Right now, all Ramon Vila can do is wait. Same with Jerry Johnson.
Although they’re hurt right now, the same can be said for University of Tennessee at Chattanooga freshmen Justin Brown and Duane Moss.
Aside from practices, the quartet of UTC redshirts can’t help their teammates on the baskektball court when the Mocs take the floor Friday against Samford in the first round of the Southern Conference tournament in Asheville, N.C. Johnson and Vila are unavailable due to NCAA transfer rules, while Brown has been out the entire season and Moss since a back injury suffered on Nov. 29.
At times this season – especially at home games – the Mocs’ players in street clothes outnumbered the number of active subs, so it’s been hard for coach Lamont Paris’s first team to develop any rhythm. But having players such as Johnson, who transferred from Fairfield in the summer, and Vila, who was a midyear transfer from Arizona State, have helped the scout team.
“You try not to think about what-ifs because they don’t do you any good, but as a human being you’re going to look and think – especially when we had five, seven guys in uniform – what could that have looked like if we had our full complement,” Paris said. “It’s not worth doing, but I’d be lying if I said at one point or another you don’t think about that. Everyone thinks about that, but that doesn’t help us move forward, so we don’t spend a lot of time on it, but it is something that we’ve thought about.”
Paris was complimentary of the contributions the redshirt group have been able to lend, especially in the cases of Johnson and Vila.
“They’re really good on the bench during games,” Paris said. “They’re locked in, in tune and very supportive of the guys. In practice they’re good players, so they’ve elevated the play of the scout team, so that pushes the guys, makes them better and exposes when we are doing something and aren’t doing something well. They highlight the areas we need to spend more time on.
“They’ve been very valuable to the whole group.”
At 6-foot-11 and 6-9, respectively, Brown and Vila assuredly will help the Mocs’ interior game next year. Johnson made 105 3-pointers in two seasons at Fairfield, while Moss has shown some ability in seven games with the Mocs, averaging 4.9 points and 2.9 rebounds while making 8 of 14 3-point tries.
But as for this season, the redshirts are doing the best thing they can to help in other ways.
“All this year, we’ve been giving emotional support,” Vila said. “We’re serious about the things we do in practice, and we’re trying to go as hard as we can so that the practice level is as high as the game level. Jerry and I just want to help the team win, and I know I can help us be stronger in the paint and Jerry can provide more outside shooting, so I think that’s how we’re going to get better.”
Johnson said when announcing his intention to transfer that he needed this year to grow. One way he’s done so has been as a leader and voice on the team. Having played two years of college ball already, he’s as experienced as anybody on the team besides Joshua Phillips and Makinde London, and he’s been able to use that to help his teammates while also figuring out where he’ll fit in once he can compete.
“Our offense is predicated on sharing, moving and cutting, and I think I can fit right in with these guys, make some shots, do whatever they do,” Johnson said. “This season I’ve grown in trying to talk to the guys. It’s been crazy watching things develop throughout games, seeing things I would have done and different situations, so I’m just trying to learn it all as fast as I can before stepping on the court next year.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.