Alderson Broaddus to open the 2015-16 basketball season in Detroit

Battler Beat has learned that the Alderson Broaddus men's basketball team will open the 2015-16 season in Detroit, Michigan. AB will take part in the G-MAC/GLIAC Challenge to be held on the campus of Wayne State University  (pictured above). The Battlers will be a part of a field that includes Tiffin University, Wayne State University and Kentucky Wesleyan College. All games will be played at the Matthaei Center (pictured below).

The Battlers will open the challenge on Saturday, November 14 at 5 PM when AB takes on Tiffin University. Tiffin is located in Tiffin, Ohio. The Dragons are part of the GLIAC. The Battlers will return to action on Sunday, November 15 at 4 PM to take on host Wayne State who is also a part of the GLIAC. Wayne State has an enrollment over 25,000 students. Both games will count as Midwest In-Region games.

D-1 Basketball Transfer Visits AB

BattlerBeat has learned that Alderson Broaddus men's basketball program got a visit today from Nnamdi Enechionyia, a 6'6" transfer from Samford University. Enechionyia is originally from Springfield, VA but played his high school basketball at Saint James High School which is located in Hagerstown, MD. Enechionyia has two years of eligibility left.

Enechionyia played in all 32 games this past season for Samford. He started 12 of those games and finished the season with a 4.3 scoring average. Enechionyia had a season-high 22 points against the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He followed that game with 13 points against Kennesaw State. Enechionyia's most impressive performance was saved for a game against an out-of-conference opponent from the ACC. He was able to score 15 points against Wake Forest on 5 of 7 shooting from the field including 3 of 3 from beyond the arc.

Nnamdi Enechionyia was a mathematics major at Samford. His brother Obi plays basketball for Temple. Nnamdi's grades were of good enough quality coming out of high school that he was even offered by the United States Naval Academy. He played AAU basketball for Takeover DC. We will follow the progress of Nnamdi Enechionyia and remind readers that this was only a visit.

AB grad Jeff Burkhamer Lands Head Coaching Job at University of West Florida

Alderson Broaddus grad and former Battler point guard Jeff Burkhamer has accepted the head men's basketball coaching position at the University of West Florida. Jeff was previously the head men's basketball coach at Lander University where he had a 19-8 record this past season. He spent the past six seasons at Lander Prior to Lander, Burkhamer was the head men's basketball coach at Armstrong Atlantic State University where he compiled a record of 134-75 in 7 seasons. Coach Burkhamer has 19 years of head coaching experience. He has compiled a career head coaching record of 373-194.

Jeff Burkhamer also spent 12 seasons as an assistant men's basketball coach at the following schools: Winthrop University, Charleston Southern University, Morehead State University, Marshall University and Grand Rapids of the CBA. He earned his degree from Alderson Broaddus in 1984. He is the school's all-time assist leader with a career total of 646. He was inducted into the Battler Hall of Fame in 2001.

Coach Burkhamer has a rebuilding job on his hands at West Florida. The Argos finished last season with an overall record of 7-21 and a 3-19 record in the Gulf South Conference. West Florida has finished with three consecutive losing seasons.  UWF is located in Pensacola, FL. Battler Beat wishes Coach Burkhamer well in this endeavor. We hope to have an interview with Jeff this summer on MixLR.

Coach Zimmerman's Persistence Lands First 2015 Recruit

Battler Beat has found out that Alderson Broaddus has landed player Malik Bocook (6'4") from Zanesville, Ohio. Bocook was a second-team All-Ohio selection in divison two. Bocook averaged 19.6 points per game this past season along with 7.6 rebounds per game. He led the team in field goal percentage (54%) along with three-point goal percentage (38.4%). Zanesville finished this past season with a record of 19-5.

Head coach Greg Zimmerman saw Bocook and Zanesville in person several times this past season. He also attended the all-star games that Bocook played in. Bocook played most of his career in the post. But this past season, he showed an ability to step out and play on the perimeter as well. It is projected that Bocook will play on the wing/forward for the Battlers.

Battler Beat plans to try and contact Malik and his coach, Scott Aronhalt, in due time. Stay tune to Battler Beat for more news on Malik and other recruits that sign with the Battlers. Battler Beat plans to do a podcast on MixLR once the recruiting class is complete.

Fun Fact Friday: Which former AB player was drafted in both the ABA and NBA?

The answer is former Battler Andy Jennings. After graduating from AB in 1970, Jennings was drafted in the ABA by the Virginia Squires. That same year he was also drafted by the Cincinnati Royals of the NBA.

Jennings started his career at AB playing for the legendary coach Rex Pyles. He finished his final years at AB playing for Jack Funk. During his freshman season, he scored 485 points and pulled down an incredible 604 rebounds. Jennings had two games, one against Davis & Elkins and one against WV Wesleyan, where he pulled down 36 rebounds in each game. He continued his rebounding prowess throughout his career at AB finishing with a career total of 2188. Jennings was a first-team all-WVIAC selection in 1969 and 1970. Jennings finished as the WVIACs all-time leading rebounder in the history of the conference.

Jennings would later become a police officer in Philadelphia. He served for 18 years before he lost a battle to cancer. Andy Jennings was a native of War, WV. Later we will feature another Battler who was drafted by a NBA franchise.

Keeping an eye on a few D-I transfers

It was reported earlier this week that freshman backup point guard Malcolm Walters will be leaving the University of Akron's men's basketball team after this semester. Walters is a native of Cleveland, Ohio. He played his high school basketball at St. Edward High School in Cleveland. During his senior year, he helped lead St. Edward to a Division I Ohio state championship.

Alderson Broaddus has not offered Walters to any one's knowledge here at BattlerBeat. But there is a connection from AB to St. Edward. Head coach Greg Zimmerman was once the head coach at St. Edward. Assistant coach Samario Clancy was also a former player at St. Edward. We post this as something to keep an eye on. We have not seen any mutual interest or any thing like that. His name was one of the D-I transfers that caught our eye as someone to keep an eye on.

Another D-1 player that has left his school is Jermaine Davis. He is a 6'9/280 pound post player from Garland Heights, Ohio. He was a redshirt freshman this past season for the Explorers. Davis led his high school basketball team to an Ohio state championship as a junior.

These are just players from D-I schools that are transferring. We are just posting these two names as players to keep an eye on. There have been no official offers from AB at this point.

2015-16 Men's Basketball Games on the Schedule

Men's Games as of Today:

Saturday, January 9th -- Davis & Elkins (H)

Tuesday, January 12th -- Ohio Valley (H)

Thursday, January 14th -- Kentucky Wesleyan (H)

Saturday, January 16th -- Trevecca Nazarene (H)

Thursday, January 21st -- Salem International (A)

Saturday, January 23rd -- Ohio Valley (A)

Saturday, January 30th -- Cedarville (A)

Tuesday, February 2nd -- Salem International (H)

Saturday, February 13th -- Davis & Elkins (A)

Thursday, February 18th -- Trevecca Nazarene (A)

Saturday, February 20th -- Kentucky Wesleyan (A)

Thursday, February 25th -- Cedarville (H)