JU opens season with high hopes

Jacksonville University and Florida State, two basketball teams coming off winning records and postseason play a year ago, meet tonight at the Donald L. Tucker Center in Tallahassee in the season opener for both teams. It's the third time in the last five years that the teams have opened against each other. They met at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena last November, a contest in which Florida State jumped out to a big lead, and the Dolphins put together a strong comeback that fell two points short at 59-57. Expectations are high for both teams. JU won the Atlantic Sun Conference regular-season title last season and advanced to the National Invitation Tournament, and the Dolphins were tabbed as the team to beat in a media preseason poll a month ago. Florida State, which advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 11 years last season, is picked to finish in the middle of the pack in the ACC this season and received votes in the initial Associated Press Top 25 poll. JU is looking to blend the experience of four returning starters with eight underclassmen. The Dolphins are led by guard Ben Smith, voted the preseason A-Sun player of the year. Smith enters his senior season with 1,319 points in three seasons as a starter with the Dolphins, 13th on the school's all-time list. Forward Lehmon Colbert is also a four-year starter and has also cracked the top-20 in career scoring. He enters the season tied for 19th with current Arlington Country Day coach Rex Morgan with 1,122 points. Juniors Travis Cohn and Ayron Hardy were also starters last season. Hardy was the league's defensive player of the year and joined Smith and Colbert on the preseason all-conference 10-man team. Cohn has played in all of JU's 63 games the past two seasons and improved his scoring average to 6.8 points a game last season. The fifth starting spot is still up for grabs with freshman forward Glenn Powell likely to start tonight. Backup center Szymon Lukasiak (6-foot-10) will also receive extensive playing time this year, especially today against the much-taller Seminoles. Florida State will have a decided height advantage over the Dolphins, owning at least a 3-inch advantage at every position. FSU's 7-foot-1 center, Solomon Alabi, will have an 8-inch advantage over Powell, and point guard Derwin Kitchen will tower over Smith by six inches. Kitchen, who led Raines to a pair of state championships, missed last season's game with JU while awaiting clearance from the NCAA on his transfer from a community college. Kitchen originally signed with Florida but didn't qualify academically. He later signed with St. Johns University, but was again denied admission just before the start of school. He eventually played a season at Iowa Western where he received an associate's degree in spring of 2008. JU coach Cliff Warren is well aware of Kitchen's talents and versatility. He tried to persuade the 6-foot-4 shooting guard to attend JU before Kitchen signed with Florida State 18 months ago. "The best way to describe Derwin is that he's just a do-it-all player," Warren said. "He does everything he can on the court on offense and on defense. He does exactly what you ask him to do. "When I got to JU, he was already out of high school. We later jumped through hoops to try to convince him to come to school here. Unfortunately it didn't work out, but he's made the most of his career. I wish him the best .... except when we play him Monday night." Florida State leads the all-time series with the Dolphins by a 44-19 margin and has won the last 15 meetings. JU's last win against FSU was on Jan. 3, 1987 by a 90-78 score. Jacksonville is 1-3 in season-openers under Warren, and FSU coach Leonard Hamilton has won all seven of his season-opening games with the Seminoles. jeff.elliott@Jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4292 Jacksonville AT Florida STATE When: 7 p.m. today. Where: Donald L. Tucker Center, Tallahassee TV: Sun Sports Radio: WJXL (1010 AM), WBOB (1320 AM). PROBABLE STARTERS DOLPHINS (0-0) 41 Lehmon Colbert, F, 6-6 Avg.: 11.8 ppg., 6.2 rpg. 44 Glenn Powell, C, 6-5 1st game at JU 10 Ayron Hardy, F, 6-5 Avg.: 10.1 ppg., 5.3 rpg. 1 Travis Cohn, G, 6-2 Avg.: 6.8 ppg., 3.3 rpg. 3 Ben Smith, G, 5-10 Avg.: 16.9 ppg., 4.0 apg. SEMINOLES (0-0) 32 Solomon Alabi, C, 7-1 Avg.: 8.4 ppg., 5.6 rpg. 42 Ryan Reid, F, 6-9 Avg.: 4.9 ppg., 3.7 rpg. 31 Chris Singleton, F, 6-9 Avg.: 8.1 ppg., 4.9 rpg. 3 Luke Loucks, G, 6-5 Avg.: 3.1 ppg., 2.3 apg. 22 Derwin Kitchen, G, 6-4 Avg.: 7.9 ppg., 2.5 apg. JEFF ELLIOTT/The Times-Union