ESPN Men's Basketball

Updated: October 13, 2009, 11:07 AM ET

Team preview: Texas-San Antonio

Blue Ribbon Yearbook previews the 2009-10 season, exclusively on Insider

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Blue Ribbon Yearbook

Editor's Note: ESPN Insider has teamed with Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook to provide a comprehensive look at all 334 Division I teams. To order the complete 2009-10 edition of Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, visit www.blueribbonyearbookonline.com or call 1-877-807-4857.
(Information in this team report is as of Oct. 1.)

COACH AND PROGRAM

A quick glance at Texas-San Antonio's roster would suggest that this year, the Roadrunners might be the most experienced team in all of Division I. That's a good thing, because the most experienced squads in the Southland Conference are usually the ones that end up in the NCAA Tournament.

Last year, seniors Matt Kingsley and Josh Alexander led Stephen F. Austin to the Big Dance. The year before, Texas-Arlington's starting lineup of three seniors and junior Anthony Vereen left Katy, Texas, with the tournament trophy even though UTA was the No. 7-seeded team. The year before that, league-tournament champion Texas A&M-Corpus Christi started four seniors and junior big man Chris Daniels.

This season, the Roadrunners will have more seniors than the high school prom. All but two players are back, and the roster includes eight seniors, four juniors, one sophomore and one freshman. This will make for an interesting reload over the next couple of years, but fourth-year coach Brooks Thompson said the program needs success more than it needs concern for 2011 or 2012. Other than a regular-season tri-championship and tournament bid in 2004, the Roadrunners haven't posed a serious challenge for a regular-season title since 1999.

Thompson was hired to change all that.

"It's always a process to rebuild a program, and we feel like we've built it so that this season will be the one where we really take a step forward," Thompson said. "We actually took a big step last year in non-conference and getting to the tournament title game. We'll have a more balance roster in the future, but we felt like we had to win some games in order to build this thing up to where it needs to be."

PLAYERS

Two double-figure scorers, Joey Shank (9.0 ppg, 1.4 rpg) and Travis Gabbidon (12.6 ppg, 6.4 rpg) are gone from last season's team that went 19-13 overall, 8-8 in conference, and eventually lost to Stephen F. Austin in the SLC title game.

Three starters are back, led by 2009 third-team All-SLC pick Devin Gibson (12.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 90 assists, 82 steals). The 6-0, 170-pound junior guard was the 2008 SLC Freshman of the Year and second-team all-conference selection after averaging 14 points, four rebounds and three assists per game that season. If Thompson had his choice, Gibson wouldn't have needed to put up those kinds of numbers his freshman year, but Gabbidon was hurt. Gibson and Shank were pretty much all UTSA had in the backcourt down the stretch in conference play.

Gibson, only the third player in NCAA Division I history to lead the nation in steals as a freshman, didn't put up bloated numbers in his sophomore campaign because he wasn't asked to do as much. His minutes per game went from 33 as a freshman to 28 last year. But he was still considered one of the most feared offensive players in the league.

Gibson scores by taking his man off the dribble, and few in the SLC can stop him. If the shot doesn't fall, he gets fouled and takes a solid 70-percent percentage to the line. If there is one knock on his game, it's the inability to consistently drain the long-range jumper, though he managed to shoot an acceptable .333 (22-of-66) from three-point range last year. Still, Thompson said Gibson has been working on his jumper, so Roadrunners fans shouldn't be shocked to see Gibson's percentages rise.

"Devin is a special player," Thompson said. "When he becomes a great shooterand he's doing that right nowhe'll be even tougher to guard. He's such a hard worker and does everything he can to improve every single day. He's a student of the game who works constantly to get better, and he's a great team guy. Omar is the same way."

Omar Johnson (12.6 ppg, 4.2 apg), a 5-7, 150-pound senior point guard, is a big reason the pressure was taken off Gibson last season. The highly touted transfer from Barton County (Kansas) Community College handed out 130 assists and was 52-for-130 (.400) from the three-point line. He came up big in big games as well.

In the Roadrunners' impressive 83-74 first-round SLC Tournament victory over Sam Houston State, Gibson and Johnson combined for 45 points. Johnson was 7-for-10 from the field and perfect in three attempts from behind the arc. He followed that with an 11-point, six-rebound, six-assist performance as UTSA knocked off Nicholls State in the tournament semifinals, 57-55.

Blue Ribbon Previews
Take an Inside look at the Southland with Blue Ribbon's 2009-10 team reports: Lamar McNeese State Nicholls State Northwestern State Sam Houston State Southeastern Louisiana Stephen F. Austin Texas A&M-CC Texas-Arlington Texas-San Antonio Texas State

UTSA was within five points, 61-56, of eventual tournament champion SFA before falling 68-57.

"It was huge getting to the tournament championship," Thompson said. "Our lack of experience hurt us in that final game, but getting there does a lot for the confidence of the kids."

Obviously, experience won't be a problem this time around. In a lineup last season that often included three guards and two forwards, 6-4, 170-pound senior guard Morris Smith IV (9.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg) is back after hitting 59 three-pointers (.362). Smith started 18 games last season.

Three more guards earned at least 10 minutes per game a year ago, led by 6-4, 195-pound senior Leslie Jackson (2.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg) and 6-2, 185-pound senior guard Chris Allen (5.3 ppg, 1.8 rpg).

Allen played in 29 games and scored in double-figures six times. In a five-game stretch during the last half of conference play, Jackson was the team's leading rebounder three times.

The only sophomore on the team, 6-3 Sei Paye (2.2 ppg, 0.2 rpg), is a transfer from Louisiana-Monroe and will be in the hunt for more minutes after seeing action in five games.

A.J. Gasporra (2.3 ppg, 0.3 ppg), a 6-2 junior, played in 16-of-32 games last season and could bring a spark off the bench. Gasporra hit 73 three-pointers during his sophomore year at Citrus (Calif.) Junior College.

Chip Ivany, a 6-0 junior, will be eligible after transferring to UTSA from South Alabama and sitting out last season.

"Competition between these guys is going to be fierce when we get started," Thompson said. "There are a lot of positions that are going to come down to what they do in the preseason. Every position is open, and everybody is going to have to battle for his spot."

Inside, three-fourths of the Gabbidon-Bonney-Steptor-Fields rotation is back. Forward Josh Bonney (5.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg), a 6-6, 210-pound senior, started all 32 games last season and shot 60 percent from the field. Senior forward Demarco Steptor (6.0 ppg, 5.6 rpg), no lightweight at 6-7, 285, put up good numbers considering he played only a little more than 15 minutes per game.

Thompson calls 6-7, 185-pound senior forward Terry Fields (4.1 ppg, 2.6 ppg) the X-factor because of his versatility and defense.

Also in the mix will be 6-9, 240-pound senior Richie Frohlich (2.6 ppg, 2.3 rpg).

The only two newcomers are junior college transfer Stephen Franklin, a 6-6, 205-pounder from College of Eastern Utah, and incoming freshman Melvin Johnson (6-5, 200). Franklin averaged 13.8 points and 6.1 rebounds in just 18.7 minutes per game as a sophomore. He shot 52 percent from the field and 40 percent from the three-point line. Franklin scored in double-figures 23 times.

Johnson went to prep school for one season at Humble Christian Life Center after leading District 13-4A in scoring with 22 points per game at Red Oak (Texas) High School.

"We feel good at the forwards, and obviously with Omar and Devin in the backcourt, we're strong at the guards," Thompson said. "This is the first time since we've been here that we'll have an experienced team coming back, so we're very excited about that. I really like our athleticism. We like to pressure on defense, and with our length and athleticism, we should be able to do that."

BLUE RIBBON ANALYSIS

BACKCOURT: A
BENCH/DEPTH: B+
FRONTCOURT: C
INTANGIBLES: A

UTSA might be the toughest team to predict this season. There are three reasons the Roadrunners could challenge for a conference championship: the backcourt of Gibson and Johnson can score and defend with any duo in the league, 12 seniors and juniors make this roster easily the most experienced in the league, and last year's 19 victories and run at the conference tournament championship game show the Roadrunners are taking steps forward under Thompson.

On the other hand, the Roadrunners lost two stalwarts who combined to average more than 20 points per game, and the team still finished at just 8-8 in conference play a year ago.

If Bonney and Smith can pick up some of the scoring slack, and Steptor continues to improve inside, the Roadrunners will match up physically with anybody in the conference. If not, they will be asking their guards to do too much. There is also a matter of keeping eight seniors happy. There are three players battling for time at every position and several seniors in that mix, so expect Thompson to settle on a rotation early and work on getting it to gel by the time conference play starts.

For the most comprehensive previews available on all 334 Division I teams, order the "Bible" of college basketball, the 2009-10 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, at www.blueribbonyearbookonline.com or call 1-877-807-4857.