Barksdale running the show at Blinn

Ask Blinn College head coach Steve Spurlin how much sophomore Maurice Barskdale means to his offense and it's a pretty simple answer.

“He is the offense,” Spurlin said. “Everything goes through him.”

Barksdale has Blinn off to a 6-and-1 start as the Buccaneers get ready to start conference play against Tyler on Saturday night. He is averaging nearly six assists a game in addition to a team-leading 20 points per contest. That was highlighted by a season-high 32 in the Bucs' last game, an 86-78 win over Fort Sam Houston.

“He had a good game for us,” Spurlin said. “He's playing well, right at 15 a game, shooting the ball extremely well from three this year which he didn't demonstrate much last year.”

Barskdale is actually better from three-point range (47.6 percent) than he is overall this season (47.1). Spurlin's just thrilled he's still hoisting them for Blinn.

“We're excited he's back,” the coach said. “He's a qualifier so he visited Denver, Montana came in late on him. We were fortunate to get him back.”

The interest is picking up. BYU has inquired about the Blinn point guard and Spurlin said he gets about 20 letters a day.

“I don't know what's going on with the recruiting,” Spurlin said. “I don't know what he's going to do. It's nuts. Everybody wants to talk to him, but nobody wants to pull the trigger. I think he was a little disappointed nothing happened early, but I told him, everybody wants a big guy early. I don't know what he's looking for. I don't know if he wants to stay close to home or what.”

For now, Barksdale is at Blinn. He sets his sights on a conference title, something which starts on the road at Tyler.

“There are no more gimmies, they're all conference games now,” Spurlin said. “Who knows? We're happy we're 6 and 1, but it's not the conference.”