AFP Focus | College hoops in Waynesboro

We’re going to have some Division I-quality basketball going on across the street from the AFP office this fall and this winter.

“We’ll have 10, 11 guys from this team play D1,” said Ed Huckaby, the coach of the new postgrad basketball program at Fishburne Military School, which is getting its 2009-2010 season started on the road in Henderson, N.C., this weekend.

Two players, Keion Palmer (Delaware) and Donte Morales (Mt. St. Mary), have already committed to D1 programs. Everybody else will be doing what they can to impress the recruiters on campus in Waynesboro for games and practices.

“We’ve had A-10 and Big East and Colonial schools here at our practices already,” said Chris Nelson, a 6-4, 175-pound swingman who is being recruited by Ball State, Xavier and George Washington, among others.

Coach Huckaby comes with a D1 pedigree, at Wright State and Hampton, with the rumor mill this past spring having had him in the running for a time for a spot on Tony Bennett’s staff at the University of Virginia, and an association with the successful Boo Williams AAU program in Hampton Roads.

Which is to say, he has a feel for what it takes to be successful at the next level – and he’s been filling out his roster accordingly.

“I’ve coached Division I for a while and been in NCAA Tournaments. I know what it takes to win at a high level. It hasn’t been that difficult. We turned down a lot of guys. It’s not just talent. We need the right mix of players with the right attitude, the right temperament,” Huckaby said.

You’re going to need the right attitude and temperament to succeed at Fishburne. “We don’t like waking up early for formation, but we deal with it,” said Arthur Bell, a 6-4, 170-pound perimeter player who is being recruited by LaSalle, Western Carolina and East Tennessee State, among others.

“We’re getting adjusted,” Nelson said. “It’s something that’s going to better us. We’re here to work on academics and get looks. A lot of us have talent to go places. He has talent, I have talent. We just have to blend it all together into a successful package.”

That’s the kind of talk that makes Huckaby happy.

“We’re not building a team. We’re building a program,” the coach said. “We want to bring guys in who understand the mission, which is high-quality basketball, high-quality character, high quality in everything that we do.”

 

– Story by Chris Graham