by PERRYN KEYS; Advocate sportswriter; , The Advocate

"I don't know," said Scott, an Istrouma High graduate who led the Southern men's basketball team in rebounding last season. "I think the lowest point was the whole year."

Judging from the results, he had a point.

From any angle, the Jaguars had a season to forget - certainly the worst since coach Rob Spivery took over in 2005-06.

They finished 8-23 overall, with an 8-10 mark in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, and their final game was true to form: A narrow defeat in which too many bad things happened down the stretch.

SU lost to Arkansas-Pine Bluff 62-61 in the first round of the conference tournament.

Just minutes later, Spivery shook hands and talked with some of his former players from Alabama State, grown men who'd made the drive to see their old coach in Birmingham, Ala. He also talked and laughed with his granddaughters, who live there.

More than anything, the coach seemed relieved.

Over the summer, Spivery said he knew his team's chemistry would get better as soon as that last game ended.

We're about to find out if he's right.

Southern, which kicks off 2009-10 with an exhibition Thursday at home against NAIA Xavier, will sport all sorts of new looks, including a change in personnel and a change in style of play.

"I felt last year that we hadn't had the type of leadership or the type of chemistry we needed to win ballgames," Spivery said. "We kind of overhauled the basketball team. Many of the players that scheduled to return to this team did not return."

Scott, a small forward and one of five returning seniors, got down to business this summer. He spent a month with his sister in New Orleans, working out to his own routine: jogging a mile at 6 a.m., then working on basketball drills in the afternoon, followed sometimes by another run late at night.

He returned to Baton Rouge and, one by one, met his new teammates.

There were plenty of them.

Spivery blew out the roster and started over, adding 10 new players - a mix of junior-college transfers and high-school recruits - to go with eight returnees (including walk-ons).

Other players either transferred willingly or were shown the door.

Now, with a roomful of guards and no player standing taller than 6-foot-9, Spivery said this season's team will do less stopping and walking, more pressing, running and shooting.

The key, however, will lie at the point-guard position.

"Oh, it's going to make the world of difference," Spivery said. "We all think we're solid coaches. ... But if you don't have the players and the leaders, we just end up over-coaching and winding up having to do too much."

Spivery brought in Nick Walls, a junior-college transfer from Memphis, Tenn., to take over a point-guard spot that was volatile at best last season, when SU finished last in the SWAC with an average turnover margin of minus-3.8.

"We're really depending on him to come in and provide our leadership, and to be the straw that stirs our drink," Spivery said.

True freshman Jameel Grace will back him up.

Returning senior Jazz Williams finds himself among a handful of newcomers who will take turns at shooting guard.

Williams figures to be a full-time starter for the first time, though he'll have help from any one of six shooting guards, including three junior-college transfers.

As for the frontcourt, it will also look very, very different.

Starting center Barry Honor?, who started 54 games over the past two seasons, transferred to Oklahoma, where his maternal grandmother is in assisted living nearby and needed someone to "help take care of some business up there," said Barry's father, Bruce Honor?.

"This didn't have anything to do with Southern or the (Southwestern Athletic) Conference," Bruce Honor? said. "This was just really a case of something where we as a family needed Barry up there in Norman."

OU spokesman Mike Houck said Honor? will be a walk-on. As a transfer, he must sit out this season.

Spivery said he released the player once he understood the situation, saying his only problem was with the timing of the move (Honor? asked for the release in late July).

The 6-foot-7 Honor? was the SWAC freshman of the year in 2007-08, when he averaged 8.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Honor? started 28 of 30 games last season, averaging 8.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, with a field-goal percentage of 43.

Honor?'s departure means four of five regular starters from last season are gone. Guards Chris Davis, Steffon Wiley and Geri Guillory all were seniors, and Scott is the only returning player with more than 20 starts. He averaged 6.9 points and a team-high 7.2 rebounds last season.

Scott will have help from three newcomers in the post.

Just before the start of fall semester, The Jaguars added three players: Madut Bol, a 6-foot-9 forward from St. Anthony's in Jersey City, N.J.; Quinton Doggett, a 6-foot-8 forward from Western Oklahoma Community College; and Horace Dixon, a 6-foot-7 forward from Angelina College in Lufkin, Texas.

Bol is the son of Manute Bol, the 7-foot-6 shot-blocking specialist who spent 10 years in the NBA.

"He's got some work to do," Spivery said. "He's thin, and he needs to build some strength. We're hoping he can grow a little more."

Doggett will be a sophomore this season, with three seasons to play at Southern.

Dixon, a native of Greenville, S.C., played at Fork Union Military Academy and originally signed with Saint Louis. He went to Angelina College and signed with the University of Houston but never made it to school.

Spivery said he expects 6-foot-6 senior Earnest Jones, who struggled with minor injuries during parts of last season, to be the best post-up player. He and Scott are among the few returning players on a team that will look very different, both in personnel and in style. And, if the Jaguars are fortunate, in their level of success.

"Last year, we had talent. But we also had a lot players from the year before, when we'd already had a losing season," Scott said. "It was kind of like the attitude from (2007-08) carried over. Now we've got a lot of new dudes, and basically all of them came from winning programs. They all just want to win. So I would say we have a better attitude this year."

Southern basketball roster

Newcomers

No. Player Ht. Wt. Pos. Cl. Hometown/Previous school

0 Jameel Grace 6-0 175 G Fr. Newark, N.J. (Columbia)

5 Nick Walls 6-2 180 G Jr. Memphis, Tenn. (N. D. College Science)

25 DeSean Miles 6-3 180 G Fr. Dallas (Dallas Lincoln)

32 Blake Sanford 6-4 185 G Jr. Lexington, Ky. (St. Catherine JC)

33 Quinton Doggett 6-8 220 F So. Richmond, Va. (Western Oklahoma JC)

35 Horace Dixon 6-8 215 F Jr. Greenville, S.C. (Angelina JC)

42 Tony McGilveary 6-5 220 G Fr. Fort Worth, Texas (North Crowley)

44 Bobby Lee 6-5 185 F Jr. Willingboro, N.J. (Willingboro)

45 Johnnie Young 6-3 185 G Jr. Oklahoma City (Oklahoma City CC)

55 Madut Bol 6-9 210 F Fr. Jersey City, N.J. (St. Anthony)

Returners

2 Brandon White 6-3 185 G Jr. Baton Rouge (Glen Oaks)

10 Norm Nixon Jr. 6-0 178 G Jr. Los Angeles (Wofford)

23 McCall Wollman 6-2 185 G Sr. San Diego (George Fox)

30 Julius Ingram 6-6 205 F Jr. Sicklerville, N.J. (Bishop Eustace)

31 Jazz Williams 6-5 190 G/F Sr. Missouri City, Texas (Marshall)

40 Douglas Scott 6-6 215 F Sr. Baton Rouge (Istrouma)

42 Derrick Richardson 6-3 230 F Sr. Baton Rouge (Copiah-Lincoln CC)

54 Earnest Jones 6-6 230 F Sr. New Orleans (Paris JC)

Departures

Pos. Ppg Rpg

Chris Davis G 14.8 4.3

Steffon Wiley G 9.9 3.1

*Barry Honor? C 8.8 4.5

*Desmond Griffin G/F 4.9 1.9

*Tim Brown C 4.7 3.9

Geri Guillory G 4.7 2.5

*Brian Talley G 1.6 0.8

*Andre Davis F 1.1 1.6

*Greg Horne F/C 2.3 2.6

*Lester Johnson Jr. F 0.0 0.0

*underclassmen

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