With their first game of the season only eight days away, the Owensboro Thoroughbreds are nearing their chance to show off their revitalized identity and usher in a new era of minor league basketball.
Nearly everything is new for the team this year. From players to staff to even their name, the Thoroughbreds are nearly starting from scratch.
While much has changed, Adam Chrisco will provide some semblance of last season. Chrisco was promoted to head coach after serving as an assistant a year ago. Since taking on his new role, he’s been working both to recruit players and promote the team around the community.
Now, with the season about to begin (schedule here), his focus will shift almost totally to filling out his yet-to-be-determined roster.
Training camp for the Thoroughbreds begins today, and nearly 30 players are competing for 10-12 spots. Only two players — Corey Wilford and Demarcus Robinson — are returning to camp from last year’s squad. Cordarius Johnson, who had ties to the now-defunct Kentucky Mavericks, could be another familiar face.
“I wanted to give all these guys a fair chance to make the team again being that I’m a new head coach,” he said. “Everyone from last year that played for us was invited back other than a couple guys that already played on different teams.”
With only a couple of players coming back, that left room for plenty of others to fill out the team. Between his connections and attending more than 20 combines in the offseason, Chrisco found plenty of options to invite to Owensboro.
“All these other guys coming in here to fight for a job are brand new,” Chrisco said. “Some of these names have been on teams in the league last year or other teams at this level. Some of them are newcomers.”
The roster likely won’t be finalized until a day or two before the season kicks off, but Chrisco said he’s isn’t too worried about any early growing pains.
“These guys that are coming to camp aren’t just random people,” he said. “They’ve gone through our protocol of what the league expects for them to get invited to training camp. I see a lot of veteran leadership already coming together on our team.”
The Thoroughbreds compete in The Basketball League, which added a handful of teams in the offseason. Between the new teams and high roster turnover everywhere else, Chrisco said he expects his team to be competitive with every opponent.
He said it’s hard to predict wins and losses, but success at this level at some point comes down to coaching.
“Every team is going to have guys that have played at a really high level,” he said. “It’s how those guys come together and how they bond and how that coach leads them that will determine early on who gets the advantage. At that point, everybody just starts making adjustments.”
Though he’s excited to offer a talented team on the court, Chrisco said just as important will be the impact on the community. He said the new team president and vice president — Veter Dixon and Vanessa Jackson — have helped take on the task of promoting the new identity.
“They’re very active in trying to find the things we need and ways to help the community,” Chrisco said. “That’s a benefit to me having another party around to take the lead on some of that stuff, so I have a stronger focus on the team and our activities.”
Chrisco said the support doesn’t stop there, as new Director of Sales and Marketing David Clark has helped push the new pricing plan. General admission prices will start at only $8, and there will also be a value seating strategy for corporations and individuals.
Once players make the cut and move to town, Chrisco said the Thoroughbreds will be able to do more community outreach and charity work.
It’s all an effort to create staying power, something that hasn’t quite stuck with the previous teams — last year the team was named the Kentucky Thoroughbreds, and they replaced the Kentucky Mavericks after that team ceased operations in early 2017.
“My impression about this town is they love basketball,” Chrisco said. “I want to stay here long enough for them to embrace us. That is my biggest commitment. It’s my fighting will that’s helping keep this thing alive with the help of a lot of people around here who really care about it. I’m hoping to continue to do that for the next five to 10 years.”
