Season Begins Tonight!

Energy fans, it is officially that time of year. The season gets underway tonight, as your Energy battle the expansion Springfield Armor at 6pm Central Time. Here at EnergyHoopla, we want to give you a quick crash course on what you can expect tonight and the keys for an Energy victory.

Details: Energy @ Armor-6pm Start-Springfield, Mass.-MassMutual Center

Breaking down Springfield:

The Armor are one of two expansion teams in the D-League this year, joining fellow east coast squad, Maine. Springfield is coached by former NBA veteran, dunk champion and TV personality Dee Brown. Their NBA affiliates are the Nets, Knicks, and 76ers. Defense and versatility appear to be the themes for the Armor. In their lone exhibition game, they defeated Maine 86-78 and held the Red Claws to 41 percent shooting and forced 25 Red Claw turnovers.

The Armor are headlined by a familiar face in former Energy guard JamesOn Curry, who was Springfield’s 1st round pick in this year’s D-League draft. Curry averaged 12.3 points and shot 36 percent from three point range last year with the Energy.

Springfield Probable Starters:

Guard: JamesOn Curry-6′3 195 lbs. (Oklahoma State)

Guard: Adam Harrington- 6′5 200 lbs. (Auburn)

Forward: Perrin Johnson- 6′6 215 lbs. (Louisville)

Forward: Kentrell Gransberry- 6′9 270 lbs. (South Florida)

Center: James Cripe- 7′0 255 lbs. (Northern Kentucky)

Breaking down the Energy:

The Energy appear to be a team that can beat you a number of different ways. As they illustrated in their 99-89 victory over Tulsa in the only pre-season game- when eight players scored more than eight points. The Energy have a solid inside presence with Earl Barron, who has spent three plus years in the NBA with the Miami Heat. And they have weapons from the outside with newcomers Rashad Anderson and Pat Carroll, who can both fill it up from long range. Combine that with steady point guard Curtis Stinson and versatile players coming off the bench and Iowa is set up to have a very balanced club.

The Energy will be without big man Darryl Watkins, who did not make the trip due to a foot injury. Watkins is expected to be back for the home opener on December 3rd.

Energy Probable Starters:

Guard: Curtis Stinson-6′3 215 lbs. (Iowa State)

Guard: Pat Carroll-6′5 200 lbs. (St. Joseph’s)

Forward: Rashad Anderson-6′5 225 lbs. (UCONN)

Forward: Marvin Phillips-6′7 230 lbs. (Claflin)

Center: Earl Barron- 6′11 230 lbs. (Memphis)

Three things to Watch For:

1. Armor’s Debut- It’s the first game for the expansion Armor and expect the MassMutual Center in Springfield to be packed and rocking. The Energy will have to handle the atmosphere and the tough Armor defense and avoid turnovers, which can be problematic early on in the season.

2. Husky Hello- It will be a reunion of sorts for Iowa’s Rashad Anderson and Springfield guard Craig Austrie, who both played for Jim Calhoun and the UCONN Huskies. The two played on the same team in the 05-06 season when Anderson was a senior and Austrie was a freshman. That loaded UCONN team went 30-4 before being upset in the Elite 8 by upstart George Mason. Along with Anderson and Austrie, UCONN featured NBA players Rudy Gay, Hilton Armstrong, Josh Boone and Marcus Williams.

3. Long Range Connection

The three point ball will be a big key to the Energy all season long. Iowa hit 10 of 18 threes in their exhibition win and eight different Energy players knocked down a three. The Armor struggled mightily from deep, hitting only 3 of 18 shots in their exhibition win. But, JamesOn Curry is a streaky shooter and could be a thorn in the side of the Energy if he gets it going.

You can follow the action all year long in a number of different ways:

Radio – All 50 Energy games (home and road) will be on the radio.  Most of the games will be on 1700 AM “The Champ” while select games will be on 98.3 FM in Des Moines.

Web Streaming – Follow all 50 Energy games via FREE, live web streaming at www.d-league.com.  Audio and video of each game will air on your computer.