Strickland Feeling No Pressure To Fill Howard's Void
11/3/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 3, 2003
The burning question when it comes to Wake Forest basketball this year is what will the Deacons do without Josh Howard. As much as many Wake Forest fans hate to admit it, the unanimous ACC Player of the Year of a season ago is gone, graduated to the NBA as a first-round draft pick of the Dallas Mavericks. He leaves behind the supporting cast that helped bring Wake Forest its first outright ACC regular season title in 41 years.
"This is a new team, and you don't replace a Josh Howard," head coach Skip Prosser said. "You might find substitutes, but you don't find replacements, so collectively we have to figure out a way to make up for what we lost in Josh. No one is going to be Josh Howard, but that's OK. That's college athletics."
It's true that Howard led the Deacons in scoring, rebounding, three-point field goals, free throws, blocked shots and steals, but there are four returning starters, nine returning letterwinners and four newcomers who are ready to prove there is basketball life after Josh Howard. No player wants to prove that more than Trent Strickland, the sophomore who played behind Howard last season.
The player they call T-Bug and who cruises the Wake Forest's campus in a 1990 Cadillac Brougham was labeled last season's surprise player of the year, earning just over 12 minutes of playing time per game. That's a substantial amount of action considering Howard averaged more than 32 minutes per contest. Strickland, Cadillac aside, definitely has his own style, and on the court it is much like his predecessor. In just one season, he built a reputation as a tenacious defender and shot blocker, and an athletic rebounder. With a generous vertical jump, he can score as well.
Against Duke, Strickland was the difference as Wake Forest repaid the Blue Devils for an early-season loss with a 94-80 double overtime victory at Joel Coliseum. After Howard fouled out, Strickland came off the bench to score 10 points in the second overtime and help Wake Forest break a 14-game losing streak to the Blue Devils. That outing is a snapshot of the player Strickland hopes to be beginning with this season.
"That's the best game I played my freshman year," Strickland said. "And that's how I'm expecting to play when I come into the game this year."
Strickland has no delusions of becoming the next Josh Howard, but he well knows that if Wake Forest is going to enjoy the level of success it had last year, he, along with several others, will have to raise the level of their games. So he embraced that challenge in the offseason with a work ethic of which Prosser is impressed.
"He has to do what Vytas (Danelius), Taron (Downey) and Jamaal (Levy) have done, and that's make a real positive step from his freshman to his sophomore year," Coach Skip Prosser said. "Typically as a freshman you're very material in your performance, and he just has to have a consistent sophomore year. He's in very good condition, but I think he has to understand what he does well."
Strickland spent much of his offseason improving his jump shot and physical conditioning. He was a regular in the weight room, and on the track he consistently ran one mile followed by two 100-yard dashes and two 40-yard dashes. He measured his progress by timing himself. In the gym, he continues to take an extra 500 to 1,000 jumpers per day. He comes to practice early or stays late, and often returns to the practice gym alone after the conclusion of study hall. He says he wants to be, like Howard, the team's leading rebounder. It's a facet of the game in which he particularly wants to excel. His father, Chris Strickland, played basketball collegiately at Fayetteville State and is his son's greatest supporter and confidant. Chris still has a passion for basketball and has helped shape Trent's game. His mother, Lanette Strickland, is the fan in the stands that completes his solid family support system.
"My dad is more like a brother or friend than a dad to me," Strickland said. "And when it comes to things like that (basketball and improving his game), he always tells me what I'd better do. We talk every day. He'll usually call when I'm out shooting and leave a message, so when I'm finished I'll call him back. He started me playing when I was 2 years old, and when we lived in Atlanta he made me play in an age group that was two years older. Mom, she lifts me up. She's my inspiration so I'm a mama's boy." In addition to his hard work, Strickland learned much from guarding Howard in practice and picking his brain throughout last season. The two forged a solid friendship, and Strickland said Howard has even called him his "little brother." Perhaps Howard saw that Strickland has skills similar to his own and feels he can leave a little of himself at Wake Forest through Strickland. Whether or not it was a "passing of the baton" is a question that can only be answered by Howard. But, depending on Prosser's lineup decisions, this may well be the year that his position will be filled by Strickland.
"Like I've told Trent, Josh Howard was the kind of guy for us, especially into his senior year, we didn't have to run any plays for him, and he still could get you 15-16 a game," Prosser said. "Trent has those same kind of capabilities - guard like crazy, which he has the ability to do, sprint the floor and finish in transition, and rebound the basketball. If he does those three things, everything else for him will be great. If he can do those three things, he'll be a significant player for us." Prosser is not asking for Strickland to fill Josh Howard's shoes. That's something he says must be done collectively. He is only asking for Strickland to try to live up to his potential. Strickland has the same desire. He couldn't fill Howard's shoes anyway. He has bigger feet.
"He was the ACC Player of the Year and all, but he wears size 12. I wear size 15," Strickland said with a wry smile. "But hopefully, if not this year, in the next couple of years I can come out and play just as well if not better than he did."