I lost a friend of over 40 years and was somewhat out of the loop last weekend however I knew TSU had won the SWAC Tournament but I didn't realize the specifics until speaking with Lady Houston Phenoms head coach and director Derrick Johnson on the performance of former of one of his former players, GPR Under The Radar Joyce Kennerson. Kennerson was simply amazing when I first saw her, I guess going into her sophomore season at Port Arthur Memorial, and this young lady showed me even then that she had the heart, desire and talent to not only play at the next level but play D1 basketball at the next level and play a major role on her team at that level, because when you have the attributes she possessed at an early age, it all ties in with "the game starts at the one"
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| Coach DJ and SWAC Tourney MVP Joyce Kennerson |
Several college coaches mentioned size as a factor on why they weren't recruiting her along the way or what someone else said she couldn't do however my response has and always will be is that I don't really care what others say or think regarding an evaluation of a player I'm telling you about simply because most of these kids, especially in the Houston area, have been seen by me countless times and I look for two things, progression over the years as well as upside and Kennerson kept working on whatever she needed to add to her game and her desire to be the best she could be and prove naysayers wrong told me that she wasn't done and helping lead her team to the NCAA Tournament as a sophomore is huge no matter how you wanna spin it.
She averaged 18 ppg during the season and over 25 ppg in the SWAC Tournament on her way to winning the tourney MVP and as I look back at some of the articles I wrote on her along the way, I truly get misty eyed at her just simply always getting the job done no matter what and on top of that, she still has a couple of more seasons left, so one more time, a special S/O to this outstanding young lady who happens to be a very talented basketball player and congratulations Joyce, I'm certainly proud of you, not only for what you've done on the court but for also making me look like a genius
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