DEFENDING CHAMPS OPEN SEASON AT HOME FRIDAY AGAINST FREDERICK C.C.

PETERSBURG, Va., (Oct. 29, 2015) – What do you do for an encore? 

That's the question third-year Richard Bland College head coach Chuck Moore gets when the topic of his juggernaut basketball team is raised. In only Moore's second year resurrecting a once storied basketball program that went dormant following the 1993-94 season, the Statesmen compiled a 32-4 record and won the 2014-15 NJCAA Division II National Championship last season. 

"I get asked how we top last season a lot," said Moore, the reigning Division II National Coach of the Year, on Thursday evening a day before the 2015-16 season opener against Frederick Community College at Statesmen Hall. "We talk a lot about being humble, but staying hungry. We've won a lot of games the last two seasons (Moore sports a 59-8 record at Richard Bland), but that's in the past. We're focusing on the future." 

While Moore says he puts "enough pressure on myself for success and expects nothing less from my team," he's realistic that the 2015-16 season will be a building process, given the Statesmen return only one player (6-6 sophomore Troy Gibson) from last year's team. Coming off last season's spectacular season has raised the level of competition opponents. 

Richard Bland's 2015-16 schedule is the most difficult and ambitious in school history. The Statesmen play 17 of their 30 games on the road, compete in two highly-competitive tournaments and face five teams that appeared in the NJCAA National Championship Tournaments last season.   

"The only way to gain experience and improve is to play the best possible competition you can," Moore says. 

The 2015-16 team will rely on the leadership of Gibson, this year's team captain and a native of Newport News, VA. Gibson played in 24 games on a talent-laden team last season, averaging 4.3 points a game. He's athletic, can finish around the rim and has long-range shooting abilities. 

The Statesmen have a number of interchangeable parts, and as such, can feature a number of different looks and combinations on the floor. A four-guard prong 6-0 local standout Myles Markland (Petersburg, VA/Matoca), 6-0 freshman Kai Brown (Williamsburg, VA/Walsingham Academy), 6-1 Deandre Clark (Orange County, VA/Wakefield Private School) and 6-5 sophomore Devin Smith (Baltimore, MD/Randallstown), all provide different options as shooters, slashers and finshers. 

The Statesmen have eight players on the roster that are 6-5 and taller, with a bevy of talented newcomers making their intercollegiate debuts in Petersburg. Freshman Jaquan Wooten (Goldsboro, VA/South Lenoir) is a 6-9 athletic big that can block shots as a backline defender and has a soft touch around the rim. Bookend options exist with a pair of bruising forwards who have traveled thousands of miles to play at Richard Bland, 6-6 Karol Kott from Przypki, Poland and 6-7 Nikola Lakic from Belgrade, Serbia. Both players have inside-outside games that will bode well in Moore's versatile and growing system. 

Two backcourt players, 6-4 Jordan Griggs (Woodbridge, VA/Christ Chapel Academy) and 6-3 Gevon Arrington (Richmond, VA/Petersburg H.S), add important depth to the backcourt, a strong suit for the Statesmen. Both are extremely athletic and provide an offensive and defensive balance that the Statesmen will rely on in the early going. 

The 2015-16 schedule is highlighted by two prestigious in-season tournaments, the Essex (NY) County College Tournament (Nov. 6-7) and Northwest Florida State College Tournament (Nov. 13-14). On the first day at the Northwest Florida State College Tournament, the Statesmen will face the host Raiders at 8:30 p.m., winners of last year's NJCAA Division I National Championship. The contest marks one of a few times in NJCAA history that a defending Division I and Division II national champion has played each other.  

In 2015-16, the Statesmen will face four additional teams that that appeared in the NJCAA National Championship Tournaments last season. Richard Bland plays Essex County College (an NJCAA Division II National Championship game finalist in 2014) on the first day of the hosts tournament (Nov. 6, 3 p.m.), at Walters State (Jan. 8, 7 p.m.), and at Cape Fear Community College (Jan. 16, 3 p.m.).  

"Each year the difficulty of our schedule has increased, and this is by far the toughest," said Moore, who was named the 2014-15 Spalding NJCAA Division II National Coach of the Year. "We want to play the very best teams we can. We're a national level program and our schedule should reflect that."