Preview 2006: Falcons flying high again

Just a couple years ago, Southeastern Illinois was arguably the top junior college program in the nation. The team played on the final day of the national tournament in back-to-back seasons. Look out because the Falcons are back.

"I feel the same way right now with this team that I did with those two teams," said Todd Franklin. "Last summer, everybody else was telling me we were really good and I thought we were pretty good. That's what we ended up being. I hoped we could turn the corner and be really good, but we didn't quite do that."

Franklin identifies the difference maker for this year's team as 6-foot-1 Jamaican guard Owen Hall, whom SEI signed this year.

"We think is going to be a really big time player for us and need him to be," Franklin said. "If he can be in the backcourt with what we've got in the frontcourt, we can get back to where we were at a couple years ago when played on the last day in Hutch, we can probably be back to that level."

Hall may be the straw that ultimately stirs the drink, but don't take that to mean he will be the go-to guy. Far from it. The Falcons have three potential high major players on their roster this season as sophomores.

6-foot-8, 245-pound power forward Takais Brown will likely head that list. As a freshman, the Flint, Mi., product averaged 14 points and eight rebounds.

"Takais has a nice 15-foot shot, he's an old school power forward," Franklin said. "A lot of four men now are playing out on the perimeter and he's really not that. He's good and efficient up to 15-17 feet. He's a really good offensive rebounder, probably our highest recruited guy, who's getting after it. Several of the Big Ten, SEC, Conference USA, Big 12 people will be in here the first day to see him work out. There will be double figure guys from those leagues in here to watch him work out."

Georgia, Tennessee, Xavier, Marquette, Nebraska and Purdue are some of the schools that Franklin says are showing heavy interest in Brown right now.

Brown's frontcourt mate Demar Dotson will also be headed to Division One next season. But he already has his destination figured out.

"Southern Miss is heavily involved and at this time I'm still under the assumption that's where he's going," Franklin said. "He committed to those guys in high school and didn't make it. Until somebody tells me otherwise, that's where he's going, but he's had all those other people call. That's what we tell them because that's what I was told the situation was from the young man. Unless something changes, I imagine that's where it will stay."

Dotson is rated as one of the top ten junior college players in the nation by JucoJunction for this class, although he backed up Brown for much of last season.

"Demar is pushing 6-9 and close to 250," Franklin said. "He's much more of a low block player. They're really both big bruising guys. Demar has huge hands. He was a really raw kid coming in out of high school, had to work on his skill level. He's a really hard working kind of guy."

Dotson and Brown committed to Southeastern Illinois on the same visit a couple years back. They both played center a season ago, but Franklin envisions them on the floor together this year.

"Takais will play more power forward this year, we'll move Dotson into the lineup," Franklin said. "They played in tandem last year at that five spot. Demar is much more of a true five."

Franklin said both players have put on about 35 pounds since coming to school and he says they are both ahead of where current Iowa State player Damion Staple was at the same stage of his career as a Falcon. That duo may allow the coach to redshirt 6-foot-9, 280-pound Jason Francis.

"He's a guy that's certainly a high major guy, I think he'll be a guy at that level," the coach said. "He'd be a very good player this year, probably get high major offers, but next year, he will be a domninat kid. He's just a massive man that can move."

The most interesting story on the Falcon roster comes from guard Tyrone Green. Green came to SEI as a right-handed forward out of high school in Kentucky, but Franklin's staff converted him to guard.

"He was great around the basket, explosive, he'd beat you, and he could guard everybody," Franklin said. "But he couldn't shoot a lick. It was horrible. It was painful. You're thinking he's an Ohio Valley Conference type guy. He had high major talent but just can't shoot the ball and it's going to limit him."

Then Franklin noticed something.

"He brushed his teeth left-handed, wrote left-handed, even walked like a guy who's left-handed. He kicked the ball out of his left hand better, but he couldn't shoot at all," Franklin recalled. "One day in practice, this is the swear to God truth, it was mid-second semester, we were trying to convert him to play the point. We were out there after practice and I said 'Can you shoot the ball left-handed?' I was half-kidding, half-serious. He said, 'Sure, coach, I'm left-handed.' His shot was a thousand times better as soon as he did it. He could rise up on the jumper, hit nine out of ten free throws, hit pull up shots. He's exploded, just kept getting better."

Franklin said coaches told Green to use his right hand when he was young and by the time he reached high school, he was too ingrained in that to speak up and make the change.

"It's probably one of the strangest stories I've ever heard, I know it sounds crazy," Franklin said. "All of a sudden, he became a legit high major guy."

Franklin said one college coach told him Green was the best junior college guard he saw all spring. Xavier, Southern Miss, Ball State and Tennessee are a few of the schools who have stopped by to see him, but the coach expects the interest to increase over the summer and fall.

"I really don't even know how good he's going to be a year from now, two years from now, that's hard to call," Franklin said. "But he has that high major body, he just jumps out of the gym. He's just a specimen, and his skill level is starting to match it. He's a no brainer now.""

Franklin said his players have opted not to play in any of the summer showcases and let the recruiters come to Illinois to find them. There will be plenty on the way.

Over the next few months, JucoJunction.com will be doing team previews from coast to coast to get junior college basketball fans set for an exciting 2005-06 season. To talk about this story with other juco hoops fans, check out the JucoJunction Board or our premium forum.