Mocs Basketball Experiences a ‘Renaissance’ as Practice Begins

The Mocs basketball team stumbled last year with a 10-23 record, but they’ve already experienced a renaissance as practice got underway.

It may be Lamont Paris’ second year with the Mocs, but it might feel like his first year given the roster turnover.
Said Paris:”I don’t know if I’ve ever been in a situation or around a team even that had this many new faces coming into a year.”
Chattanooga features eight new players, including three star recruit Kevin Easley and 7-footer Thomas Smallwood of UAB who is the team’s first ever grad transfer.
Said Paris:”I’ve been really, really excited, and the excitement has only grown from the time that these guys got to campus. The one thing that I do know is that we have a lot of guys that are capable of playing, and so that’s a good thing. It will make it extremely competitive.
With so many new players, Coach Paris wanted to build camaraderie.
So he took them to the park.
To run.
But it was no fun run.
They tackled some hills at Renaissance Park in Chattanooga.
Said Paris:”The people that designed that hill. I don’t know. It’s almost like this is what it was for I’ll be honest with you. It’s got railings around it. It’s graded out. And then these other ones have different grades, different lengths, and so those are fantastic for training for the main one that we run. By the time you get up to 40 you are going to not want to do it. Right. By the time you get up to 30 for the most part. You are going to have to convince yourself to do it 31, and then 32. And everyone between 32 and 40 is going to be a harder conversation you have to have with yourself in order to do that. It’s a little bit unique. A unique way to train, but I think it’s a really good, a really good tool.”

The Mocs season opener is Tuesday, November 6th as they travel to Charlotte.