JAMAL Brown wondered whether he was in right place when he arrived back in Ballarat from a playing stint in Malaysia to prepare for his third season with the Ballarat Miners in the South East Australian Basketball League.
He was well aware that he was returning to a whole new environment, but the magnitude of change did not hit him until he looked around at his teammates.
Brown is one of just four on the 10-man roster who played with the Miners last season.
New captain Adam McSwain, Nathan Cavanagh and Matt Johnston are the other survivors.
First-year coach Guy Molloy has drawn on talent from the length of the eastern seaboard and overseas to put together a team he believes can return the Wes Davidson Real Estate Miners to the top end of the SEABL.
United States import Drake Reed heads the recruits.
Big things are expected of the highly credentialed Reed, who comes off an outstanding college career.
Then there is the National Basketball League experienced Tariq Naqqash, Daniel Joyce and Jared Scoines.
Completing the squad are Sam Borner, who steps up from the Ballarat Nuggets program, and Ryan Barnes from Sunbury and Melbourne Tigers juniors.
Gone are retired former captains and 200-game veterans Ryan Stevens and Brett Goodgame, another 200-gamer Phil Benn (taking year off), BJ Carter (returned to Sydney), Rishawn Norwood (returned to US), Eddie Prato (Western Bulldogs, AFL), Michael Ratcliffe, Jarryd Watene and Zac Carter.
Molloy is confident he has the right mix, having placed an emphasis on youth with experience at the highest level and still with their best basketball ahead of them.
He admits though that the task in getting this far has been tougher than he envisaged when he took charge immediately after last season.
Molloy said at that early stage everything pointed to the sharp-shooting Norwood and NBL-experienced BJ Carter staying on board.
"Things did not go to plan.
"It wasn't long before the cupboard was much barer than I ever would have imagined,'' Molloy said.
"It led to a very intense six-week period before Christmas to build a team.
"I don't think I have ever worked that hard to recruit."
Molloy was not interested in a patch-up job - bringing in an older age bracket with the hope of immediate success to get Ballarat into the play-offs for the first time since 2006.
He said his priority was to put together an "exciting product" which would grab the attention of fans.
Molloy said this was why it was important to bring in motivated young players who had had a taste of the NBL and wanted to show they were good enough to return that level.
Molloy said having started at "ground zero" with the group, the first priority had been to ensure everyone was on the same page.
He said now it was time to deliver.
Email a friend