ARTICLE TOOLS

E-mail story

Comments

Printer friendly version

iPod friendly version

Share This

Text Size: A A A A

Chattanooga: Hartwell on track; Mocs add Harvey

By: David Uchiyama
(Contact)

Included in this article

John Shulman

Khalil Hartwell ate lunch earlier in the day, so he passed on the sandwiches available at Lookout Mountain Golf Club during the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball golf tournament Monday.

Between bites of fruit salad, the 6-foot-8 senior center said he is on schedule to recover from ACL surgery in time for the Mocs’ first practice.

“It’s going real good and I’m right where I need to be considering I had the surgery five months ago,” said Hartwell, who missed four games before playing the rest of the season without the knee ligament.

Hartwell’s on-time return took on added importance over the weekend when reserve senior center Qavotstaraj Waddell chose to transfer to Shorter College in Rome, Ga.

UTC’s schedule begins with a scrimmage at Auburn in the preseason. The regular season will begin at Tennessee and then take the Mocs to Missouri and to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tipoff to race national runner-up Memphis on ESPN2. The rest of the schedule is still incomplete.

“Khalil came back to town, and he is maybe three weeks away from being back on the court,” coach John Shulman said before hitting tee shots on No. 13 for golf groups that made at least one 10-foot jumper in the parking lot. “Our goal was the end of September, but he was out shooting free throws this morning.”

After Waddell made his decision, Shulman immediately signed 6-foot-6 forward Dante Harvey from Progressive Christian Academy in Maryland.

“Dante is a thinner (Nicchaeus) Doaks,” Shulman said. “He can shoot it from 3; he can score it inside and out.

Shulman first took notice of Harvey while recruiting freshman Jasper Williams at PCA. Williams gave Shulman a thumbs-up on his teammate and said he’d be a great addition for UTC.

“Jasper said, ‘He’s my main man,’” Shulman said. “All parties are good. ‘Q’ can have a big impact (at Shorter), and he doesn’t have to play behind Nicchaeus and Khalil anymore.

“We’ve lost a little size with Q — three inches.”

UTC had plenty of height sitting around last season in 7-foot-1 Jeremy Saffore. The redshirt sophomore spent the summer playing in the Rocky Top League in Knoxville against SEC and former SEC competition.

“He’s walking around like a different guy around here here — a guy who’s going to play,” Shulman said. “And he’s going to have to play.”

The Mocs endured a three-hour meeting and physicals Sunday before playing a few pickup games. Harvey met new teammates for the first time and impressed senior guard Stephen McDowell.

“Man, Dante can jump,” McDowell said. “Any rebound he got above the rim, he got and slammed back down. He’s very exciting, and fans will love to see him play.”

Comments