Basketball Previews: Meet Josh Southern

This will be an important year for BC basketball. Skinner has to mix his most touted recruiting class with one of his thinnest rosters of returning, productive players. I'll take quick glances at the new and old faces as the season approaches.


NEW FACE

Josh Southern, C/F, 6'10


Southern is another part of this deep and talented freshman class. The cousin of Director of Basketball Operations Preston Murphy, Southern was sought after by many Big 10 schools and ACC foe Wake Forest.

Strengths: Good rebounder. Good size and frame to play on the frontline in the ACC.

Questions: Can he develop a low-post game? What can we expect defensively?

Outlook: In my opinion Southern will make or break the season. Follow me on this…Rice is a given and will do enough to win a few games just by himself. Everyone expects Sanders to contribute early. Roche and/or Raji should do enough to cover the 3 minutes. That leaves the front line. Oates, Blair and Spears are not elite players. In our conference they are role players (and limited ones at that). To take BC from a lower-level ACC team to a middle of the pack, we need someone creating points and grabbing rebounds in the 4/5 slots. Is Southern that guy? It is too early to tell, but let’s hope he can be.