The basketball program at Prairie View looks to overcome last year’s season, and shoot for the top spot in the SWAC standings. Head coach Byron Rimm said, “Last year was a letdown, one of the biggest letdowns since I’ve been here.”
Even though the Panthers finshed with a 16-14 record, and the first back-to-back winning seasons in Division I, the disappointment came when PVAMU was bounced out by rival Texas Southern in the first round of the SWAC Tournament. The Panthers are returning six players from last year’s team, and have unfinished business at hand.
Rimm is expecting Michael Griffin, Brandon Webb, and Michael Webb to be standouts among the returning players from last year’s team.
The Panthers will be guard oriented in 2010 with Griffin, Tim Meadows and Alabama A&M transfer Trant Simpson. Simpson averaged 14.8 points and 4.5 assists for three years at AAMU. The arrival of Simpson brings another all-around scorer and closer at the end of the game.
Rimm said, “We’ll be able to score a lot more than we have in the past, our fundamentals are the best since I’ve been here.”
Off-season recruiting was key to the Panthers as they brought in Aron Walker, Marvin Adu, and freshman guard Jeff Wherry, who will be major contributors this season. Walker is a 6-11 center from Uppsala, Sweden, and Adu is a 6-8 forward from Hamburg, Germany.
Prairie View had to recruit big to try to replace the 2010 SWAC Defensive Player of the Year Darnell Hugee, (15 points, 5.9 rebounds per game). Wherry a 5-8 freshman from Huntsville, Ala., should be a major spark off the bench.
Rimm said, “I believe we can win the conference with the athletes that we have. Right now we are picked third and fourth in the division. If they come play and listen we should be number one.”
Texas Southern, Jackson State, and Arkansas Pine-Bluff will be in the way of Prairie View’s dream of a SWAC championship.
Duwan Kornegay may be the X-Factor for Prairie View to achieve this goal. As one of the bigger guards in the SWAC, at 6-5, Kornegay will have to be able to hit the open shot, rebound and play defense on some of the bigger guards outside the conference.
Rimm said, “We always had the best fan base in the conference, they always try to pack the house and give us support.”
The Panthers will open the season on the road when they travel to Milwaukee, Wis. on Friday, Nov. 12 to face Marquette.