By Robert Hudson

The Selma Times-Journal

The Wallace Community College men’s basketball team is setting its hopes high for the upcoming season. Coming off an 8-20 finish last season, Patriots head coach Ronald Lane said his team is looking to improve and win the Alabama Community College Conference championship.

“Our goal is to win a conference championship,” Lane said. “We’ve got a good mix of sophomores, a good mix of talented freshmen coming in. I don’t think we should set the bar any lower than a conference championship, and shooting for a state championship and trying to make nationals. I think we can get it done.”

Lane said the Patriots are still looking for leadership at one of the most important positions on the court — point guard.

“Coming out of training, I think our weakness is, right now, we’re looking for point guard play,” Lane said. “If we can get the point guard play we’re looking for, we think that we can be very successful. If those guys can mature and come around, I think we’ll be fine because in the post we’re deep … and we’ve got experienced post players and shooters on the wings.”

Lane said the Patriots’ strength in the post will be an advantage in a league where most teams rely heavily on guard play.

“The post play is going to be big in this league, it’s a guard driven league for the years we’ve been in the league, and we recognize that,” Lane said, “but you obviously have to rebound and play defense to win championships and I think we’ve got the skill players and depth that if we rebound and play defense the way we’ve been practicing toward, I think we’ll be okay.”

Lane said his sophomores will be relied upon for leadership, including last year’s leading scorer Byron Dudley.

“Right now, we’re going to lean on our sophomores for leadership,” Lane said.

“Byron Dudley is a guard who has a lot of bounce and can get to the basket and is real savvy on defense.

“He’s going to help us out at the guard spot and hopefully he can solidify the point guard spot for us.”

Lane said another key player will be Jamie King, a transfer from Southern Union and native of Selma, who led the conference in rebounding last year.

“I think we’ve got a pretty good group this year,” Land said.