SPORTS

Tech gets first taste of roster with start of workouts

Sean Isabella
sisabella@thenewsstar.com

RUSTON – For the past six weeks, Eric Konkol has spent countless hours inside his office at the Thomas Assembly Center with an adjacent locker room void of any activity.

One by one, four assistants and a director of basketball operations joined Konkol, who was introduced as Louisiana Tech's new coach May 18, but his players remained absent — at least in terms of on the court.

Konkol just so happened to take over his new post when the team was finishing up finals, meaning he would have to wait almost two months to see them with a basketball in their hands.

Konkol got his first taste of that last week with the return of senior Alex Hamilton and had the opportunity Tuesday to work with five other returners for the first time.

"This is what I've really been looking forward to since May 18," Konkol said Tuesday. "This is the most fun thing that we get to do and that's to work with our players, see where they're at, see where we can help them improve and then be able to put a great team together in the fall and winter. Very excited to be on the floor with these guys."

The start of Tuesday's summer session at Tech meant Konkol and his staff could work out Hamilton, Dayon Griffin, Qiydar Davis, Branden Sheppard, Erik McCree and Jacobi Boykins during 40-minute individual sessions.

Fellow returners Merrill Holden and Joniah White were absent — Holden will report to the second summer session in July and White is nursing an undisclosed injury. The Bulldogs will also welcome 2015 signees Jy'lan Washington, Da'Shawn Robinson and Derric Jean in July.

But Tuesday was all about the six returners who went through shooting and offensive drills.

The NCAA allows the staff to have eight hours with players, two of which can come via on-court workouts. The remaining six will be spent on strength and conditioning, an area the Bulldogs will put an emphasis on before fall camp opens in October.

"We want to become stronger," Konkol said. "We have a lot of younger guys in this program where they can make big steps in their own physicality, with their strength and conditioning, and make some jumps in their skill. They're going to be thrown into larger roles than they've experienced before at the college level."

Among the first to workout Tuesday was Hamilton, who sported a reddish and teal pair of Kobe Bryant sneakers.

Hamilton, one of two returning starters, found himself in workouts for the first time without Speedy Smith, Raheem Appleby and Michale Kyser.

"It's very odd for me now that I'm the oldest person on the team," he said. "I'm stepping into a major leadership role. Not seeing them guys I was here with for three years — they're going on to bigger and better things to further their careers. It's going to be different. You find those three people like brothers and then you come back and they're gone. It's like losing a loved one that moved away."

Hamilton admitted the last six weeks have been an "experience." Not only did Tech lose its entire coaching staff, but the Bulldogs also lost two members of the 2015 recruiting class along with sophomore Xavian Stapleton, who will transfer after just one season.

The changes, along with the departures of Smith, Appleby and Kyser, have left minutes for the taking in 2016.

Senior forward Qiydar Davis is one of several players looking to take advantage of the new opportunities.

"We have a good energy and making sure they push you and not to get down on yourself whenever you mess up," Davis said of the staff. "So far, I love them. I'm ready to work and get better."

Davis displayed his athleticism with several dunks that generated a reaction from the new staff.

"He is a bouncy, live-bodied guy," Konkol said. "He's got that versatility to guard multiple positions, and we'd like to help him find a way to score for us."

Although the hands-on work is new to Konkol, he is familiar with almost 90 percent of the roster based off film. The lone unknown was Sheppard, a Huntington native coming off his redshirt season.

The 6-foot-7, 225-pound forward has a chance to earn minutes in a frontcourt that features just three other experienced big bodies — White (7-0), McCree (6-8) and Holden (6-8).

"In just these 40 minutes, he's got some ability," Konkol said of Sheppard. "He has touch. He has balance. He has some explosiveness. We just gotta work everyday to really bring that out of him and be assertive and aggressive. He's not a true freshman anymore. He's a redshirt freshman."

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