A hamstring injury kept Tulane point guard Jaren Cook out of the American Athletic Conference basketball tournament in March.
After a long recovery, he plans to continue playing this season and beyond that tournament.
“I thought maybe if I had played, I could have won the entire tournament,” he said. “So it was very hard for me to sit on the sidelines and watch my teammates go into the game.
After a week of preseason practice, the bravado that coach Ron Hunter brought when he arrived four years ago has spread throughout the team. His eight of the top five scorers and his nine leaders came back just minutes after finishing fourth in the AAC before the Greenwave reached the semi-finals of his tournament in the league. Confidence is evident.
The roster includes Cook, a first-team All-AAC selection averaging 18.0 points. Jalen Forbes, a second team pick averaging 16.4 points and 5.4 rebounds. and versatile power forward Kevin Cross, who made his third team after averaging 13.9 points, a team-high 6.8 rebounds and nearly 4.0 assists.
“We have unprecedented hype, so it’s important to stay focused, participate every day, and improve every day,” said Forbes. If we play as a team, as we know, it’s going to be pretty hard to beat.”
Hunter has done nothing to assuage expectations. I love the opportunity to create. The Green Wave hasn’t even reached a NIT since Clarke’s last season in 2000.
“I know this is an NCAA Tournament team and I know we can win games in the NCAA Tournament,” said Hunter. “This is the first time I can confidently say that we have a team that can win the NCAA Tournament.”
The Wave added Georgetown-transferred Colin Holloway, former Minnesota and Oregon contributor Tre Williams, and up-and-coming freshman Percy Daniels to their returning core. Holloway, his 6-foot-6 forward who attended Port Allen High, averaged 14 points in his two games when Tulane went to Costa Rica in August, and junior guard Zion in the Big 3. He will be the fifth starter after James. defender.
“He’s physical,” Forbes said of Holloway. “He plays really tough. He’s small, but he plays kind of big. Colin is going to be big for us.”
The rest of the roster features hardcore shooting guard Jadan Coleman, who had seven games in three over three a year ago. Physical rebounder Tyran Pope said Hunter has fully recovered from his broken leg in the offseason. Specialist in charge Nobal Days. His juniors RJ Magee and Oton Jankovic.
“I’ve been sleeping better than ever since I got this job,” said Hunter. “This is the first time I can look at the schedule and say that I have a chance to win every game before I have to play perfect to win the game. So you don’t have to play a perfect match.”
A schedule focused on out-of-conference big-name competition would make Tulane’s path to an NCAA tournament bid very conference-centric, but Hunter dismissed those concerns. The only competitive opponent is Kansas when facing off at the Caymen Islands Classic, finishing inside the top 100 in the NET rankings last season.
Hunter named two games each centered around Houston, Memphis and Cincinnati.
“We have to look out for what’s in our league,” he said. “The rest will be handled naturally. not.”
