With the basketball season long over, the Portland State Vikings are well into their off-season training, which includes lifting, individual workouts and open gyms. In addition, head coach Tyler Geving added four more players to his roster in hopes to replace three starters from last season.
With the basketball season long over, the Portland State Vikings are well into their off-season training, which includes lifting, individual workouts and open gyms. In addition, head coach Tyler Geving added four more players to his roster in hopes to replace three starters from last season.
Last season, the Vikings finished 17-15 overall and 10-6 in the Big Sky Conference. Among the starters, Portland State is losing lead-scorer Charles Odum and lead-rebounder Chehales Tapscott. However, Geving remains optimistic.
“We finished on a high note,” Geving said. “We did a lot of good things the second half of the season, and that’s something we have to continue, we need to build off of that going into next year. We need to pick up where we left off, and not take steps back in the program. We need that same frame of mind.”
To continue that success, the new players will have to come in and play an important role. So far, the new recruits include Tim Douglas (junior, guard), Lamont Prosser (junior, center), Marcus Hall (junior, guard) and Aaron Moore (junior, forward).
Douglas is 5 foot 10 inches tall and transferred from the University of Portland. He will not be eligible to play this year because he is a transfer, but Geving hopes he will learn the system well during this upcoming season and play an important role after that.
“It’ll be good for [Douglas] to come in and work on his weaknesses in his game,” Geving said. “He’ll be able to learn our system, and then come in after that. He’ll have two years here, and I think he’ll be a really good player for us.”
Hall, 6 foot 4 inches tall, played at Fresno State Community College before joining the Vikings. He averaged 12.9 points and 4.1 rebounds during his sophomore season at Fresno. Hall also led his team to a 33-3 record and to the California Community College Championship game.
“[Hall] brings a little bit of everything to the table,” Geving said. “He’s a good scorer. He’s a good defender. He’s a good rebounder. Overall, he’s just a good player. To have a stronger wing could help us. We were a little undersized at the guard position last year.”
The new center, Prosser, will add a little bulk to the team. He was picked up in November, much earlier than the rest of the signees, and stands 6 foot 8 inches tall and weighs in at 255 pounds.
“Big body, low post presence,” Geving said. “Lamont will step right in and help us. To have someone at his size and ability to score on the block gives him a chance to be a pretty good player in this league.”
Lastly, the most recent signing of the team is Moore, who is 6-foot-8 and from San Bernardino Valley Junior College. The forward averaged 14.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game last season.
“We felt like we needed a replacement for Chehales all year long, and he’s going to have to step into that role and give us some minutes there,” Geving said. “He’s a very talented player and has the ability to do it. He’s another good guy and can give us good minutes right from the get go.”
This off-season is the first NCAA season in which players can work two hours a week with their coaches. So a lot of the basketball players will be taking summer classes so they can continue to practice with Geving and the rest of the basketball coaching staff.
Full time practice will begin Sept. 15, and the first official practice will be on Oct. 12.
