A bad cold kept AU men's basketball coach Jeff Jones from the sideline for the AU men's basketball team's Nov. 9 exhibition game against Catholic, so he had to watch the game tape at home in bed. But at one point, he saw something that may have told him the cold medicine was messing with his mind.
One. Two. Three. Four. Count four freshmen were on the court at once.
But it wasn't anyone's imagination. With a five-man freshman class, youth will be a fact of life this season but it doesn't mean it's a rebuilding year - and the newcomers know it.
"All of us were recruited to play ball right away," said freshman guard Derrick Mercer.
It's AU's deepest freshman class in years, with four players expected to play immediately. Mercer will start at point guard. Forwards Brian Gilmore and Jordan Nichols along with guard Garrison Carr are expected to get significant minutes. The fifth - forward Gary Garris - still has work ahead of him, but has been praised for his potential.
They may have only one game of college basketball under them, but that's not to say they're inexperienced. Three of them - Gilmore, Mercer and Nichols - spent time at major prep schools. Carr led his suburban Seattle team far into the state playoffs.
This season, Jones needed players who could step in right away, and their high school r?sum?s count in that direction.
"It was certainly a factor," Jones said. "Those players we know were well coached and played against good competition."
Said Nichols, who played at DeMatha in Hyattsville, Md., "We've been in difficult situations and played in pressure games. We've played against the best."
But they're expected to do more than just meld in with the veterans. They're expected to change the way the Eagles play basketball.
It starts with Mercer, the most highly-touted of the group. He became the top point guard at St. Anthony in Jersey City, N.J., as a sophomore and ran the team until graduation. Coach Bob Hurley, the father of former Duke and Sacramento Kings point guard Bobby, groomed him at the position.
The soft-spoken, 5-foot-9 Mercer, who wears glasses and a relaxed, toothy smile, isn't the most vocal person on the team. But coaches and teammates said they are impressed by his floor leadership.
"As a team we have a lot of faith in him running the offense," Nichols said.
He's also AU's first full-time point guard
