By Eric Besson
Senior Sports Writer

The Rebels lost forward Malcolm White when he decided to transfer to LSU after last season, but Kennedy said he believes the Rebels will still be able to maintain and possibly improve their frontcourt presence.

White’s transfer leaves the Rebels with forwards Murphy Holloway, Terrence Henry and DeAundre Cranston as the only players from last year’s frontcourt that saw significant playing time.

Holloway led the team in rebounds last season with 6.6 per game while also averaging 8.4 points.

Head coach Kennedy said he is pleased with the way he has looked in individual instruction.

“I’ve said typically you see the greatest improvements between year one and year two,” Kennedy said. “We’re seeing that out of [Holloway] just from a physical standpoint and he understands now that things aren’t as new, which gives him a better grasp as to what to expect.”

Kennedy also said that Cranston has made improvements as far as his understanding the game and his role, while Henry has worked on adding weight.

“Last year [Henry] had a strength issue,” Kennedy said. “It limited some of his effectiveness, which has been addressed. He’s around 200 pounds now. He has gotten stronger and much more confident in his role.”

Kennedy said that Henry’s versatility will allow the Rebels to play with a four-guard mentality while keeping some size on the court.

“Henry played a lot of time last year on the wing for us. At 6-foot-9, he may have to guard an interior guy, but his skill-set will allow us offensively to play a lot of four-out.”

The Rebels also signed two forwards – freshman Reginald Buckner from Manassas High School in Memphis, Tenn. and junior DeAngelo Riley from Southwest Tennessee Community College, also in Memphis.

Buckner is 6 feet 8, 230 pounds. He won Tennessee’s Mr. Basketball award and was rated as a four-star prospect and ranked 29th overall by Rivals.com.

Riley, 6-foot-8, 240 pounds, helped Southwest finish fourth nationally last season.

“Riley coming in as a junior puts him in the same class [White] would have been in,” Kennedy said. “We lost one guy from the frontcourt, but we added two.”

The Rebels will couple their frontcourt versatility with their backcourt depth in hopes of reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001, when they made a run to the Sweet 16. That is always one of their goals, Kennedy said, but improvement comes first.

“Our goal, obviously, is to continue to take the next step as a program,” Kennedy said.

“We came in year one and were fortunate enough to win 21 games and win the [SEC] West, and in year two we went to 24 [wins]. We fully anticipated taking that next step in year three. But again, circumstances change the role.

“This year, God willing, we don’t have to deal with some of that same adversity, and we can have our full contingent of players for the full season, and if we do that, I think its got a chance to be a very fun year.”