The Dip Metress Show - Episode 4

Guest Timmy Sellers joins as we preview Thursday morning's Education Day game and review recent overtime win at Catawba

Episode 4 of The Dip Metress Show comes right in time for Thursday’s special Education Day game (11:00 A.M.) between No. 13 Augusta University and Bowie State. This week’s special guest is Timmy Sellers, a junior center who grew up in Augusta and attended Glenn Hills Elementary, Middle and High School before settling into his current home of Augusta University, where he has distinguished himself as an exceptional student-athlete. Throughout the episode we discuss Timmy’s success on the court, where he provides a valuable contribution in the paint defensively and on the boards, and in the classroom as an accounting major with a 3.5 grade point average. Timmy was and “ELITE 90” nominee last season when Augusta made it all the way to the NCAA Division II Tournament championship game.

From the NCAA.org about the Elite 90 award:

The ELITE 90, an award founded by the NCAA, recognizes the true essence of the student-athlete by honoring the individual who has reached the pinnacle of competition at the national championship level in his or her sport, while also achieving the highest academic standard among his or her peers. The Elite 90 is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA’s 90 championships.

During the episode we talk about Coach Metress’s recruitment of Timmy, which started when Sellers was earning the reputation of being Augusta’s best high school player who eventually led Glenn Hills to the semifinal round of the state playoffs during his senior year in high school. Sellers explains how he has rehabbed through two knee surgeries, one each after the conclusion of his first two seasons at Augusta University. Timmy describes how he has been able to pursue conference, regional and national championships in basketball and excel academically at the same time. And he and Coach Metress conclude the show by walking us through last week’s 80-76 overtime road win over Catawba.

About Thursday’s Education Day Game

More than 2,000 fifth graders and their teachers from the Richmond County school system will file into Christenberry Fieldhouse for Thursday’s 11:00 A.M. tipoff game between Augusta (5-1) and Bowie State (2-7). The game is free to attend for all fans and Thursday will be the first installment since 2019 when the pandemic disrupted the annual event. Queensborough National Bank will be a featured sponsor and Coach Metress mentions during the episode that dozens of t-shirts will be hurled into the crowd during the course of the game.

The game will be the first of four consecutive home games for Augusta, who will host Peach Belt Conference foes Georgia Southwestern Saturday at 3:30 P.M. and Columbus State Monday at 7:30 P.M.

Jaguars greet fans before an Education Day game against North Georgia on December 19, 2022. Photo by Augusta University Athletics

About The Dip Metress Show

Dip Metress is in his nineteenth season as Augusta University’s head coach. Coach Metress has won more than 500 games, and he has won greater than 73% of the games he has coached for Augusta. Last year’s team was Coach Metress’s second to make it all the way to the national championship game. And four Coach Metress-led Augusta teams have made it all the way to the prestigious Elite Eight round of the NCAA tournament. This year’s team is currently ranked No. 13 in the nation and is off to a 5-1 start despite playing five of its first six games away from home, and playing all but the first two games without star sophomore Ja’Queze Kirby.

Subscribe to The Dip Metress Show on YouTube, and follow the Jaguars this season at AugustaJags.com and outlets like the The Augusta Press.

Augusta Off to Challenging

Expectations couldn’t have been higher to begin the season as Augusta entered its first game ranked No. 2 behind defending national champion Northwest Missouri State, who snapped Augusta’s 20-game winning streak on the final day of the season last March in the championship game of the NCAA Division II Tournament. The Jaguars won their first five games despite temporarily losing star sophomore Ja’Queze Kirby after the first weekend of the season. Last Saturday’s 83-62 loss on the road to No. 14 Virginia Union was only the second loss in 27 games for Augusta dating back to last season.

7’1” senior center Tyshaun Crawford has led the way this season for the Jaguars by averaging 20.7 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game. Crawford was recently featured in an NCAA.com accounting of the DII men's basketball all-stats starting 5 for November. Fellow seniors Miguel Arnold (16.5 ppg and 5.5 rpg), Tyree Myers (9.7 ppg and 4.2 apg) and Darren Lucas-White (8.2 ppg 4.7 apg), and junior David Viti (8.2 ppg and 3.3 rpg) join Crawford to form an experienced core.

As Metress explained in episode 3, Augusta has some “deficiencies” to address:

“We’re still deficient, and part of it is when you’ve got guys out (injured), or guys in foul trouble, or have sickness,” Metress said. “We don’t have a flow right now offensively at all. Defensively, we’re actually okay… Partly it’s our fault, as coaches a little bit. We need to fine tune some things and we’re trying to put guys in position to be successful.”

To Metress’s point, Augusta has made only 26.4% of its three pointers so far, a contrast to last season when the Jaguars scorched the nets with 42.6% shooting for the season. But Augusta’s defense (opponents are only shooting 40% from the field) and its advantage inside (319 total combined points in the paint and free throws compared to 225 for its opponents) has kept the Jaguars afloat.