The Rocket

After missing the playoffs despite winning 21 games, SRU men's basketball coach Kevin Reynolds learned the importance of one game.

The Opposition

Six feet, 9-inch freshman Dante Taylor has lofty expectations for the 2009 season. Many in the basketball community have touted Taylor as the University of Pittsburgh's best recruit in years. Taylor averaged 20 points and 11 rebounds his senior season at National Christian Academy (N.Y.). He was the No. 14 recruit in the country by Scout.com, and No. 4 at the power forward position. ESPN.com says Taylor does the best when he doesn't drift too far away from the rim. His athleticism allows him to make quick moves in the paint, but needs to improve footwork and post moves. SRU coach Kevin Reynolds said Taylor will prevent a unique challenge for anyone who guards him. "He's not only a tall body, but he's athletic too," Reynolds said.

The Rock beat Indiana University of Pennsylvania twice last season, but didn't make the playoffs. IUP snuck in as the seventh seed and beat Virginia Union in the first round.

"Every game we play is important," Reynolds said. "Winning games is more important then who you play. We need to get to 22 wins, or win the whole league."

The criticism of SRU last season was its schedule was too soft. SRU blew its opponents away in the non-conference schedule, but the competition wasn't as tough. Now Reynolds is leading the Rock into its toughest challenge yet.

After scrimmaging St. Francis (Pa.) on Friday, SRU will take on the University of Pittsburgh Panthers Sunday. Pitt made the Elite 8 last year behind the efforts of Dejuan Blair, Sam Young and Levance Fields.

Even with the loss of those three players, Pitt still returns a lot of talent with Ashton Gibbs, Gilbert Brown and highly recruited freshman Dante Taylor (see right).

The Rock returns nine players from last season and added six new players. Reynolds said he was trying to recruit some taller players to add depth in the frontcourt.

"One of our weakness was that we didn't have much size across the front last year," Reynolds said. "This gives us some flexibility and it will give us an opportunity to play Moran (Brown) at power forward this year to give us versatility."

The Rock brought in 6-foot-9-inch Stevy Worah-Ozimo to help address the problem. Worah-Ozimo, who is a senior from Gabron, West Africa, averaged 7.7 points per game and 8.2 rebounds per game at North Carolina Central last season.

Brown, who is a junior, was a solid player in the post for the Rock last year. He averaged 12. 3 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. Moving Brown to power forward would provide the Rock with a lot of flexibility at the power forward position.

With the addition of Worah-Ozimo, SRU now has three players six-foot-six inches or taller. Jade Burka (six-foot-seven) and R.J Rush (six-foot-eight) will help give the Rock some size under the basket.

In the backcourt, SRU returns its top scoring shooting guard and backup point guard Maurice Douglas. Michael Evans Jr. scored 12.6 points per game and led the team in 3-point shots made with 57.

Douglas was Kyle Camper's back up last season. Douglas worked his way into the starting line-up after starting the season on the bench. He averaged 12 points per game and was second on the team in assists.

Reynolds said the team doesn't have a starting line-up planned for Sunday.

"We've only been practicing since Oct. 15," Reynolds said. "So this is going to give our team time to jell. We need to focus on ourselves."

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