Courtesy of Sports InformationAssistant Sports Editor
Courtesy of Sports Information
Sophomore Steve Goolsby will see time at guard and forward.
A year ago, Steven Goolsby was the forgotten freshman on the Demon Deacon men's basketball team.
As then-freshmen Tony Rutland and Jerry Braswell competed to see who would garner the most minutes playing opposite Randolph Childress, '95, in the Demon Deacon backcourt, Goolsby spent most of the 1994-95 season on the bench.
Now, with Childress practicing his trade in Portland with the NBA's Trailblazers and Braswell academically suspended possibly for the entire season, the team will apparently need the sophomore to assume a more active role in determining the team's fate.
If early-season indications are accurate, Rutland will likely get the starting nod at point guard for the Deacons. However, with Braswell gone, the shooting guard position (Goolsby's likely spot on the floor) becomes quite intriguing for the Deacons.
In Braswell's absence, it is likely that Goolsby, if he can overcome the problems he had on the defensive end of the floor last season, will see a lot of playing time in the Deacon backcourt along with freshman Joseph Amonett.
The biggest question mark surrounding Goolsby's play last year was his defensive intensity. The stigma about the sophomore continues to be that, while his perimeter shot is highly-effective, his play on the other side of the ball is often not so.
Concerning his lack of playing time last year, Goolsby said, "I guess coach (Head Coach Dave Odom) didn't feel I was ready to play, so he let me practice and get my confidence up. That's what coach stresses a lot, and I've improved a lot."
Indeed, Goolsby evinced the sharpshooting prowess he possesses in the Deacon's exhibition opener Saturday night against Nancy of France when he buried three-of-five three-point field goals in nine minutes of action against the European visitors.
According to Goolsby, there are more good shooting performance on the way.
"I really haven't shown my true talents yet," Goolsby said.
Entering this season, questions surrounded Goolsby about the leg injury he sustained during the summer.
"I hurt it during summer school," Goolsby said. "They had to put it in a hard cast."
Though his play Saturday would seem to indicate that the sophomore is well on the way to completing his recovery from the leg problem, Goolsby said that the injury has hampered his preseason development.
"It's still sore and I'm still rehabilitating," Goolsby said. "It really slowed my conditioning down. I just have to get out there."
As a member of last year's ACC championship team (albeit one who did not see a lot of playing time), Goolsby answered thoughtfully when presented with the inevitable questions about Childress' absence.
"We've got to see how we're going to play without his presence," Goolsby said.
On the positive side for Goolsby, he also said, "I will probably play more because he's gone."
With Scooter Banks' departure, the Deacons will also face tough questions about how to rotate players in their frontcourt. The personnel dilemma means that the 6-4, 188-pound Goolsby may also be asked to play some time under the basket at small forward. Goolsby said that he does not care where on the floor he ends up playing and had not given much thought to whether or not he will start for the Deacons.
Clearly, the losses of Childress, Banks and Braswell will present the Deacons with several personnel problems throughout the course of the season. Where the team ultimately ends up in the conference and national pictures will be determined largely by the performance that players such as Goolsby will be able to generate with the extra playing time they will encounter this season.