By Rex Kirts
Spencer Turner walked into South's athletic office Friday and saw coach J.R. Holmes.
"I thought you were supposed to take off," Holmes said.
Holmes, of course, knew Turner wouldn't be without a basketball in his hands for long. The senior forward is as much of a gym rat as anyone.
"I was supposed to take off from August 1st till the start of school," Turner laughed. "That idn't last long. I took off till about the third. Then Joey Forney and I started lifting."
It was suggested that Turner needed a hobby besides basketball.
"I have one. But it's too hot to fish," he laughed again.
Turner laughs a lot. He has a good time no matter what he's doing.
LIFE IS EASIER now that he has accepted a scholarship offer from Belmont. Belmont is one of those pretty good basketball schools that nobody knows about, even though it's made the NCAA tournament three of the last five years as champion of the Atlantic Sun Conference.
Belmont is located on the west side of Nashville, Tenn., a block from the more famous Vanderbilt and close to another rival, Lipscomb.
Turner is a 3-point shooting star but lacked the overall qualities the big-name colleges were looking for. He feels very fortunate that Belmont found him.
"Belmont saw me in a tourney in Orlando. I was playing really well," he said. "They said they need a shooter.
When I visited there (last week) it was the first time I'd seen the coach, Rick Byrd. He's been there 24 years and in coachng 33 years. He reminded me a lot of coach Holmes.
"HIS STYLE FITS ME so well, transition and fill the wings. I couldn't fit in any better."
Belmont has a fairly new basketball arena, Curb Event Center, that seats about 6,000. "Everything is all brand," Turner said.
Picking Belmont was not so much as giving up on an offer from bigger schools as it was the positives Belmont has. "The biggest thing was I totally fell in love with it," Turner said. "It's amazing, I think. I didn't want to pass up on a great school like this."
Belmont has 52 points coming back from last year. It has a 6-11 and a 6-10 center and a guard who averaged 14.9 points per game.
Now that his college is secure, Turner wants to give 100 per cent to his final year at South. He, Forney and Dee Davis are returning starters from the team that didn't lose until the final game of the regional. He was also a starter on the unbeaten state championship team his sophomore year.
"I'M REALLY FOCUSED on this season," Turner said. "It's great I committed early. Now I want to get bigger, stronger, faster.
"Everyone thinks we lost all our players, but we've got Dee and Forney. Desmond Marks is a 6-4 big body. And we've got Alex Forney and Ben Stowell back.
"I see us going 20-0. I'm not saying we will, but that should be our goal."
The Panthers had a good summer, finishing second in a state tournament to Hamilton Southeastern when they got in foul trouble and didn't have their whole team. And they played well in the Las Vegas national tourney.
"We played awesome at Vegas, really" Turner said. "We played well as a team. We beat teams with 6-9 and 6-10 kids."
But, Turner agreed, basketball is a team game, and South, under Holmes, plays excellent team ball.
