ESPN Men's Basketball

Originally Published: October 13, 2009

Team preview: Radford

Blue Ribbon Yearbook previews the 2009-10 college basketball 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

There's no other way to characterize Radford's transformation. It was a "Big'' turnaround.

In a league once known for 6-4 power forwards, second-year coach Brad Greenberg went another direction.

He put together a huge front line, overcame a lot of early-season adversity and then rode those big horses to RU's first Big South title in 12 years.

"We became a better team as the season unfolded, gained more confidence, particularly Art," said Greenberg, a basketball lifer finally running his own team. "I think we got more comfortable with what we were doing."

PLAYERS

"Art" is 6-11, 260-pound senior center Artsiom Parakhouski (16.2 ppg, 11.2 rpg, 1.5 bpg), the biggest difference in the Highlanders after transferring from Southern Idaho. The big Belarusian led the Big South in blocks and was second (and ninth in the nation) in rebounding and field-goal percentage (.537). He was Big South Player of the Year and tournament MVP.

"He's a good athlete with very good hands, and he's smart," said Greenberg, who thinks Parakhouski has a chance to be RU's first NBA player.

Greenberg would know, too, after spending 19 years in the league, mostly on the personnel side.

Parakhouski's improvement from the beginning of last season to that MVP showing in March was perhaps the greatest testament to the Radford staff's prowess, and now the rest of the conference is scrambling to figure out how to slow the league's most dominant player.

Parakhouski's arrival allowed 6-8 Joey Lynch-Flohr (13.7 ppg, 5.9 rpg) to settle in at power forward and give Radford one of the league's best towering tandems ever. The senior, one of the league's top offensive rebounders, should probably have his own category for hustle, the "Lynch-Flohr-burn."

Lynch-Flohr, who shot 52 percent from the field, also went to great lengths to improve his strength and conditioning in July, traveling to San Francisco to work with elite trainer Frank Matrisciano and former NBA coach Bob Hill. Matrisciano has worked with Blake Griffin, among other notables.

The Highlanders have a notable front-line addition this year in 6-8 junior Lazar Trifunovic (14.1 ppg, 7.1 rpg in 2007-08), a transfer from Binghamton, where he earned third-team All-America East honors as a sophomore. In addition to being the Big South's biggest small forward, Trifunovic has already made an impression at RU, often dominating practices with his skilled offensive game.

"Laz has a little more versatile scoring instincts," said Greenberg. "He scores around the basket or drives. If you isolate him 15 feet from the hoop, he's more of a threat than those guys."

He's also, says his coach, too good to sit. Greenberg will probably have two of the three bigs on the court most of the time, shuffling them through the frontcourt positions. That's where most Big South teams have trouble matching up, and what allowed the Highs to thrive.

"Later in the year, we got better and better at handling double teams and making passes out of double teams in the post," Greenberg said. "Those are the kind of things Art and Joey will pick up and be right where they left off. Their ability to play out of double teams is a big part of our offense."

Another big part of the offense is senior point guard Amir Johnson (9.6 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 5.2 apg). The 5-9, 193-pound Johnson has a Khalid El-Amin build and Greenberg would love to see what the three-year starter could do in tip-top shape. Last year, he led the Big South in assists, and he's on pace to be RU's all-time leader in that category and steals.

His offseason was clouded, though, by larceny charges that ultimately ended in an August plea agreement that resolved the matter as a misdemeanor, allowing him to return to school.

Blue Ribbon Previews

Take an Inside look at the Big South with Blue Ribbon's 2009-10 team reports:

Charleston Southern Coastal Carolina Gardner-Webb High Point Liberty North Carolina-Asheville Radford Virginia Military Winthrop

As insurance, Radford added Tallahassee (Fla.) Community College transfer Jeremy Robinson (7.2 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 2.9 apg), a junior. The 5-10 Baltimore native was second team all-conference and is a proven floor leader.

Evan Faulkner (15.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 2.9 apg) is another reserve point possibility, though he has played mostly shooting guard at Elliott County (Ky.) High School. He's a good shooter, another commodity RU covets with the graduation of Kenny Thomas. The 6-1 Faulkner is good enough to help somewhere.

The veteran in the mix at two guard or small forward is senior Phillip Martin (4.2 ppg, 2.9 rpg), a glue player who moved in as a starter when Greenberg dismissed a senior from last year's squad.

The Highlanders went on their late season run -- winning 17-of-19 games to reach the NCAA tournament against top-seeded North Carolina, with the scrappy, 6-6 Martin in the lineup.

Senior Cole Wilder (0.7 ppg, 0.2 rpg), a walk-on who has played both guard spots, could also work into the mix. The 6-1 product of nearby Wytheville has ability in the two areas the Highlanders are searching on the perimeter -- shooting and defense.

Freshman Blake Smith (15.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 3.0 spg) already has the defense part covered, and he could help right away. The long-armed 6-4 United Hope Christian Academy product was also a member of the Charlotte (N.C.) Royals, the 11th-ranked AAU squad in the country.

Incoming freshman Gorkem Sonmez (10.6 ppg at St. Mary's Ryken in Leonardtown, Md.) could eventually be the shooting guard, but the 6-5 native of Istanbul, Turkey played on a Turkish club team and will have to sort out some eligibility issues, probably missing an as-yet-to-be-determined amount of games early. He is big and strong and a proven shooter.

The glut of young guard candidates means 6-2 freshman Michael Wooten, a pure shooter out of North Carolina's Graham High School, is a red-shirt candidate. Former Highlander great Rod Cousin coached him at Graham.

Freshman Tommy Spagnolo (16.0 ppg, 8.7 rpg) of Ashe County (N.C.) High School, will provide depth behind Lynch-Flohr. The athletic 6-7 forward was a YouTube sensation as a dunker and shot blocker.

Tolga Cerrah is a bit of an unknown out of Ankara, Turkey. He's 6-9 and has always been a good rebounder for the Turkish National teams and for his Turkish high school, Greenberg said.

He and 6-8 Jamal Curry (15.0 ppg, 12.0 rpg, 2.0 bpg), who is skilled but a bit skinny coming out of Porter Gaud School in Charleston, S.C., may also be redshirt candidates.

BLUE RIBBON ANALYSIS

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

Radford didn't get into its refurbished Dedmon Center home until January last year, and Greenberg said that hurt the squad's chemistry and slowed its development.

Once in their new-and-improved home and after Greenberg made a tough decision to dismiss one of his best players, Martell McDuffy, the Highlanders ran away with the Big South race.

The Highlanders aren't as athletic or as proficient on the perimeter without Kenny Thomas and his 79 three-pointers.

They'll have to find a new chemistry with so many new players, but they're talented new players and their Big Three plus senior point-guard Amir Johnson can overcome a lot of growing pains just on their sheer talent.

Credit RU assistant Ali Ton, who's from Turkey, with the influx of foreign imports, particularly the two everyone will hear the most about this year, Art Parakhouski and Laz Trifunovic.

Right now in the Big South, bigger is better.

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.