Although Ramon Vila will start this season the same way he spent the last basketball season for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga – as a spectator – the end is in sight.
The 6-foot-8, 240-pound Arizona State transfer will be eligible to participate for the Mocs after the first semester. The school calendar has finals set for Dec. 5-11, so it’s likely that Vila’s first game will be either a home conference contest against Virginia Military Institute on Dec. 9 or three days later, when the Mocs visit Georgia State in the first of a three-game road series that also includes trips to Ole Miss and at UT-Martin.
But the end is near.
“Since I’m playing this season, I feel like I’m more a part of the team,” Vila said recently. “Last year was different. I did what I could do in practice – I gave 100 percent – but I didn’t get to participate, which was rough because I’m a basketball player. I love to play.
“I’m just so excited about this year. I feel like I’m a part of the team now.”
Vila announced his transfer from Arizona State – where he averaged 2.6 points and 2.0 rebounds in 33 games as a true freshman – early last school year, and no longer being a part of the basketball program, he wasn’t allowed to work out with the team. He became a regular student, studying, hanging out with friends and playing “Call of Duty: WWII.”
With that schedule his weight ballooned to 264 pounds by the time he arrived at UTC, but with the help of strength and conditioning coach Tyler Dobratz he slimmed down.
“I feel much better,” he said, “but honestly, when I was heavier it was easier to box out because I had more weight. But running up and down the court was harder, and I could barely dunk. I just did what Tyler told me to do and ate what he told me to eat.”
Vila will miss nine or 10 games before he’s eligible, so it could take a little while before he’s fully incorporated into coach Lamont Paris’s lineup options as another post presence to go with senior Thomas Smallwood and freshmen Justin Brown and Keigan Kerby. But just the fact the Mocs will be playing with basically a full roster in the second semester adds to the intrigue of this season, with what is basically a new group of players and likely a preseason bottom-tier pick in the Southern Conference.
“I think we have a better team this year in terms of the numbers of players and the quality, too,” Vila said. “We have a really, really good freshman class coming in – and some transfers, some jucos – so it’s a good mix and we have good team chemistry.
“Teams aren’t going to think we’re as good as we actually are, and we’re going to shock some teams and surprise some people. I would rather people think we’re the ninth-best team in the conference, because I think we’re much higher than that.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.