Savage enjoys fans' enthusiasm for summer practice

East Tennessee State basketball coach Brooks Savage was pleased to see the fans come out for Thursday's open practice at Brooks Gym. An estimated 200-some fans showed up to watch practice, get autographs and mingle with the men's and women's teams. "What a great turnout, especially middle of July," Savage said. "Really cool for our get for our fans to get a look at our team with so many new guys, and also see the returners. It was an awesome ovation for Maki (Johnson), a four-year player. It was a good day for summer hoops." Savage hopes the enthusiasm translates to more fans for the non-conference slate. The coach said there are five games still to schedule, and he looks for it to be done at the end of September. For the second time in three years, the Bucs will open with an exhibition against High Point. There are challenges trying to schedule opponents, something Savage said has become harder coming off a Southern Conference regular-season championship. "We're going to have seven or eight home games, just trying to get as many quality opponents and good games as we can," Savage said. "It's hard when you're coming off a championship. It was hard to begin with, but it always seems to kind of come together here at the end of the summer, early fall." A major focus was being strong in the front court. Jordan McCullum has put on nearly 40 pounds, while Savage is particularly high on Wake Forest transfer Marqus Marion at 6-foot-9 and 220 pounds. There were certain traits that Savage was looking for with the transfer players. The Bucs went 23-11 a season ago with tough inside play from Cam Morris III, who has graduated, and Blake Barkley, who transferred to Grand Canyon. "Smart, skilled, serious, tough-minded player, the front court's got to be mobile," Savage said. "We have a long way to go, but I don't think we missed. I mean, we didn't guard anybody. We can't guard our shadow right now, but we'll figure it out. Summer was about offense and trying to grow in that way." While much was made of the Bucs leading the Southern Conference in scoring defense last season, Savage pointed out how they were good on the offensive end. The Bucs set school records for offensive efficiency and two-point percentage. The turnover rate was the best since Savage has coached at ETSU, and they came close to setting a school record for field goal percentage. The coach knows a team has to put the ball through the hoop on a consistent basis in the Southern Conference. They've even watched film on pro games to try to get better. "This league is a really good offensive league. We've done a lot of studying and trying to get even better offensively," Savage said. "I think we've got shooting all across the floor, left playmaking. We got more playmakers. I like how we're playing." Savage likes how his returning players — Johnson, McCullum, Maddox Huff and Brayden Crump — have welcomed the newcomers. It's a group of players who have expectations of winning another championship. Before the SoCon season, Savage talked about the importance of fans to show up for the non-conference games. The Bucs have picked up transfers like Jayden Cooper from South Alabama, and Crump the year before from Elon, after their teams played in Freedom Hall. "I think we've got an impressive home-court advantage," Savage said. "We've had a number of guys that played at Freedom Hall. We got to keep pushing the non-conference attendance. We got to do things to get the students there and keep them coming back. We're going to play High Point in the exhibition on October 25th. That's as good as it gets at our level."