLK, Virginia -- Norfolk State, just two hours down I-64, is a FCS (Football Champion Subdivision) school in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). They have a huge recruiting presence in Virginia, as they should, pulling in prospects from all over the state. They currently have five athletes rostered from the Chester area.

Saturday I attended Norfolk State’s homecoming, an overtime loss to Delaware State 13-10. Despite the loss, the showmanship of the celebration included band and dancer alumni being invited onto the field for a halftime performance and the burning of the mortgage note for William Price Stadium.

Here are the five players currently attending Norfolk State from our area, how they got there and what they’re doing at the next level.

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FAMU Rattlers feeling disrespected as homecoming opponent

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TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- When the subject of FAMU's homecoming loss to Howard University three years ago came up, kicker Chase Varnadore smiled.

It was his way of disguising the angst he still feels when he thinks about the amazing comeback by the Bison in a shocking 29-28 comeback victory. Howard repeated the feat again a year ago.

FAMU gets a chance for a little revenge when the two teams meet Saturday at Green Stadium in Washington, D.C.

But the revenge factor isn't all that's driving the Rattlers. The match-up will be the second time they'll play as another team's homecoming opponent this season. They'll also be homecoming opponents for North Carolina A&T a week later.

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Jackson State basketball set for Year 2 under Brent

JACKSON, Mississippi -- The Jackson State basketball team has about a month to prepare for a possible top-25 team.

The Tigers open their season Nov. 14 at North Carolina State, a team that finished 22-13, 9-9 ACC last season and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

But the Tigers – picked to finish eighth in the preseason SWAC polls announced Wednesday – may already have their work cut out.

Wayne Brent enters his second season as head coach. But the four seasons he spent as an assistant at Ole Miss, helping scout SEC teams at the time, may come full circle for him in the SWAC.

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With no go-to scorer, TSU focuses on defense

HOUSTON, Texas -- When the Texas Southern men's basketball team needed a bucket last season, the ball was pounded inside to 6-10 senior center Aaric Murray, who lifted the Tigers to the SWAC tournament championship en route to being named conference player of the year.

Murray's short run at TSU was a productive one, resulting in an appearance in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Tigers return 6-5 forward Jose Rodriguez, a second-team preseason All-SWAC selection, but the Tigers are missing that one player they can rely on for a quick score.

"I'm not sure who is going to be the guy to step up," TSU coach Mike Davis said Wednesday during the SWAC basketball media day conference call. "We're looking for four, five guys every night that can give us 10 points. We don't have a go-to guy, per se."

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ASU Hornets picked to win SWAC basketball title

MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- The Alabama State men's basketball team was picked to win the Southwestern Athletic Conference regular-season title over Southern and 2013-14 champion Texas Southern in balloting by the conference's coaches and media relations directors.

The Hornets received four first-place votes and 106 total points in the preseason poll. Southern had just one first-place vote but finished second with 95 points, followed by Texas Southern with 91 points and three first-place votes.

The rest of the conference teams, in order, were Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Alcorn State, Prairie View, Alabama A&M, Jackson State, Mississippi Valley State and Grambling State.

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Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Louisiana Sports Hall selects '61 XU grad Washington

NEW ORLEANS -- The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame selection committee finally noticed Otis.

Otis Washington -- a 1961 graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana and a football coaching legend at St. Augustine High School in New Orleans -- was announced Tuesday as one of the 2015 inductees.

"Frankly, I was surprised," Washington said from his home in Baton Rouge, La., about an hour after the inductees were announced. "I wouldn't be telling the truth if I said I never thought about getting in. But after a while, I kind of forgot about it."

Washington, who turned 75 in February, will enter the hall with stellar credentials. His St. Aug teams won state championships in 1975, 1978 and 1979 in the LHSAA's highest classification at the time, AAAA. He parlayed that success into football jobs at LSU, Southern and Tulane, including head coach of the Jaguars from 1981-86.

In July 2003, the Times-Picayune newspaper rated Washington's 1975 St. Aug team -- which was 15-0 and defeated previously unbeaten Covington 35-13 in the championship game -- one of the 10 best in New Orleans history and the best of the 1970s.

"Coach Wash was a person you trusted and believed in. He lived up to that standard every day," said Jerry Reese, a St. Aug defensive back from the early '70s who played for the University of Oklahoma and two seasons with the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs. "When he said he was going to do something, he did it. He was a very disciplined coach and knew his X's and O's.

"He changed my life. He wasn't just a coach. He was a mentor, a father figure. He always made sure we took care of our studies. He cared about us."

Washington will be enshrined on Saturday, June 27 to culminate the three-day LSHOF Induction Celebration. Also inducted in 2015 will be football's Kevin Faulk, Jake Delhomme and Leonard Smith, basketball's Avery Johnson, coaches Pat Collins (football) and Yvette Girouard (women's softball) and thoroughbred horse trainer Frank Brothers.

Washington came to Xavier in 1957 on a football scholarship -- he was a 5-foot-10, 195-pound offensive guard and linebacker -- after graduating from R.B. Hudson High School in Selma, Ala. He was part of a Selma pipeline which included Joseph Jackson, another athlete and the father of current XU men's basketball coach Dannton Jackson.

"They weren't all athletes who came to Xavier from Selma," Washington said. "At one point at Xavier we had about 20 from Selma at the same time. I don't know when it started, but Father Nelson Ziter, an Edmundite priest with the Don Bosco Boys' and Girls' Club in Selma, had a connection with the nuns at Xavier. It ballooned into something big."

Washington was a captain on XU's football and baseball teams and was All-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in both sports. A catcher, Washington said three major-league teams -- the Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Senators -- scouted him and expressed interest in signing him. Washington was a junior when Xavier played its last intercollegiate football game, a 21-9 victory against city rival Dillard on Thanksgiving Day in 1959.

"We were just hanging on," Washington said of Xavier's financial decision to end athletics in the spring of 1960.

Xavier honored all athletic scholarships after dissolving its teams, and Washington, with three years invested, opted to finish at XU. He received a bachelor of science degree in physical education.

XU baseball coach John Crowe recommended Washington to St. Aug for a teaching and coaching job that Washington landed shortly after graduation. St. Aug named Washington its head football coach soon after the 1968 season, and he remained in that position for 11 seasons.

"When I became head coach, we were starting our third year in the LHSAA," Washington said. "I never doubted if we would be successful. But it wasn't easy playing in the Catholic League. We competed against some great coaches like Bobby Conlin at Brother Martin and John Kalbacher at Holy Cross, and their teams showed it on the field. They were well-rounded, and they knew what they were doing.

"We stayed up a lot of nights at St. Aug just trying to keep up."

The late nights, obviously, paid off. In addition to the state titles, Washington's St. Aug teams won seven Catholic League championships.

Washington has few XU mementos -- his diploma, two yearbooks, a trophy which honored him as the 1958 team MVP and the silver dollar from the winning pregame coin toss with Dillard in 1959 -- but he maintains plenty of admiration for his alma mater.

"To this day," Washington said, "Xavier is one of the best schools in this country. I tell everybody this."

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director

XULAATHLETICS

XU Gold Nuggets lose 25-14, 25-11, 25-21 at Mobile

MOBILE, Alabama -- Bailey Nations had 10 kills and three blocks Tuesday to lead Mobile in a 25-14, 25-11, 25-21 women's volleyball victory against Xavier University of Louisiana.

The Lady Rams (19-3) completed a two-match season sweep of the Gold Nuggets (11-4). It was Xavier's first loss in four road matches this season and, dating to last year, the second loss in its last 13 matches on opponents' courts.

Chinedu Echebelem and Claudia Haywood had five kills apiece for Xavier. Jodi Hill had three blocks. CeCe Williams had 13 digs, and Franziska Pirkl had nine.

Jessica Rule hit .667 with eight kills and five blocks for Mobile.

Hannah Buck's ace capped a 14-5 run to end the first set. Mobile scored 15 of the first 18 points in the second set and used a 7-1 run to erase Xavier's 10-9 lead and take the lead for good in the final set. Taylor Harper ended the match with an ace.

Mobile outhit Xavier .236 to minus-.033 and had advantages of 42-19 in kills and 4-0 in aces. It was the Gold Nuggets' lowest hitting percentage since reinstating the program in 2010 and the second time that they produced more attack errors than kills.

Xavier, the leader in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference, will play GCAC member Tougaloo at 1 p.m. Saturday at XU's Convocation Center. Included will be a Senior Day ceremony for Echebelem.

Box Score

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director

XULAATHLETICS