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Sports

No such thing as offseason

Summer finds four men's basketball players working in weight room

by Chris Elliott 
The Daily Cougar

Houston's men's basketball season officially ended three months ago when a defensive faux pas and lack of presence in the paint resulted in a last second, one-point loss to Missouri State in the National Invitational Tournament. Some members of the team are taking measures in the offseason to ensure they won't suffer those types of losses again.

Four scholarship players from last year's team are back on campus and are already hard at work. The senior guard combination of Oliver Lafayette and Lanny Smith, forward Jahmar "Dunk Master Flex" Thorpe and junior forward/center Richard Young have been working out and hitting the weights to prepare for a more physical style of play.

"Our guys that are on campus are working out with coach (Michael) Young and just trying to get stronger and gain weight," associate head coach and recruiting director Melvin Haralson said. "We want to have not only a running team this year, but we want to have a physical team that can mix speed with power at the same time. We want to try to take this team to another level."

Last season, the Cougars routinely ran a seven-man rotation and had no problems with academic ineligibility inside that rotation. Haralson is optimistic the team will have no problems with grades in the upcoming season, either.

"We're having a lot of progress in the class. Guys are doing the things that they need to do to make sure that they're eligible to play basketball," Haralson said. "But more importantly, we want them to be able to in putting these courses towards getting a degree."

Haralson feels the team is already heading in the right direction with the amount of work and concentration players have been putting into their studies and team, literally months before the season is due to begin. 

He is especially confident in how the early training will benefit two of the most influential players on the squad. 

"Guys are putting in a lot of work and extra shooting," Haralson said. "Even though they are in summer school, they're doing all this extra stuff … I think it's going to benefit Jahmar Thorpe. He's going to be a lot stronger. Oliver Lafayette is going to be a lot stronger and a lot bigger, so he can take on more of those fouls. He's a great scorer.

"A lot of times when you are a great scorer teams are going to put their best defender on you. You got to be able to take fouls on the basketball court if not you're going to get beat up. He's putting some extra weight on and I think he's going to be solid."

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