Troy Men Begin Practice Saturday

TROY – The 2009-10 Sun Belt Conference regular season champions begin their quest for another league title Saturday.

The Trojans will be on the floor for the first time at 8 am on Saturday morning, the first day that teams can practice and the unofficial beginning of the new season.

“We are excited about starting practice,” 29th year head coach Don Maestri said. “It's the same every year. All the players, managers, trainers and coaches look forward to that first day of practice. This year is different than in the past few because we have so many new faces. We won't be able to have a lot of our questions answered until we get a lot deeper into the season.

“It's going to be fun trying to rebuild the basketball team. Its going to be both fun and challenging, especially in the league that has so many experienced players coming back.”

Gone are seven members of the championship squad and just three players return that averaged double-digit minutes a season ago – Levan Patsatsia, Vernon Taylor and Bernard Toombs.

Those three will be counted on to guide a team that will feature five newcomers as well as four players that redshirted the 2009-10 year.

“There is no question those guys have to teach the parts of the system that we are going to keep to the new guys,” head coach Don Maestri said. “They are going to have to show some leadership and set the example by action. Sometimes you can talk as a leader, but since all of these guys are so new, those words won't be as meaningful. I this leadership from the seniors this year will have to be more by example than words.”

As Maestri awaits the beginning of his 29th season at the helm of the Troy program, he is well aware of the obstacles that await his inexperienced squad and how many questions must be answered in the coming weeks.

“This is the toughest challenge because of the schedule,” Maestri said. “Since we moved to Division I, we have never had a schedule where we played 11 non-conference games on the road. So that is the biggest challenge that we have ever had.

“I've never been one to be able to know anything about the group until I've actually seen them in game competition. I don't know who can make big shots or who can make free throws at the end of a game. I don't know who can do what under game conditions. There are probably as many question marks as we have ever had going into a first practice since I've been here.”

Troy will have its first competitive action of the season on November 8 against West Alabama in an exhibition match up. The Trojans start the regular season on November 12 in Sartain Hall against Huntington College.

Stay tuned to TroyTrojans.com for more information on Troy basketball and all of Trojan athletics and be sure to become a fan on Facebook and follow @TroyAthletics on Twitter. Season tickets are still available for the 2009-10 season. For more information call the Troy Ticket Office at 1-877-878-WINS.

Troy University Athletics

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