After just falling short of securing their first NCAA tournament bid in school history in the 2004-2005 season, there were high hopes for the DU men’s basketball team for the 2005-2006 season.
Those high hopes were never met, as the Pioneers finished just above .500 at 16-15 and didn’t make the NIT or NCAA tournaments as they had hoped.
That is the past and it is time to put that behind as Denver welcomes six new talented student-athletes into its program.
“We are happy that they are all coming here. They are all very good students and players in their own way. This group of people is probably the most athletic bunch we have ever been able to recruit. We will have a lot more depth than we have had in the past,” said fifth-year Head Coach Terry Carroll.
Recruiting is no easy task for the DU coaching staff as they take a careful look at every athlete they consider asking to attend and play basketball for the University of Denver.
“First of all you have to find a person of high quality and character that fits into the type of team that we are trying to build, a kid that is academically capable to do work here and a basketball player that is talented enough to win games at this level,” said Carroll of what he looks for in every potential recruit.
Chris Timms of Birmingham, England, and Mykhael Lattimore of Morristown, N.J., were the first two recruits to sign in the fall of 2005. Timms, a 6-foot-9-inch forward, has most recently played for Marshalltown Community College in Iowa and helped the team to a 25-9 record in 2004-2005.
Lattimore, a 6-foot-5-inch guard first began his college career as a walk on for Virginia Tech in 2004-2005 until a medical hardship stopped him from playing and he transferred to Casper College. Lattimore started all 27 games for the Thunderbirds this season and averaged 13.6 points and 4.7 rebounds per game.
Denver added four more student-athletes this spring as they signed Nate Rohnert (Parker, Colo. / Chaparral H.S.), Cedric Hill (Littleton, Colo. / Diablo Community College), Adam Tanner (Melbourne, Australia/ Seward County Community College) and Roderick Adams (Cedar Hill, Texas/ Texas State).
“Having holes is something that you are prepared for. We have two big junior college kids that we have signed, big improvement from Kenny Howard. It will be exciting to see who improves the most before next season,” said Carroll.
Rohnert was named All-Colorado by the Rocky Mountain News this past season and was also second in the state of Colorado in scoring by averaging 22.9 points per game. Rohnert, a 6-foot-5-inch guard, led Chaparral High School to a 23-2 record.
Hill, a 6-foot-2-inch guard originally signed with Northern Arizona during his senior year of high school and then suffered a season-ending ankle injury during a Jan. 29, 2004 game. Hill then transferred to Diablo Community College where he averaged 18 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists per game this past season.
Tanner, a 6-foot-8-inch, 230 pound forward, has played the past two seasons at Seward Community College where he averaged 13.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game in the last two seasons, including 11 double-double games.
The final student-athlete to sign to the 2006-2007 season was Roderick Adams, a 6-foot-1-inch, 185-pound guard who most recently played for Collin County Community College. Adams averaged 10.6 points and 3.8 assists this past season and initially signed with Texas State- San Marcos out of high school, but never played with the team.
Although the season does not start for a good five months and the schedule has not been set, the Pioneers are already looking forward to an exciting season and hoping that this is the year they make it to the NCAA tournament.
