Chipola Seeks to return to national prominence

By: Dustin Kent - JCFloridan.com

After a three-year state championship drought, the Chipola Indians will be looking to re-establish themselves as a national power this season under first-year head coach Patrick Blake.

Blake, an Indians assistant the past two seasons, takes over for the departed Jake Headrick – now an assistant at Samford – who compiled a 67-22 record in three years as the Indians' coach, but failed to get the program to the national tournament after Chipola had made it five of the previous six seasons.

The Indians had good regular season records the past two years, finishing 25-6 in 2011 and 23-7 last season, but they were unable to break through either time, with last season's first round upset loss to Central Florida an especially disappointing exit.

But ranked No. 4 in the preseason NJCAA poll, Blake's Indians appear ready to make the leap back to national prominence this season, which is something the coach said would mean a lot to the entire community.

"Certainly the fan base, the administration, and the tradition here at Chipola is second to none," Blake said. "It would be an unbelievable feeling to be able to bring that back to the Chipola family, but we can't afford to get ahead of ourselves. Right now, we're not where we need to be."

The Indians are also not the team now that they'll be in the spring semester, with starting center Joseph Uchebo still out at least another month rehabbing a right knee injury, and talented incoming freshman wing player Torian Graham not eligible to suit up until next semester.

That leaves the team with nine players eligible to play when it opens the regular season Friday against Christian Life Prep (Tex.) in the Baton Rouge Classic.

Both Graham and Uchebo are high impact players who will be significant additions to the team when available, but Blake said that is the furthest thing from his mind.

"We'll address that when the times comes, but right now we're focused on the nine guys who are here and making sure they defend consistently and play together," he said. "I hope it will be a smooth transition when those guys get back but we have to make sure the nine we have are ready to compete in Baton Rouge."

Uchebo is one of four returning Chipola players who got significant minutes on last year's team, along with point guard Terel Hall and post players Kruize Pinkins and Earl Watson.

Blake said each player had made a tremendous amount of progress from the end of last season.

"I think Terel Hall has really matured and become a more vocal leader for us. He sets the tone for how hard we work," he said. "Kruize has taken his conditioning to another level this year, and he's added a more consistent jump shot, and we look for him to have an all conference kind of year for us.

"Earl Watson is a guy who has changed his body and his conditioning, and he's become much more assertive down low, especially on the offensive and defensive glass."

Uchebo's status is a bit more tenuous, as the 6-foot-11 big man is still working to recover fully from surgery to repair a knee injury that kept him sidelined for the first half of the Panhandle Conference season last year and limited his movement even after returning.

Blake said that the team is proceeding cautiously with its talented sophomore center.

"It's a sensitive situation," he said. "More than him coming back and helping Chipola win games, we want to make sure that he is fully healthy and has a chance to have a great future in basketball. His rehab is going great and on schedule, but he still has a lot to do before we even think about putting him out there."

Without Uchebo's presence, the Indians have just three post players in Pinkins, Watson, and freshman Cinmeon Bowers, a versatile 6-foot-6 freshman from Racine, Wisc., who Blake said would have a chance to make an immediate impact this year.

"Bowers is going to play a very big role for us," he said. "He's lost 20 pounds since the summer and his body is in great shape. He's got great perimeter skills for a kid his size, which makes him a tough guy to guard. He'll help determine a lot of what kind of year we have."

On the perimeter, the Indians will look for an infusion of talent and production from 6-foot-5 freshman guard Chris Thomas, who redshirted last season and was once a top 10 prospect in the 2013 high school class.

Blake said that Thomas' ability to put the ball in the hole with ease would be an essential piece to the puzzle for the Indians this season.

"He's a guy who can just go get a bucket when you need one," the coach said. "At the end of the day when you're playing teams that have you scouted and know what plays you're running and how you run them, to have a guy who can make plays outside of your scheme is huge."

With the caliber of offensive talent on the roster, Chipola shouldn't struggle that often to score points, but it's the other end of the court that Blake said he is most concerned with.

"Right now, it's a little too easy to get the ball up the court and get good shots in the paint against us," he said. "I think our talent is where it needs to be, but our focus defensively is nowhere near what it needs to be. Fortunately, we're still at the end of October and not the first of January or February, so we've got time."

The Indians will have a tall task displacing nation's No. 2-ranked team and defending conference champions Northwest Florida State atop the Panhandle standings, but Blake said he has no doubt that his team has the ability to compete with and beat anyone.

"Looking at being ranked No. 4, I know we have the potential to be that good, but we're not there yet," he said. "We can't lose sight of the process. We have to mature quickly and come together one day at a time."