Change is not always the easiest aspect of life, but threeplayers enter the men's basketball program looking for a change ofbasketball scenery. Their goal is to transform Ball State back intoa contender in the Mid-American Conference.
Junior Terrance Chapman and sophomore Jesse McClung enter BallState from the junior college ranks, and junior Dennis Trammelltransferred from New Mexico State.
Head coach Tim Buckley said at the beginning of the season hedidn't know if the group was worthy of a collective nickname.
"Are they worthy of a nickname?" he said, repeating thequestion. "I hope so. I hope they (the fans) call themwinners."
The play of the transfers to this point in the season mightchange Buckley's mind. The Cardinals, because of majorcontributions from the Muncie Mafia, have jumped out to a quickstart with quality victories over Xavier and Butler, two teams thatappeared in the 2003 NCAA Tournament. Trammell almostsingle-handedly kept the Cardinals afloat down the stretch againstthe Bulldogs and sunk two free throws late in the game to clinchthe victory. The junior finished the game with a career high 22points. The winning mentality Trammell exhibited in the Butler gameis an aspect Buckley said he saw in this group of players beforethey stepped on the Muncie campus.
"Those guys are all accustomed to winning," he said. "We feelthat winning is a skill, and obviously if you have guys in yourprogram that have won at a high level you would like to see themcarry that through."
Trammell spent his high school years piling up victories atWestinghouse in Chicago where he finished his career with threelosses in three years and a Class AA state runnerup.
A winning attitude is something Ball State needs after finishinglast year with a 13-17 record. Chris Williams, the Cardinals'leading scorer from a year ago, is gone, leaving a scoring voidthat must be filled if the team is to have a successful season.Chapman averaged 19.6 points per game for Lincoln Community Collegelast year and could fill some of the offensive void vacated byWilliams and Theron Smith, who plays for the Memphis Grizzles.
"Everything he does is about winning," Buckley said ofChapman.
One element the Ball State team lacked last season was thepresence of a true point guard, and Buckley said he looks to givethe ball to McClung to run the team's offense when he's on thecourt. At the start of the season McClung has been slotted into areserve role behind freshman Peyton Stovall.
"(Jesse) definitely brings a vocal player to our program andsomebody who has run teams at a high level, both at high school andin the junior college ranks."
McClung, who averaged 7.6 points per game at Barton CommunityCollege, said his teammates have helped him make the transfer fromjunior college to Ball State an easy one by teaching andencouraging him.
"It's nice to know that the people on your team are in yourcorner," he said. "It's good to have somebody pushing you."
A push was all Trammell said he needed at New Mexico State, butafter playing there for two years he left to join the Buckley ledCardinals.
"It was a good program, but it wasn't to my standards, somethingI was looking for, something that was going to push me every dayand make me get better," Trammell said.
This isn't the first time Buckley has dipped into the juniorcollege ranks. Last season Cameron Echols transferred to Ball Stateafter playing at two different junior college programs. Echols hasstruggled in the early portion of the season with a scoring averagein the single digits , but last year as a junior Echols averaged13.1 points a game.
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