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Post by Commissioner on Oct 12, 2020 22:18:24 GMT -5
In this thread I'll collect my annual previews of Horizon teams. As I've done the past couple years, first we'll have a couple general reviews before returning to specific team previews.
Let's start with what is coming back to the Horizon.
For only the 2nd time in the last 6 years, all 5 members of the league's All-Freshman team are returning. They are Amari Davis (Green Bay); Tanner Holden (Wright State), Grant Basile (Wright State), C.J. Wilbourn (Milwaukee), and Blake Lampman (Oakland).
Only 7 of 15 players named All-Conference (1st/2nd/3rd team) are returning. That includes three 1st team selections: Antoine Davis (Detroit), Darius Quisenberry (Youngstown), and Loudon Love (Wright State), who was also Player of the Year. Marcus Burk (IUPUI) and Te'Jon Lucas (Milwaukee) return from 2nd team; Amari Davis (Green Bay) and Al Eichelberger (Cleveland State) from the third team.
Three All-Defensive selection return: Garret Covington (YSU), Chris Brandon (Detroit), and Elyjah Goss (IUPUI).
Although only 7 All-Conference selections return, the league leader in conference play in every major stat category returns, along with several others in each category:
Scoring: Leader Antoine Davis, and 7 of top 10 FG Pct: Leader Naz Bohannon (YSU) and 7 of top 10 3Pt Pct: Leader P.J. Pipes (Green Bay) FT Pct: Leader Bryson Langdon (Northern Kentucky) Rebounding: Leader Eyljah Goss and 7 of top 10 Assists: Leader Te'Jon Lucas and 6 of top 10 Steals: Leader Te'Jon Lucas and 6 of top 10 Blocks: Leader Loudon Love and 7 of top 10
Except for Jalen Tate leaving Northern Kentucky, the league largely escaped transfers out by key players. There were a few other good ones who left: IUPUI's Grant Weatherford, Oakland's Trey Maddox, possibly Titan Marques Moore. But not much.
All that should bode well for the 2021 season.
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Post by Commissioner on Oct 12, 2020 23:28:17 GMT -5
Returning HL Stat Leaders (Based only on conference play):
Scoring: 1. Antoine Davis, Detroit, 23.3 2. Marcus Burk, IUPUI, 23.3 3. Rashad Williams, Oakland, 20.2. 4. Jaylen Minnett, IUPUI 19.0 5. Darius Quisenberry, Youngstown State 18.2 6. Loudon Love, Wright State, 17.8 7. Amari Davis, Green Bay, 15.8 8. Al Eichelberger, Cleveland State, 15.2 9. Te'Jon Lucas, Milwaukee, 15.1 10. Torrey Patton, Cleveland State, 13.5
Rebounding: 1. Elyjah Goss, IUPUI, 13.3 2. Chris Brandon, Detroit, 10.6 3. Loudon Love, Wright State, 10.2 4. Naz Bohannon, Youngstown State, 8.9 5. Adrian Nelson, Northern Kentucky, 7.9 6. Torrey Patton, Cleveland State, 6.8 7. Michael Akuchie, Youngstown State, 6.7 8. Tanner Holden, Wright State, 6.2 9. Daniel Oladapo, Oakland, 6.1 10. Braelen Bridges, UIC, 5.5
Assists 1. Te'Jon Lucas, Milwaukee, 5.3 2. Darius Quisenberry, Youngstown 4.8 3. Antoine Davis, Detroit, 4.7 4. Jaylen Minnett, IUPUI, 4.0 5. Bryson Langdon, Northern Kentucky, 3.4 6. Mike DePersia, IUPUI, 3.2 7. Naz Bohannon, Youngstown State, 2.9 7. Kevin Kangu, Oakland, 2.9 9. Marcus Burk, IUPUI, 2.3 10. P.J. Pipes, Green Bay, 2.2
Blocks 1. Loudon Love, Wright State, 1.8 2. Chris Brandon, Detroit, 1.7 3. Elyjah Goss, IUPUI, 1.1 4. Braelen Bridges, UIC, 1.1 5. Al Eichelberger, Cleveland State, 0.9 5. Michael Diggins, UIC, 0.9 5. Grant Basile, Wright State, 0.9 8. Michael Akuchie, Youngstown, 0.9 9. Spider Johnson, Cleveland State, 0.7 10. Willy Isiani, Detroit, 0.5
Steals 1. Te'Jon Lucas, Milwaukee, 2.0 2. Antoine Davis, Detroit, 1.6 2. Torrey Patton, Cleveland State, 1.6 4. Tanner Holden, Wright State, 1.4 5. Jaylen Minnett, IUPUI, 1.2 5. Darius Quisenberry, Youngstown, 1.2 7. P.J. Pipes, Green Bay, 1.2 8. Trevon Faulkner, Northern Kentucky, 1.1 9. Mike DePersia, IUPUI, 1.1 10. Marcus Burk, IUPUI, 1.0 10. Trey Gomillion, Cleveland State 1.0
FG Pecentage 1. Chris Brandon, Detroit, 62.9% 2. Tanner Holden, Wright State, 62.6% 3. Braelen Bridges, UIC, 57.3% 4. Daniel Oladapo, Oakland, 55.3% 5. Naz Bohannon, Youngstown 53.9% 6. Elyjah Goss, IUPUI, 51.8% 7. Michael Diggins, UIC, 48.8% 8. Amari Davis, Green Bay 47.9% 9. Loudon Love, Wright State 47.5% 10. Al Eichelberger, Cleveland State, 45.9%
3 Point FG Pct. 1. P.J. Pipes, Green Bay, 46.5% 2. Jaylen Minnett, IUPUI, 37.2% 3. Michael Diggins, UIC, 35.0% 4. Marcus Burk, IUPUI, 34.8% 5. Blake Lampman, Oakland, 34.2% 6. Antoine Davis, Detroit, 33.7% 6. Darius Quisenberry, Youngstown, 33.7% 8. Rashad Williams, Oakland, 33.5% 9. James Ahale, UIC, 33.3% 9. Michael Akuchie, Youngstown, 33.3%
Free Throws 1. Bryce Langdon, Northern Kentucky, 88.9% 2. Antoine Davis, Detroit, 88.5% 3. Darius Quisenberry, Youngstown, 84.4% 4. Rashad Williams, Oakland, 83.6% 5. Te'Jon Lucas, Milwaukee, 82.6% 6. Marcus Burk, IUPUI, 78.4% 7. Jaylen Minnett, IUPUI, 78.3% 8. Amari Davis, Green Bay, 76.3% 9. Michael Akuchie, Youngstown, 73.9% 10. Trevon Faulkner, Northern Kentucky, 68.3%
Minutes Per Game 1. Rashad Williams, Oakland, 38.2 2. Marcus Burk, IUPUI, 37.4 3. Antoine Davis, Detroit, 37.3 4. Jaylen Minnett, IUPUI, 36.7 5. Elyjah Goss, IUPUI, 35.6 6. Darius Quisenberry, Youngstown, 34.5 7. Te'Jon Lucas, Milwaukee, 34.2 8. Chris Brandon, Detroit, 33.9 9. Naz Bohannon, Youngstown, 33.8 10. Torey Patton, Cleveland State, 31.8
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Post by Commissioner on Oct 14, 2020 22:32:46 GMT -5
Here are Five Freshmen to Watch in 2020-21:
Major Majak, 7-2 C, Cleveland State. He’s 7-2, and was rated by multiple sources as a top 10 recruit in Indiana. Is he ready? I don’t know. But he’s certainly one to watch.
Alec Oglesby, 6-5 SG, Cleveland State. A 6-5 shooting guard, Oglesby averaged 24 points per game at The Rock school in Florida, and is listed by Verbal Commits as having offers from DePaul and South Florida, among several others. He was actually a mid-year HS graduate last year and started at CSU in January, but Gates had him red-shirt rather than blow a year of eligibility. Some extra practice should help him get off to a quick start.
Noah Waterman, 6-11 F, Detroit. Waterman is my pick for freshman of the year, assuming he is cleared to play and not required to sit the season. Last year Waterman played in 7 games for Niagara before suffering a season-ending injury—just enough games to retain redshirt freshman status this year—so he is the most “experienced” freshman in the league. He averaged 6.1 points and 2.9 rebounds. But he was actually better than that—take away the season opener, in which he scarcely played, and game 7, in which he was injured early, and in middle 5 games he averaged 8.8 points and 3.8 rebounds, while making six of 14 three-pointers. He has a guard’s skills in a slender, 6-11 body, and will cause some unique match-up problems. Coach Davis keeps raving about him.
John Harge, 6-8 F, Northern Kentucky. I had Harge on this list a year ago. Then he missed the season with a knee injury suffered in practice. So why not put him on the list again? If his recovery is complete, he's a good prospect with a well-developed body. And he appears almost certain to start for the Norse, who have just two other scholarship players listed as forwards or centers, one of them another, less-heralded freshman. Harge's performance will have a lot to say about whether the Norse can stay in the top half of the league, let alone contend.
Kamron Farris, 6-3 SG, Robert Morris. Farris had offers, at least at some point, from Dayton, Massachusetts, East Carolina, Old Dominion, and Murray State. He was a first team all state player as a sophomore, then Vermont's Player of the Year in 2018, when he averaged 22.7 points. He transferred to Tabor Prep in Massachusetts for his senior season (2018-19), then spent a semester at another private school, Redemption Christian, to graduate in December of last year. He enrolled at RMU in January 2020, and practiced with the team last spring, but didn't play in order to avoid burning a year of eligibility. In high school, he consistently shot better than 40% from three and better than 80% from the foul line. He finishes at the rim, and is a high energy player. Farris is a really good recruit for Bob Morris, and the team lacks depth this year, so there's no reason he shouldn't get plenty of minutes.
5 More: Japannah Kellogg, 6-8 F, Green Bay Keilim Taylor, 6-3 G, Milwaukee Marques Warrick, 6-3 G, Northern Kentucky Chris Conway, 6-10 F/C, Oakland Pat Suemnick, 6-8 F, Robert Morris
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Post by Commissioner on Oct 16, 2020 16:19:58 GMT -5
The Horizon had a pretty good year--on paper, at least--in juco recruiting, snagging the #11, 34, 44, 69 and 81 recruits in the country, according to Juco Recruiting. Top juco additions:
D’Moi Hodge, 6-4 SG, Cleveland State. (State College CC of Florida). Hodge averaged 25.2 points per game in the juco ranks last year, and was ranked as the #11 juco prospect in the country by Juco Recruiting. CSU needs scoring, and in particular three point shooting, and Hodge fills both those needs. I expect him to start and be a double-figure scorer. Twenty points per game isn’t out of the question.
Rayquandas Mitchell, 6-5 SG, UIC (Otero JC). Mitchell started 10 games for Idaho as a freshman in 2019, then spent last year at Otero. He averaged 15.3 points, shot over 40% from three, and was ranked as the #44 juco recruit in the country.
D’Andre Gholston, 6-5 Jr., Milwaukee (Tallahassee CC). I’m not the Gholston fan that many observers seem to be. But Juco Recruiting did rank the former Kent State freshman as the #34 juco in the country last year, when he averaged 11.3 ppg, 5.2 rpg, and 44.1% three-point shooting at Tallahassee. So whether I like him or not, he’s one’s to watch.
Darius Harding, 6-5 Jr. G/SF, Northern Kentucky (Motlow State CC). Northern Kentucky needs scoring, and it needs rebounding. Harding averaged 19.3 points and 6 rebounds last year in the juco ranks, so he brings a bit of both. He was a top 100 juco recruit (#81, to be exact), and should see good PT for the Norse.
Jalen Moore, 5-10 PG, Oakland (Central Olney CC). Moore was a third-team Juco All-America last year, and the #69 ranked juco at Juco Recruiting. He averaged 22.3 points and 6.2 assists per game, with a nearly 2-1 assist/turnover ratio. As a freshman he was arguably even better, averaging 19.3 points and 7.9 assists per game, with a better than 3/1 assists/turnover ratio. He also knocked down 41% of his threes as a freshman, and 37% last year. He is a very good free throw shooter (about 80%) and extremely good at getting to the line—he led the juco ranks in free throw attempts last year. He the type of player who has excelled in Kampe’s system, and should start from day 1. How well OU does will depend a lot on how well Moore does.
Five More: Yahel Hill, 6-0 G, Cleveland State (Tallahassee CC). Hill only averaged 6.3 points at Tallahassee CC, but was ranked among the top 150 juco recruits nationwide. Blayton Williams, 6-3 G, Green Bay (Lamar CC). Another juco ranked in the top 150. Paris Taylor, 6-6 F, Green Bay (Walters CC). Jalen Johnson, 6-1 G, UIC (Logan CC). Tafari Simms, 6-7 F, Milwaukee (West Texas CC). One more top 150 juco.
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Post by ptctitan on Oct 16, 2020 20:46:06 GMT -5
Last March, Tallahassee CC shut down Hodge when their schools met in the first round of the NJCAA district tournament. Hodge played all 40 minutes and shot 3-18. Gholston played for TCC. Also on TCC was Tariq Silver who transferred there from Eastern Michigan and is now on Oregon State. Hodge was SCF's version of Antoine, heavy minutes, volume shooter. While I understand his pre-season rating for the HL, we'll have to see how he adjusts to Gates' system.
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Post by Commissioner on Oct 19, 2020 23:45:30 GMT -5
Ten Top Transfers
As I noted earlier in this thread, this year the Horizon avoided the kind of transfers out that have really hurt the league in recent years. Jalen Tate of NKU was the big loss from last year. We could also add Green Bay’s Tank Hemphill, who missed last season with injury but would have been a likely pre-season all-conference pick with Green Bay. The only other regulars to leave were Oakland’s Trey Maddox, IUPUI’s Grant Weatherford, Detroit’s Marques Moore (though there are signs that the Titans coaches may have encouraged Moore to move on), Green Bay's Manny Patterson. A couple role players also left, Green Bay’s Trevion Bell and Youngstown’s Jelani Simmons. But that’s about it. The incoming talent from transfers seems substantially greater this year, and that often has not been the case in recent years.
Two teams in particular—Detroit and UIC—have reloaded by signing a number of potential impact transfers. Here are 10 around the league to watch (I didn't consider transfers in to new members Purdue-Fort Wayne and Robert Morris, as I'm looking at influxes of talent to Horizon teams compared to last year):
Marquel Fraser, 6-3 G, Detroit (Idaho). Fraser averaged 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists per game last year at Idaho, after averaging 9.6 points and 6.5 rebounds in an injury-shortened 2019 season. The Titans are counting on Fraser and/or St. Bonaventure Transfer Matt Johnston to provide needed backcourt help for Antoine Davis.
Bul Kuol, 6-7 F, Detroit (Cal Baptist). I might not put Kuol on this list except that the Titan staff seems so very high on him. He’s been a rotation player for two years at Cal Baptist (the school’s first two seasons in Division 1), and knocked down 45% of his three point attempts over that time.
Taurean Thompson, 6-11 C, Detroit (Seton Hall). Thompson averaged 9.2 points and 3.8 rebounds as a freshman at Syracuse in 2017, but then transferred to Seton Hall, and faded. After sitting a year as a transfer, his minutes in 2019 declined from 18 to 10 per game, his top line totals to just 4.6 points and 2.3 rebounds. And in 2020, he disappeared, playing in just 1 game. It’s not entirely clear what all went wrong at Seton Hall. But Thompson has proven his ability to contribute at the highest levels of college ball, and he’s a big-time body. He could be a dominant player in the Horizon. Hopefull, for Titan fans, he’ll at least be a real good one.
Josh Jefferson, 6-1 SG, Green Bay (Illinois State). Jefferson averaged over 20 points per game in two seasons at Lakeland JC, and then averaged 8.7 ppg at Illinois State in 2019, knocking down over 40 percent of his three point attempts. He should start and have immediate impact.
Maurice Commander, 6-0 PG, UIC (Chattanooga). Commander—a great name for a point guard—led Chattanooga in assists last season.
Zion Griffin, 6-6 SF, UIC (Iowa State). Griffin was a back-end of the rotation player last year at Iowa (10.7 minutes per game). He’ll have a bigger role at UIC.
Teyvion Kirk, 6-4 G, UIC (Colorado State/Ohio U.). Kirk was a MAC All-Freshman selection at Ohio in 2018, averaging 15.3 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 3.9 assists. His top stats declined as a sophomore to 14.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists. His numbers declined in most other stats as well, including steals, turnovers, three point shooting (from 40% to 22.3%), and free throws (from a respectable 72% to a cold 53%). Still, he was a hot commodity on the transfer market, and eventually moved up to Colorado State in the Mountain West, where he was anticipated to be a starter this coming year, after sitting out the 2020 season. But other players developed, were recruited, or transferred in, and Kirk would have had to battle for time this season. So he headed home—he’s from Joliet—where he ought to start for UIC. This is the second time he’s abandoned CSU head coach Niko Medved: In high school, he originally committed to Drake, where Medved had just been named head coach, but then switched to Ohio U. Medved spent just one season at Drake before being hired at CSU, where he picked up Kirk as a transfer—only to see him go without ever playing a game for the Rams.
Vin Baker, 6-9 F, Milwaukee (Boston College). Baker played in 29 games as a freshman, but just 12 in 2019 at BC. Still, a 6-9 guy from a major conference probably merits being on the "watch" list.
Carlos Hines, 6-4 G, Northern Kentucky (Northern Arizona). Hines averaged 12.9 points and 4 assists for Northern Arizona in 2019. But he hit just 29.8% from three. That needs to improve. Still, he’s the kind of big guard that has done well at NKU.
Grayson Kelley, 6-2 SG, Youngstown State (D-2 Shaw). Kelley is an intriguing transfer. He averaged over 19 points and shot 43% from three at Shaw, garnering Second Team All-America Honors. Can he transfer it up to D-1? YSU can use his three-point shooting.
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Post by upbasketballfan on Oct 20, 2020 8:27:33 GMT -5
Ten Top TransfersAs I noted earlier in this thread, this year the Horizon avoided the kind of transfers out that have really hurt the league in recent years. Jalen Tate of NKU was the big loss from last year. We could also add Green Bay’s Tank Hemphill, who missed last season with injury but would have been a likely pre-season all-conference pick with Green Bay. The only other regulars to leave were Oakland’s Trey Maddox, IUPUI’s Grant Weatherford, Detroit’s Marques Moore (though there are signs that the Titans coaches may have encouraged Moore to move on), Green Bay's Manny Patterson. A couple role players also left, Green Bay’s Trevion Bell and Youngstown’s Jelani Simmons. But that’s about it. The incoming talent from transfers seems substantially greater this year, and that often has not been the case in recent years. Two teams in particular—Detroit and UIC—have reloaded by signing a number of potential impact transfers. Here are 10 around the league to watch (I didn't consider transfers in to new members Purdue-Fort Wayne and Robert Morris, as I'm looking at influxes of talent to Horizon teams compared to last year): Marquel Fraser, 6-3 G, Detroit (Idaho). Fraser averaged 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists per game last year at Idaho, after averaging 9.6 points and 6.5 rebounds in an injury-shortened 2019 season. The Titans are counting on Fraser and/or St. Bonaventure Transfer Matt Johnston to provide needed backcourt help for Antoine Davis. Bul Kuol, 6-7 F, Detroit (Cal Baptist). I might not put Kuol on this list except that the Titan staff seems so very high on him. He’s been a rotation player for two years at Cal Baptist (the school’s first in Division 1), and knocked down 45% of his three point attempts over that time. Taureen Thompson, 6-11 C, Detroit (Seton Hall). Thompson averaged 9.2 points and 3.8 rebounds as a freshman at Syracuse in 2017, but then transferred to Seton Hall, and faded. After sitting a year as a transfer, his minutes in 2019 declined from 18 to 10 per game, his top line totals to just 4.6 points and 2.3 rebounds. And in 2020, he disappeared, playing in just 1 game. It’s not entirely clear what all went wrong at Seton Hall. But Thompson has proven his ability to contribute at the highest levels of college ball, and he’s a big-time body. He could be a dominant player in the Horizon. Hopefull, for Titan fans, he’ll at least be a real good one. Josh Jefferson, 6-1 SG, Green Bay (Illinois State). Jefferson averaged over 20 points per game in two seasons at Lakeland JC, and then averaged 8.7 ppg at Illinois State in 2019, knocking down over 40 percent of his three point attempts. He should start and have immediate impact. Maurice Commander, 6-0 PG, UIC (Chattanooga). Commander—a great name for a point guard—led Chattanooga in assists last season. Zion Griffin, 6-6 SF, UIC (Iowa State). Griffin was a back-end of the rotation player last year at Iowa (10.7 minutes per game). He’ll have a bigger role at UIC. Teyvion Kirk, 6-4 G, UIC (Colorado State/Ohio U.). Kirk was a MAC All-Freshman selection at Ohio in 2018, averaging 15.3 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 3.9 assists. His top stats declined as a sophomore to 14.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists. His numbers declined in most other stats as well, including steals, turnovers, three point shooting (from 40% to 22.3%), and free throws (from a respectable 72% to a cold 53%). Still, he was a hot commodity on the transfer market, and eventually moved up to Colorado State in the Mountain West, where he was anticipated to be a starter this coming year, after sitting out the 2020 season. But other players developed, were recruited, or transferred in, and Kirk would have had to battle for time this season. So he headed home—he’s from Joliet—where he ought to start for UIC. This is the second time he’s abandoned CSU head coach Niko Medved: In high school, he originally committed to Drake, where Medved had just been named head coach, but then switched to Ohio U. Medved spent just one season at Drake before being hired at CSU, where he picked up Kirk as a transfer—only to see him go without ever playing a game for the Rams. Vin Baker, 6-9 F, Milwaukee (Boston College). Baker played in 29 games as a freshman, but just 12 in 2019 at BC. Still, a 6-9 guy from a major conference probably merits being on the "watch" list. Carlos Hines, 6-4 G, Northern Kentucky (Northern Arizona). Hines averaged 12.9 points and 4 assists for Northern Arizona in 2019. But he hit just 29.8% from three. That needs to improve. Still, he’s the kind of big guard that has done well at NKU. Grayson Kelley, 6-2 SG, Youngstown State (D-2 Shaw). Kelley is an intriguing transfer. He averaged over 19 points and shot 43% from three at Shaw, garnering Second Team All-America Honors. Can he transfer it up to D-1? YSU can use his three-point shooting. I am thinking Waterman might be the best of the entire group and I do consider Moore a considerable loss. But like was stated earlier maybe he was encouraged to leave or would have been unhappy with a decrease in pt.
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Post by Commissioner on Oct 20, 2020 9:40:49 GMT -5
Ten Top TransfersAs I noted earlier in this thread, this year the Horizon avoided the kind of transfers out that have really hurt the league in recent years. Jalen Tate of NKU was the big loss from last year. We could also add Green Bay’s Tank Hemphill, who missed last season with injury but would have been a likely pre-season all-conference pick with Green Bay. The only other regulars to leave were Oakland’s Trey Maddox, IUPUI’s Grant Weatherford, Detroit’s Marques Moore (though there are signs that the Titans coaches may have encouraged Moore to move on), Green Bay's Manny Patterson. A couple role players also left, Green Bay’s Trevion Bell and Youngstown’s Jelani Simmons. But that’s about it. The incoming talent from transfers seems substantially greater this year, and that often has not been the case in recent years. Two teams in particular—Detroit and UIC—have reloaded by signing a number of potential impact transfers. Here are 10 around the league to watch (I didn't consider transfers in to new members Purdue-Fort Wayne and Robert Morris, as I'm looking at influxes of talent to Horizon teams compared to last year): Marquel Fraser, 6-3 G, Detroit (Idaho). Fraser averaged 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists per game last year at Idaho, after averaging 9.6 points and 6.5 rebounds in an injury-shortened 2019 season. The Titans are counting on Fraser and/or St. Bonaventure Transfer Matt Johnston to provide needed backcourt help for Antoine Davis. Bul Kuol, 6-7 F, Detroit (Cal Baptist). I might not put Kuol on this list except that the Titan staff seems so very high on him. He’s been a rotation player for two years at Cal Baptist (the school’s first two seasons in Division 1), and knocked down 45% of his three point attempts over that time. Taureen Thompson, 6-11 C, Detroit (Seton Hall). Thompson averaged 9.2 points and 3.8 rebounds as a freshman at Syracuse in 2017, but then transferred to Seton Hall, and faded. After sitting a year as a transfer, his minutes in 2019 declined from 18 to 10 per game, his top line totals to just 4.6 points and 2.3 rebounds. And in 2020, he disappeared, playing in just 1 game. It’s not entirely clear what all went wrong at Seton Hall. But Thompson has proven his ability to contribute at the highest levels of college ball, and he’s a big-time body. He could be a dominant player in the Horizon. Hopefull, for Titan fans, he’ll at least be a real good one. Josh Jefferson, 6-1 SG, Green Bay (Illinois State). Jefferson averaged over 20 points per game in two seasons at Lakeland JC, and then averaged 8.7 ppg at Illinois State in 2019, knocking down over 40 percent of his three point attempts. He should start and have immediate impact. Maurice Commander, 6-0 PG, UIC (Chattanooga). Commander—a great name for a point guard—led Chattanooga in assists last season. Zion Griffin, 6-6 SF, UIC (Iowa State). Griffin was a back-end of the rotation player last year at Iowa (10.7 minutes per game). He’ll have a bigger role at UIC. Teyvion Kirk, 6-4 G, UIC (Colorado State/Ohio U.). Kirk was a MAC All-Freshman selection at Ohio in 2018, averaging 15.3 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 3.9 assists. His top stats declined as a sophomore to 14.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists. His numbers declined in most other stats as well, including steals, turnovers, three point shooting (from 40% to 22.3%), and free throws (from a respectable 72% to a cold 53%). Still, he was a hot commodity on the transfer market, and eventually moved up to Colorado State in the Mountain West, where he was anticipated to be a starter this coming year, after sitting out the 2020 season. But other players developed, were recruited, or transferred in, and Kirk would have had to battle for time this season. So he headed home—he’s from Joliet—where he ought to start for UIC. This is the second time he’s abandoned CSU head coach Niko Medved: In high school, he originally committed to Drake, where Medved had just been named head coach, but then switched to Ohio U. Medved spent just one season at Drake before being hired at CSU, where he picked up Kirk as a transfer—only to see him go without ever playing a game for the Rams. Vin Baker, 6-9 F, Milwaukee (Boston College). Baker played in 29 games as a freshman, but just 12 in 2019 at BC. Still, a 6-9 guy from a major conference probably merits being on the "watch" list. Carlos Hines, 6-4 G, Northern Kentucky (Northern Arizona). Hines averaged 12.9 points and 4 assists for Northern Arizona in 2019. But he hit just 29.8% from three. That needs to improve. Still, he’s the kind of big guard that has done well at NKU. Grayson Kelley, 6-2 SG, Youngstown State (D-2 Shaw). Kelley is an intriguing transfer. He averaged over 19 points and shot 43% from three at Shaw, garnering Second Team All-America Honors. Can he transfer it up to D-1? YSU can use his three-point shooting. I am thinking Waterman might be the best of the entire group and I do consider Moore a considerable loss. But like was stated earlier maybe he was encouraged to leave or would have been unhappy with a decrease in pt. I treated Waterman as a freshman (which he is) rather than a transfer (see "Five Freshmen to Watch" higher in the thread). I agree, I have high hopes for him. From my limited vantage point, I would as leave have Moore as a couple of our transfers-in, but it's not so obvious that I'll second guess the coaches.
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Post by motorcitysam on Oct 20, 2020 11:14:42 GMT -5
If Cleveland State keeps that class together, and they have the normal development, they should be pretty good when those JUCOs are seniors, and those freshmen have a year under their belts. Nice job by Gates.
Good stuff, Commissioner.
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Post by Commissioner on Oct 23, 2020 9:09:56 GMT -5
Time to move on to our teams. In past years, I've often used these previews to explore issues I think are interesting, such as which Horizon teams seem to have the biggest home court advantage; do older teams do better than younger teams; how much a team can realistically expect to increase its wins from one season to the next, do teams tend to do better or worse in the first year under a new coach, etc. This year I've either run out of things I care to explore, or I'm just too busy. So the previews are pretty nuts and bolts this year: Here's what each team has, and what I expect. But it'll still help you get to know the players, which seems to get harder each year, between grad transfers, waivers, etc. I thought I'd start with the league's two new members, so first up is Purdue-Fort Wayne.
Purdue-Fort Wayne
Strengths: Guards? Concerns: Will the new guys make threes?; turnover prone lineup; free throw shooting.
Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne, IPFW, Fort Wayne, Purdue-Fort Wayne joins the Horizon this year, bringing with it a great geographic fit and a cool nickname and mascot. Talk about branding confusion, though--the Mastodons seem to change the common name of their school every few years. But at least, unlike a certain favorite team on this board, they’re not giving up a lot of tradition in the process.
In fact, there’s really no tradition. Fort Wayne (sorry Mastodon PR department, but “Purdue-Fort Wayne” is both too much of a mouthful and too long to type over and over) joined the ranks of Division 1 just 18 seasons ago, in 2003. Their all-time D1 winning percentage is just .468, a few ticks better than IUPUI (.464) and, of course, a lot better than Youngstown (.386), but worse than any other team in the conference. They’ve never played in the NCAA. That said, they’ve been reasonably successful for the past decade. Under young Dane Fife (Fife was 25 when hired before the 2005-06 season), the Mastodons got to a winning record for the first time in 2010 and 2011, before Fife departed for an assistant gig at Michigan State. After a couple losing seasons, they rebounded to 25 wins under Tony Jasick in 2014, reaching the CIT. Under current head coach Jon Coffman, they had 5 more winning seasons in a row through 2019, playing in 3 more CITs and snagging an NIT bid in 2016. Their big win was an overtime upset of #3 Indiana in the fall of 2016, assuredly the last time the Hoosiers will ever play in Fort Wayne. Last year, however, the Dons slipped to 14-19, their first losing season since 2013 and their first losing season in six years under Coffman. They averaged 1151 fans in attendance, down from 1369 the year before. That was their third straight decline from just under 2000 in 2016. Their all-time peak was 3393 in 2006.
For his first Horizon League season, Coffman returns 3 starters plus last year’s #7 and #8 men, and adds some intriguing transfers to the mix. The returning starters are 6-11 center/forward Dylan Carl, a kid Ray McCallum had recruited hard out of Alma HS; junior guard Jarred Godfrey, who led the team last year in scoring (15.6 ppg), assists (3.5 apg) and minutes played; and 6-4 sophomore guard Deonte Billups, who averaged 11.1 points and a team-best 5.8 rebounds after moving into the starting rotation midway through the year. That landed Billups on the Summit League’s all-newcomer team.
Coffman’s other returning rotation players are 6-0 senior guard Demeirre Black (5.8 ppg) and 6-8 senior forward Cameron Bedford (4.2 rpg). Neither figures to move up to a starting role, but both will provide experience and depth on the bench. Rather, look for 6-8 St. Bonaventure transfer Bobby Planutis, a perimeter-oriented big, or 6-9 Ra Kpedi, a Vermont transfer, at power forward, and one of two juco transfers, 6-6 Bryce Waterman or 6-5 Demetric Horton (more likely the latter), at the small forward position. Planutis started 3 games at St. Bonaventure last year, after being a starter at Mount St. Mary’s as a freshman. Kpedi, started 6 games for an NCAA-bound Vermont team in 2019, before sitting out last year. Both Kpedi and Planutis could start, with Planutis at the #3 and Kpedi the #4, if Coffman wants a big lineup. But I’m guessing one of the two will be first big off the bench behind Carl and whichever of the two starts. The Mastadons are still hoping for a waiver to allow Loyola (Ill.) transfer Jalon Pipkins to play this season. I wouldn't expect him to start but if cleared, he would contribute off the bench.
IPFW had the double whammy last year from deep—the Mastodons took a lot of three-point shots (66th in the nation) and missed most of them (271st in shooting percentage from deep). And that was before their best three point shooter, Matt Holba, graduated, and their next best, Brian Patrick, did the grad transfer thing, to DePaul. Both Godfrey and Billups were in the low 30 percent range last year, so they’ve got to get better or get some help. Planutis, Waterman, and Horton all have the potential to boost the outside game. Planutis, the St. Bonaventure transfer, hit less than 25 percent for the Bonnies last year, but as a freshman knocked down 49% at Mount St. Mary’s. Horton was a 43% three-point shooter in the juco ranks, and Waterman made 104 threes (also at a 43% clip) as a freshman last year at Pensacola State CC. We might note that the Mastodons were also a poor free throw shooting team (67%), with the departed Patrick (81%) and Holba (69%) their best among qualifiers. And Fort Wayne was also just 230th in the country in turnover margin—something they don’t seem to have addressed in the off-season. Of the top three guards, Godfrey had just 2 more assists than turnovers last year, and Black and Billups had negative ratios.
The Dons have a couple of Michigan kids on the roster in addition to Dylan Carl. Matt Havey (Lansing) is a walk-on redshirt sophomore, and Jarvis Walker (Muskegon) is a freshman guard.
I don’t look for the Dons to compete for the title or anything, but they’ve got size and a nice mix of seniors and underclassmen. I think there’s enough here to be competitive, especially if transfers Planutis, Kpedi, and Horton come through. Still, put them in the bottom half—perhaps well into the bottom half—in your projections.
Probable Starters: PG: Jerrod Godfrey, 6-5 Jr. (15.6 ppg, 3.5 apg, 30.6% 3Pt FG) SG: Deonte Billups, 6-4 Soph. (8.8 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 32.4% 3PtFG). SF: Demetric Horton, 6-5 Jr. (15.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 43.0% 3Pt FG at Independence CC). F: Bobby Planutis, 6-8 RS Jr. (5.4 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 24.7% 3Pt FG at St. Bonaventure) C: Dylan Carl, 6-11 RS Sr. (6.9 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 57.7% FG)
Key Reserves: PG: DeMierre Black, 6-0 Sr., (5.8 ppg) SG: Jalon Pipkins, 6-4 Sr. (3.4 ppg at Loyola) (Waiting clearance from NCAA) SF: Bryce Waterman, 6-6 Soph. (12.4 ppg, 43% 3PtFG at Pensacola CC) F: Cameron Benford, 6-8 Sr. (2.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg) PF: Ra Kpedi, 6-9 RS Jr. (2.5 ppg, 1.9 rpg at Vermont in 2019).
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Post by Commissioner on Oct 24, 2020 9:12:42 GMT -5
Robert Morris
Strengths: Passing; defense; Guard play; experience in starting lineup Concerns: Free throw shooting; Lack of depth
Newcomer Robert Morris may be the closest thing the Titans have to a kindred institution in this league. It’s not exactly Xavier, Marquette, or Loyola, or even Valparaiso, but at least it’s private (the first such since Valpo left after the 2017 season), and small, with an undergrad enrollment of just over 4000 students. Bob joins us from the Northeast Conference, an even weaker league (Fairleigh Dickinson, Wagner, Central Connecticut etc.—Merrimack was able to win it last year in its first season in D-1) of mostly private schools strung out along the eastern seaboard from Maryland to Massachusetts. The NEC was ranked 5 spots below the Horizon last year in conference NET.
The Colonials (at least they remain the “Colonials” until the modern-day know-nothings and perpetually offended succeed in changing the name, a movement already underway) were one of the stronger NEC programs, although perhaps not as good as some think. They joined the D-1 ranks in 1977, and after the usual early struggles, made 5 NCAA appearances in 11 years between 1982 and 1992. That was followed by a down spell in which they had just 2 winning seasons in 13 years, including three seasons of five or fewer wins. They returned to respectability under Mark Schmidt, who left for St. Bonaventure after the 2007 season (and remains the Bonnies’ coach), and then won 73 games in three seasons under Mike Rice, winning the regular season title all three years and making NCAA appearances in 2009 and 2010.
Thirty-year-old Andrew Toole was elevated to replace Rice when the latter took the Rutgers job before the 2011 season, and averaged 22 wins per season over his first five years. After winning the NEC regular season but falling in the conference tournament in 2013, the Colonials shocked an overconfident, lethargic Kentucky squad in the first round of the NIT. In 2014, after again winning the regular season but losing in the conference tournament, RMU beat St. John’s in the opening round of the NIT. The next year they dropped to second in the conference standings, but finally won the conference tournament to reach the big dance. There, the Colonials won a play-in game against North Florida, before getting blown out by Duke in the opening round of the main event.
Those three seasons—and mainly the win over Kentucky—gave Bob Morris a bit of buzz in the collegiate basketball world that kind of continues to this day. But in the five years since, the Colonial are just a combined 78-89. But perhaps the pendulum is ready to swing back. Last season, after a second place finish in the conference standings, they won the NEC tournament and were poised for the NCAA before the season was cancelled. Still coached by Toole, they finished 20-14. If we count that as an NCAA “appearance,” the Colonials have made the field nine times in the last 39 seasons, plus they’ve got 3 NIT bids. Not bad. However, they’ve never been seeded higher than 15th in the NCAAs, except for their two early-80s bids, when they were seeded 12th (i.e. last) in what was then a 48-team field. And despite qualifying for the NCAA tournament, their NET ranking last year was just 203 (although, sadly, that would have been third best in the Horizon).
Robert Morris has a nice new facility on its campus out by the Pittsburgh airport, but despite a new arena and a 20-win team, averaged under 1800 fans last year. That was a big improvement, though, from 965 in 2019 and 765 in 2018.
So that’s some history. What about 2021?
The Colonials lose two starters, shooting guard Josh Williams, their top scorer at 13.6 ppg, and Yannis Mendy, a 6-8 wide body who was good for nearly 9 points and 5 rebounds a game. They lose one other player from what was a pretty tight 7-man rotation last year, guard Jalen Hawkins (7.3 ppg).
Despite the losses of Josh Williams and Hawkins, the Colonials look set in the back court. They return their top assist man and #3 scorer, and the MVP of last year’s NEC conference tournament, Dante Treacy, and Jon Williams, their #2 assist man. Neither shoots a ton of threes, but both can put it up (Treacy about 3 attempts per game, Williams about 4) and both hit 39.6% last year. In the front court, the Colonials return two seniors, AJ Bramah (6-7, 185 lbs.) and Charles Bain (6-8, 200 lbs). Last year Bramah started 13 games and Bain the other 21, but Bramah actually averaged 29 minutes played to Bain’s 23. Bramah led the team in rebounds at 8.2 per game and was second in scoring at 13.4 per game, and was a second-team all-NEC selection. Bain is the bigger and bulkier of the two, but likes to play on the perimeter, where he is a poor and all-too frequent 3-point shooter (25% in 124 attempts). He did hit 35% from out there as a sophomore, however, and the Colonials will hope that percentage bounces back. Assume both will start this year.
That’s a pretty decent four-man nucleus, but after that, the remaining nine players on Toole’s roster played a combined total of 48 minutes last year. Who will step up? The inside track for the final starting position would seem to go to 6-5 Cameron Wilbon, an injury red-shirt last year who averaged 12 minutes and 3 points per game as a freshman in 2019. For front court support, Toole’s got 6-8 soph Olisa Ngonadi, who played in 7 games last year, and a couple of freshmen, 6-8 Pat Suemnick and 6-9 Tyson Brown. I’m guessing Brown wins the role of first big off the bench, but that’s not based on much—Brown had a bit better offers out of high school. Suemnick, however, is probably the most physically developed and might give the Colonials a bit stronger presence in the lane. We’ll see.
Toole has better options at guard, where he’s got three pretty good freshman prospects. At least one is going to have to assume a major role. My money is on 6-3 Kam Ferris, a mid-year graduate who actually enrolled last January and practiced with the team spring semester. Ferris had a bunch of mid-major offers, including (at least according to Verbal Commits) Murray State, Massachusetts, and Dayton. Enoch Cheecks, said to be a good defensive player, is another option. As a high school sophomore he was drawing interest from the likes of Arizona State and about half the Atlantic 10, but seemed to lose some steam after that. Both guys did a prep year and the extra age and develop might help them step right in. I expect them both to get serious minutes. Trayden Williams also had multiple mid-major offers, including one from Cleveland State. He’s the purest point guard of the three, but with Treacy (4.5 apg and a 2.25 a/to ratio) returning, and Jon Williams also a capable point guard with a 2.3 a/to ratio, that will probably work against Trayden getting a lot of PT this year. There’s a good chance that one of the three—probably Farris—starts, in place of the afore mentioned Wilbon.
A minor point—Jon Williams (71%) is the only returning player to make over 70% at the line. This could hurt the Colonials in the late minutes of close games.
As noted above, Bob Morris’s NET rank last year would have been third in the HL. With a solid nucleus back, there’s no reason they shouldn’t be competitive right away. They’ve got a good facility, and they’re close to CSU and YSU. It’s not a bad addition for the Horizon. I hope they do well, and boost that average attendance up over 2000. It’s good to have another small, private school in the conference again. If a couple of the freshmen step up—ideally one in the forecourt, one in the back—they could finish in the top half of the league. Of course, relying on freshmen is always a risky business. Keep in mind the lack of experience after the top 4, and the fact that the Horizon is a better league than the NEC. Last year Robert Morris played three HL teams--UIC, Youngstown State, and Cleveland State--and lost to all 3 by double digits. Blue Ribbon has them 5th; Lindy's 4th. That's probably too high.
As a side note, Titan fans will remember that Earl Cureton and Bacari Alexander both began their collegiate careers at Robert Morris.
Projected Starters: PG: Dante Treacy, 6-0 Jr. (8.7 ppg, 4.5 apg, 39.6% 3PtFG) G: Jon Williams, 6-1 Sr. (6.3 ppg, 4.1 apg, 39.6% 3PtFG) SF: Cameron Wilbon, 6-5 RS Soph (3.0 ppg in 2019) F: AJ Bramah, 6-7 Sr. (13.4 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 56.9% FG) F: Charles Bain, 6-8 Sr. (6.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg)
Other Key Players: G: Kam Farris, 6-3 RS Fr. G: Enoch Cheeks, 6-3 Fr. G: Treyden Williams, 6-2 Fr. F: Olisa Ngonadi, 6-8 Soph (0.6 ppg in 7 games) F: Tyson Brown, 6-9 Fr. F: Pat Suemnick, 6-8 Fr.
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Post by Commissioner on Oct 25, 2020 9:46:24 GMT -5
We'll go alphabetically from here, saving Detroit for last, as always.
Cleveland State
Strengths: Coaching, defense, depth Concerns: Reliant on newcomers for scoring, 3 point shooting; sorting out the rotation
When Dennis Gates took over at Cleveland State late last July, the program was in disarray, with virtually every non-graduating player having entered the transfer portal. Gates got a couple of those kids to stay; added a bunch of jucos, a couple of whom were surprisingly good given the lateness of the season, and then did a bang up job coaching his hastily thrown-together crew to 11 victories overall, 7 in conference play. He did this even as a series of minor injuries kept the Vikings from ever really playing at full strength. Twelve players started at least one game. Eleven wins doesn’t sound like much, but given the situation he walked into, Gates’s selection (along with Wright State’s Scott Nagy) as Horizon League Coach of the Year was fully justified.
In the past, I've noted that teams rarely improve by 10 or more wins in a season. But when they do, they're teams that look a lot like CSU: A low win total the prior year; some good newcomers, good returning talent from a young team. The Vikes were 7-11 last year in conference, and even a 3 or 4 game improvement would get them into the top half of the league. A 5-6 game conference improvement is by no means out of the question.
Gates brings back seven players who averaged 17 or more minutes last season (well, technically 16.7 or more), and plus an eighth who started 10 games. Heading up the group is 5th year senior and third-team All-Conference selection Al Eichelberger of Saginaw. Ray McCallum recruited Eichelberger hard for the Titans, but he went instead to DePaul, didn’t get a lot of minutes, and then transferred to CSU. After sitting a year, and then a so-so season in 2019, he blossomed last year, averaging 14.6 points and 6.4 rebounds, while shooting 62.4% from the floor. He scored in double figures the final 20 games of the season. A big body at 6-8, 250 lbs., Eichelberger has been dogged by injuries since high school, but after missing the first three games last season, played in every game and averaged almost 28 minutes per game. Finally healthy, this could be a big year for Eichelberger.
At small forward, the Vikes return 6-5 senior Torey Patton, who averaged 11.7 points and 6.1 rebounds. Also returning is 6-9 Detroit product Deante “Spider” Johnson, a solid rebounder and defensive presence.
Returning to the backcourt are seniors Tre Gomillion, Chris Beaudion, and Franklyn Penn, and sophs Hugo Ferreira and Jeremy Sanchez. Gomillion was the only Viking to start every game last year, and there’s no particular reason to think he won’t start again. Beaudion is an energetic player who ended the season on a roll, averaging 18.8 points and 4 assists over the final four games. He’s got quick hands and can really pester a ballhandler when playing defense. Penn started 16 games, but missed the final seven games of the season with an injury. He’ll have to battle hard for playing time this season. As for the sophs, Sanchez is a walk-on who was forced into action for 10 starts last season. His PT should diminish this year with both more talent and fewer injuries to teammates, but the experience he gained gives CSU some deep depth at guard. Ferreira, a lefty from the basketball hotbed of Portugal, started 9 games and averaged almost 17 minutes per game. He’s not a scorer, and another one who will likely have to battle for PT.
Having a lot of returning players can be a blessing, but as I often point out, when you only won 11 games, you’d better be adding some new talent to the mix. Gates has brought in a class that looks real good on paper—Rivals ranks it #4 in Ohio, after Ohio State, Xavier, and Cincinnati, and ahead of Dayton and the state’s other 8 MAC and Horizon schools. Indeed, they place it a very respectable 80th in Division 1. 24/7 isn’t quite as positive—they put the Vikings #140 in the country, but still best in the HL.
The one who stands out—quite literally—is 7-2 Sudanese center Mabor Majak. Majak is listed as a 3-star recruit, and was the #3 player in Indiana’s Class of ’20, according to the Indianapolis Star, and #10 per MaxPreps. I’m not at all sure that Majak deserves that high a ranking—a number of high majors came around, such as Purdue and Indiana, without pulling the trigger, and in the end it appeared to be just CSU and Mercer competing for him, although Bradley apparently had an offer out at one time. Still, he’s tall. Really tall. This could work. At a minimum, he ought to be valuable in spot defensive situations.
Alec Oglesby is another 3-star freshman recruit. A 6-5 shooting guard, Oglesby averaged 24 points per game at The Rock school in Florida, and is listed by Verbal Commits as having offers from DePaul and South Florida, among several others. He was actually a mid-year HS graduate last year and started at CSU in January, but Gates had him red-shirt rather than blow a year of eligibility. Another potentially nice addition is 6-7 freshman Jayson Woodrich, who averaged 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 41% from three as a high school senior before spending last season at a prep academy in Pennsylvania. He had a number of mid-major offers before choosing CSU.
The one most to watch, however—and the most likely to be an immediate impact player—is juco D’Moi Hodge, a 6-4 guard out of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, by way of State College CC of Florida. Hodge averaged 25.2 points per game in the juco ranks last year, and was ranked as the #11 juco prospect in the country by Juco Recruiting. CSU needs that type of scoring punch, because the Vikings were last in the Horizon, and 325th in the country, in scoring last year. CSU was also last in the country for three pointers made, and 340th in 3-point shooting percentage. None of the returning guards even hit close to 30% from behind the arc. Hodge made 110 three pointers last season. Think he’ll play? Yeah.
Two other jucos will compete for time. Chris Greene, a 6-8 forward, averaged 13.7 points and 7 rebounds in juco, with impressive shooting percentages: 58.5% overall, 41.9% from three. Guard Yahel Hill averaged just 6.3 points at Tallahassee CC, but was a big scorer in high school and shot a respectable 34.4% last year from three. Juco recruiting ranked him among the top 150 juco players last year, i.e. somewhere between #101 and 150. I’m not sure that ranking was merited, and I don’t know how much it means to be, say, the #144 juco recruit in any case. But a lot of jucos joining the league were not ranked in the top 150.
Hodge, Oglesby, and Woodrich, and to a lesser extent Greene and Hill, all address CSU’s scoring weakness from last season. Majak, meanwhile, is just an interesting prospect. Gates says he can help the team right away. I think he’ll need time to develop. I don’t know much compared to Coach Gates, but I think those views can be harmonized—look for Gates to use Majak wisely this year, picking his spots and bringing him along. He could then be a major force as early as next year.
Below I predict Gates to use a three guard lineup with small forward Tory Patton, but he’s got good size at the guard spot. Further, with Majak and Spider Johnson he can go big in a hurry. CSU is also one of the deeper teams in the league (in part a silver lining to last year's chaos and spate of minor injuries), especially if the freshmen pan out.
How crazy is making predictions in the Horizon? Lindy’s has CSU finishing 11th. Blue Ribbon has them at #3. I originally was thinking somewhere in between, but the closer I look, the more I think Blue Ribbon is right. There’s work to be done, but It’s a great start for Gates, and in the wide-open Horizon, this team could contend.
Probable Starters: PG: Chris Beaudion, 6-3 Sr. (10.4 ppg, 3.5 apg, 1.8 spg) SG: Trey Gomillion, 6-4 Jr. (8.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg) SG: D’Moi Hodge, 6-4 Jr. (25.2 ppg at State College CC) SF: Tory Patton, 6-5 Sr. (11.7 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 42.4% 3PtFG) PF: Al Eichelberger, 6-8 RS Sr. (14.5 ppg, 6.4 rpg)
Key Reserves: G: Yahel Hill, 6-0 Jr. (6.3 ppg @ Tallahassee CC) G: Hugo Ferreira, 6-1 Soph. (4.6 ppg) G: Franklyn Penn, 6-3 Sr. (5.5 ppg) G: Alec Oglesby, 6-5 Fr. F: Spider Johnson, 6-9 Jr. (5.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg) F: Chris Greene, 6-8 Jr. (13.7 ppg, 7.0 rpg at Beaver County CC) F: Jayson Woodrich, 6-7 Fr. C: Mabor Majak, 7-2 Fr.
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Post by Commissioner on Oct 26, 2020 10:21:42 GMT -5
Green Bay
Strengths: Amari Davis; 3 point shooting in starting backcourt Concerns: No one on the team taller than 6-3 has played even one minute of D-1 basketball; heavy reliance on freshmen; depth
Green Bay heads into the season with a new coach, 41-year old Will Ryan, son of legendary Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan. Ryan is not a stranger to the Horizon—he played his college ball at Milwaukee, first for his Dad and then for Bruce Pearl, but he’s been away a long time. He was an assistant for Bo at Wisconsin, then had AC jobs at North Dakota State and Ohio U. before spending last season as head coach at D-2 Wheeling, where his squad went 14-13, a 7.5 game improvement over the 2019 season. Fun fact: Wisconsin Head Coach Greg Gard coached Ryan in high school and in college, and was an assistant at Wisconsin when Will was Director of Basketball Ops and then the low assistant on the staff. Will that get Will a game with the Badgers at the Resch Center? Don’t count on it. But Ryan has the pedigree, and has also put in the time paying his dues, starting as a ball boy for Wisconsin-Platteville when he was a boy.
Green Bay strikes me as a place that, just maybe, could get a little poor man’s Gonzaga thing going; an out of the way place that has some character, and where sustained success could create a little vibe. But it takes more than a little luck to do that, including a series of “right” HC picks. The Phoenix made a move way back in the 1990s under Dick Bennett, winning 160 games in 7 seasons, reaching the NCAA 4 times and the NIT twice, and briefly gaining a national ranking in 1996. That year they went unbeaten in MCC play, and picked up an at-large NCAA bid and #8 seed after being upset by the Titans in the MCC tournament. 1996 was actually the first season under Bennett’s successor, Mike Heideman, but Heideman couldn’t bring in the players and the Phoenix faded as Bennett’s recruits graduated. By Heideman’s last season, 2002, the Phoenix were down to a single digit win total, and it would be 20 years before they returned to the NCAA, in the first year under Ryan’s predecessor, Linc Darner.
Ryan has his work cut out for him, after losing rising seniors Tank Hemphill, Trevion Bell, Manny Patterson, and Hunter Crist to the transfer bug--"hey, it's a new coach, the grass must be greener elsewhere!." But he was able to keep the biggest prize, HL Freshman of the Year Amari Davis on board, as well as point guard PJ Pipes (9.3 ppg). But add in the graduations of JaQuan McCloud, Kam Hankerson, Cody Schwartz, and Josh McNair, and Ryan’s not exactly looking at a full cupboard. A mix of jucos, transfers, and freshmen will be called upon to support the two returnees.
Obviously, the lineup begins with Davis, who was HL Freshman of the week 10 times last season. Davis is something of a rarity, a guard who averages 16 points per game without any kind of outside shot (he was 0-8 last year on three point attempts). His game is getting to the basket, and he’s very good at it, and good at finishing, making 53.4% of his two point attempts. He’ll play more of small forward roll. Pipes will likely start, though he’s on an interesting trajectory—28 starts as a freshman, 20 as a soph, and just 11 last year. But he’s a pretty good point guard, an excellent three-point (best in conference play last year) and free throw shooter who doesn’t turn it over much. Major contributions will be expected from Josh Jefferson, who sat out last season after transfering from Illinois State. Jefferson averaged over 20 points per game in two seasons at Lakeland JC, and averaged 8.7 ppg at Illinois State in 2019. I’m guessing Ryan will use the three-guard lineup of Davis, Pipes, and Jefferson frequently, especially early in the year. But it’s a small group (the 6-3 Davis is the biggest), and there’s no obvious choices to provide size up front.
The most experienced option up front is 6-6 Paris Taylor, a transfer from Walters State CC in Tennessee, a pretty decent juco program. Taylor brings a tough inside game and should be an effective player in the Horizon. Ryan certainly needs him to be. The other choices are all freshmen. Redshirt freshman Japannah Kellogg is tall (6-8) but slim (190 lbs.) and listed as a guard. Explaining his choice of Green Bay for college, Kellogg, who is from Ames, Iowa, said, “it reminded me of Des Moines. It just kind of felt like home." This is probably the first time in history that “it'll remind you of Des Moines” has been a successful recruiting pitch. Cem Kircimen is a burly Turk, 6-8, 220 lbs., who comes through the Tilton School, an old-fashioned boarding school (founded 1845) in New Hampshire. Terrence Thompson, from nearby LaCrosse, is also listed at 6-8, 220 lbs. Damontae Taylor, from Zion, Illinois, is a 6-6 small forward. None of these 4 freshmen—nor Paris Taylor, for that matter—has other D-1 offers listed at Verbal Commits, and frankly, I know almost nothing more about any of them, although the Phoenix seem high on Damontae Taylor and Terrence Thompson and someone has to start up front.
Depth at guard is provided by juco transfer Blayton Williams, Novi native Jiovanni Miles, who was expected to redshirt last year but ended up appearing in 7 games, and 5-10,155 lb. freshman Jacob Jones. Williams was ranked in that 101-150 group of juco recruits last year by Juco Recruiting. He’s a double digit scorer with a good all-around game.
Linc Darner had Green Bay playing at one of the fastest paces in the NCAA. Will Ryan is the son of one of the great "slow it down and play defense" coaches. It's likely to be a whole new style at Green Bay, perhaps less exciting, but in the long run more successful. But for this year, well, Davis is a potent weapon, but unless Paris Taylor and/or a couple of the freshmen forwards come through in a major way, it’s hard to see a first division finish for this Green Bay squad.
Probable Starters: PG: PJ Pipes, 6-2 Sr. (9.3 ppg, 44.7% 3PtFG). SG: Josh Jefferson, 6-1 RS Sr. (8.7 ppg, 40.2% 3PtFG at Illinois State in 2019) Wing: Amari Davis, 6-3 Soph. (15.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 51.4% FG) F: Japannah Kellogg (?), 6-8 RS Fr. PF: Paris Taylor, 6-6 Jr. (11.7 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 56.5% FG at Walters CC)
Others: G: Blayton Williams, 6-3 Jr. (12.8 ppg at Lamar CC) G: Jiovanni Miles, 6-2 Soph. (2.4 ppg in 7 games) SF: Damontae Taylor, 6-6 Fr. PF: Cem Kircimen, 6-8 Fr. PF: Terrence Thompson, 6-8 Fr.
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Post by Commissioner on Oct 27, 2020 6:12:39 GMT -5
UIC
Stengths: Compliance office; depth; defense Concerns: Getting the team to mesh; three point shooting
Luke Yaklich takes over at UIC for Steve McLain, who signed some impressive recruits and created a lot of buzz early, but could never get the Flames over the hump. The Flames have had three consecutive winning seasons and three consecutive first division finishes, but very little was left for Yaklich, and now he faces a major rebuilding job. But that rebuild got off to a good start this summer, and the Flames may burn brighter than many prognosticators think.
Before looking at this year’s Flames, I thought I’d briefly consider the frustration of the McLain era. McLain was head coach for just 5 season. Yet his recruits included, among others, Tarkus Ferguson, Marcus Ottey, Godwen Boahen, and Dikembe Dixson. Respectively, these four players rank 6th, 9th, and 13th, and 16th on UIC’s all-time scoring list (including Division 2 years back to 1948)—and Dixson, remember, played less than 2 ½ seasons. Ferguson and Boahen are 4th and 5th on the Flames all-time list for three pointers; 3rd and 7th for career assists; both are in the top 10 for steals, and Ferguson for blocks. McLain’s recruits also included Dominique Matthews, a Horizon all-freshman team member, 3-star recruit K.J. Santos, and a number of other solid role players, such as forwards Jordan Blount, Clint Robinson, and Michael Diggins. And though the cupboard was basically bare when McLain arrived, he did inherent rising sophomore Tai Odiase, probably the best true center in UIC history, a 3-time conference All-Defense selection and two-time Defensive Player of the Year.
There were issues at least somewhat beyond McLain’s control, such as a series of injuries that stunted the Matthews’s promise. And there were issues sort of within his control, such as the mercurial attitudes of Dixson, who turned pro with two years of eligibility remaining, and Santos, who transferred to Missouri. But mainly McLain just couldn’t get the team together on the floor. All five of McLain’s teams underperformed their projected finish in the pre-season Horizon League Poll. In four years with Ferguson, Boahen, and Ottey playing together, the Flames were just 71-68 overall. They bought themselves some home games in the CBI and CIT, but never got close to an NIT or NCAA bid until last year, when they upset Wright State to reach the Conference tournament finals, where they lost to Northern Kentucky.
In any event, not a lot was left for Yaklich, but the Flames may be all right anyway. That's largely because three impact transfers were cleared to play this year: • Maurice Commander started 32 games last year for Tennessee-Chattanooga, and led the team in assists; • Teyvion Kirk was a MAC All-Freshman team selection in 2018, then averaged 14.7 points and 5.8 rebounds as a sophomore at Ohio U. in 2019; He transferred to Colorado State and sat last year; • Zion Griffin, a 6-6 small forward, played in 30 games last year at Iowa State.
UIC’s MVP for the year is likely to be the compliance guy who got these waivers approved before the end of July. (The Titans seem to have endless problems with waivers, and I have to begin to question if our compliance people just are not up to the job, or lack the resources necessary).
Those three will join a couple of decent returning forwards, 6-8 senior Michael Diggins and 6-10 junior Braelen Bridges. Also returning is 6-8 senior Ron Howard, who started 17 games for the Flames in 2019, but was an injury redshirt last year. Another veteran is Jamie Ahale, a big shooting guard who’s been a rotation player the last two years. Senior forward Jacob Wiley has played in 88 games over the past three years, and sophomore Brian Taylor showed some promise as a freshman. Deon Ejim, another soph, started 6 games last year. A pair of juco transfers, Rayquandas Mitchell and Jalen Johnson, are expected to add three-point shooting. Both topped 40% in the juco ranks. Mitchell started 10 games for Idaho as a freshman in 2019, and was ranked as the #44 juco recruit in the country this year.
The immediate eligibility of the transfers gives UIC some real promise in what would otherwise have looked like a very rough season. Commander and Kirk are a legit starting backcourt, with Commander handling point duties when both are on the floor. Ahale, Mitchell, Johnson, and Taylor to do spot work, mainly as three point shooters, although Johnson can handle the point. Mitchell will really crowd Ahale and Taylor for playing time.
With the backcourt stabilized, Yaklich has plenty of options to cobble together a respectable front line. Diggins and Bridges have both been frustratingly inconsistent, but in the end both put up respectable numbers last year. Diggins was good for 9.3 points and 5 rebounds, Bridges for 8.4 and 4.9. In particular Bridges, who came in from the juco ranks last year, got better as the year wore on, averaging 9.7 points and 5.5 rebounds in conference play. The two are tall, and are the best shot-blocking duo in the conference (UIC was 39th in the country last year in percentage of opponents shots blocked, and in the top third in opponents two-point shooting percentage). Somewhere amongst Griffin, Howard, Wiley, and Ejim there ought to be a third starting forward. I'll go with the transfer Griffin, with Howard as the first big off the bench.
Yaklich has a reputation as a stellar teacher of defense, and has the personnel to bear down on opponents. Bridges is a strong deterrent underneath, and Diggins offers sound support. Commander is a particularly tough defender on the perimeter, as is soph reserve Brian Taylor. Kirk should provide some scoring punch at guard, and I wouldn't underestimate Mitchell as a potential contributor as well. The biggest question may be whether Yaklich can blend all these transfers into an effective team on the floor. McLain could never do that with his team, despite having plenty of individual talent.
Projected Starters: PG: Maurice Commander, 6-0 Jr. (6.2 ppg, 2.6 apg at Chattanooga). SG: Teyvion Kirk, 6-4 Jr. (14.1 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 2.5 apg at Ohio U in 2019). SF: Zion Griffin, 6-6 Jr. (3.0 ppg, 1.9 rpg at Iowa State) PF: Michael Diggins, 6-8 Sr. (9.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg; 33.0% 3PtFG) PF/C: Braelin Bridges, 6-10 RS Jr. (8.4 ppg, 4.9 rpg).
Reserves PG: Jalen Johnson, 6-1 Jr. (9.3 ppg, 42.0% at John A. Logan CC) SG: Rayquandas Mitchell, 6-5 Jr. (15.7 ppg, 3.7 apg, 40% 3PtFG at Otero JC) SG: Jamie Ahale, 6-5 Sr. (5.3 ppg, 34.2% 3PtFG) SG: Brian Taylor, 6-6 Soph. (3.0 ppg, 38.7% 3PtFg) F: Ron Howard, 6-8 RS Sr. (6.2 ppg, 3.8 rpg in 2019) F: Jacob Wiley, 6-7 Sr., (3.9 ppg, 3.1 rpg). F: Deon Ejim, 6-7 RS Soph, (3.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg)
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Post by Commissioner on Oct 28, 2020 8:17:32 GMT -5
IUPUI
Strengths: Backcourt scoring Concerns: Defense
A facile glance at IUPUI’s roster might lead one to conclude that the Jags face the season from a position of some strength: they return starters at 4 of 5 positions (only the grad transfer defection of Grant Weatherford prevents it from being all 5 positions), including the league’s #2 scorer, Marcus Burk; #1 rebounder, Elijah Goss; and the 2019 “6th Man of the Year,” and #6 scorer in the league last season, Jaylen Minnett. But despite having these three, the Jags finished dead last in 2020, at just 3-15 in conference and 7-25 overall. I’ve said it before and I’ll say It again—having a lot of players back from a last place team isn’t necessarily a good thing.
The IUPUI program also remains in a state of some uncertainty, which can’t be good. After the sudden resignation of head coach Jason Gardner following a DUI arrest in late August of 2019, Byron Rimm was named interim head coach for the 2019-20 season. At year’s end, in a real display of confidence, IUPUI announced that due to the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic, it would not be able to conduct a proper search for a new head coach, so Rimm would be retained as interim for "at least" another season. “Thanks, Boss.”
Rimm seems to be a reasonably competent coach who always finds himself in terrible situations. After playing juco and then a year at Cal-State Los Angeles (he averaged 4.7 points in 19 games), the 23-year old Rimm got an assistant’s job at Pasadena CC. He worked up to be an assistant at D-2 Cal-State San Bernardino for a year, and then in 2001, at age 27, landed his first head coaching gig, taking over the women’s team at Texas College, a tiny (total enrollment 755), under-funded HBCU in Tyler. Texas College is pretty much the sad sack of the Red River Conference, and for reasons I don’t know, the team was not even eligible for post-season competition. Still, Rimm did pretty well, coaching the squad to a 20-12 record, it’s best ever.
The next year Rimm moved to Jarvis Christian (enrollment 895) in nearby Hawkins, Texas, and coached the men’s team for three seasons. Rimm gets no respect. Jarvis Christian’s men’s basketball record book only goes back to the fall of 2004, the start of Rimm’s last season there. It lists the head coach for that year as “unknown.” Really. But again, he took over a team that was historically the conference bottom feeder, and in his first season guided the team to a second place finish in the Red River Conference, and the school’s first-ever NAIA tournament bid.
After the 2005 season, Rimm moved to another hopeless program, D-1 Prairie View A&M, as an assistant. At that time, Prairie View had had just 1 winning season in 25 years of D-1 play, and had averaged just 6 wins per season over that time. The team was 5-23 the year before Rimm arrived, and 5-24 during his year as assistant head coach. Rimm was then promoted to head coach. After a couple of 8-win seasons, Rimm’s third team tied a school record with 17 wins, the next year put together back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in school D1 history. After 5 consecutive losing seasons (though not bad for Prairie View, relatively speaking, as the team won in double figures every season), Rimm resigned after his 2016 team got off to a 1-18 start. He took a job for a year in the bottom rung position of Director of Basketball Operations at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, which at least was good (24-12). He then spent the 2018 season as an assistant at Big West bottom-feeder Cal-Riverside (1 winning season in 19 years of D-1 play), which went 9-22, before joining IUPUI. Rimm’s overall D-1 head coaching mark is 122-217, a .360 winning percentage. But he’s been in a series of losing programs, and at each stop—Texas College, Jarvic Christian, Prairie View—done at least relatively well, given the program history. And it’s not trivial that his Prairie View teams tended to lead the SWAC—a conference where several schools have a history of problems—in APR.
To try to turn IUPUI around, Rimm has brought in a bunch of jucos to add to the core of Burk, Goss, and Minnett. But it’s tough to recruit to a largely commuter school with a losing tradition (IUPUI hasn’t had a winning season since Ron Hunter left a decade ago) and the word “interim” before your title. So we’ll see.
The jucos, from smallest to tallest, are: Ahmrit Dahlilwal, a 6-0 guard who was a walk-on at Fresno State in 2019, and averaged 13.9 ppg at Modesto CC last year.
Bobby Harvey, a 6-3 guard who averaged 6.1 ppg as a freshman at D-2 Maryville, then 11.9 ppg last year at Wabash Valley CC, including 36% from three;
Nathan McClure, a 6-4 guard who averaged 4.6 ppg at State Fair CC. State Fair is a strong juco program;
Azariah Seay, a 6-4 guard who played his freshman year at Alabama State (1.8 ppg), then 13.5 ppg. at Blinn College last season, including 38% from three;
Dmitri Georgiadis, a 6-9 forward who averaged 3.9 points and 5.6 rebounds at State Fair; he started at the Citadel, where he was redshirted as a freshman;
Jonah Carrasco, a 6-9 forward from Otero JC, where he averaged 5.7 points and 4 rebounds;
Dimitar Pandev, a 6-10 forward, good for 3.5 points and 4 rebounds at Clarendon JC; and
Acton Shirley, a 7-0 center who averaged 4 points and 1.7 rebounds at Saddleback JC. Shirley red-shirted a year at Gardner-Webb, then played a year at D-2 North Georgia, where he played just 36 minutes all season.
There’s certainly some size in the group, and a couple of the guards scored a bit in the juco ranks, but not a lot to get excited about. None of them were highly recruited, with offers from D-2 schools and the occasional SWAC member. But given the handicaps Rimm labors under, that’s not too bad.
The returnees are headed up by Burk, who tested the draft waters but wisely came back to the beach. Burk averaged 21.3 points per game last year, second best in the Horizon and 12th nationally. Moreover, he averaged 24.4 points over the last half of the season, including a 39 point effort at Oakland. He averaged 38.6% on his three point attempts for the year. He’s a player who can get hot and put up a lot of points in a very short period of time. His running mate, Jaylen Minnett, loves to shoot the three (almost 10 per game last year), and he connected on 36.5% last year. Minnett’s weakness on offense is in the paint, where he actually had a lower shooting percentage than from outside the arc. But like Burk, he had three 30-point games last year, and can dominate the floor in stretches.
With Burk and Minnett to score, it should be obvious where the Jaguars weak spot was last year: defense. The Jaguars were 339th in the country last year in points allowed per game, and that wasn’t because of tempo—KenPom ranked the Jags even lower, 344th, in defensive efficiency. Some of that falls on Burk and Minnett, who miss on too many gambles and are too slow to rotate to the three point shooter up top. The guy who does know how to play defense is Senior forward Elijah Goss, a conference all-defense selection. Goss is an active defender in the lane, and led the league in rebounding (6th in the nation) while finishing 5th in blocked shots. But he needs help—he weighs less than 200 pounds, is asked to play a lot of minutes, and gets worn down by players like Loudon Love and Al Eichelberger.
I also expect to see 6-8 senior swingman Isaiah Williams in the starting lineup. Williams started 13 games last year, averaging 8 points and 4.4 rebounds before a season-ending injury in early January caused him to miss the last 14 games. He gives them some of the bulk they need on defense. Though not particularly good with Williams in the lineup, the Jags were worse (2-12) without him. The other returning player of note is sophomore guard Mike DePersia, who averaged just 2.6 points per game but is probably the best ballhandler on the club. With the more turnover prone Burk and Minnett, the Jags could use the stability DePersia provides, but he’s going to have to improve his shooting. Sure, they’ve got Burk and Minnett to score, but DePersia has to shoot better than 34.1% overall and 11.8% from three. You can’t play 4 on 5 all the time. The transfers Harvey and Seay will compete for a starting spot, and playing time when Minnett is the primary ballhandler. Another backcourt option may be freshman Bakari LaStrap, a point guard from Texas.
It's easy to figure Burk, Minnett, Goss, and Williams to start, but the final starter is anyone’s guess. I'm going with DePersia as the "proven" option, which would also allow Minnett to play off the ball, where he is probably more effective. But it could be Carrasco, because they need his bulk, and the bigger jucos I just don’t think are very good. Or it could be Harvey or Seay, reasonably tall guards who can score a bit/, or even the freshman LaStrap.
If given a chance, can Rimm get ‘er done at IUPUI? At 46 years old, he’s still a young man. He’s taken over terrible programs at each head coaching stop—Texas College, Jarvis Christian, and Prairie View. While he did not build lasting success at any, each did well relative to their respective histories: the first 20-win season at Texas College; the first NAIA Championship bid at Jarvis Christian; the first D-1 back-to-back winning seasons at Prairie View. Strange as it seems, IUPUI is the best situation he has walked into: .360 career winning percentage aside, I think Rimm has proven himself a decent coach. But this team, even with Burk, Goss, and Minnett, finished last a year ago, and that was with Grant Weatherford. So it's hard to move them up. It will help if Williams plays the whole season, but when you ride the starters for as many minutes as Rimm did last year--and probably has to do this year--injuries happen. Take out any of the big three of Burk, Goss, and Minnett, and upcoming season looks catastrophic. Still, last year the Jags scored one of the HL's best non-conference wins, a road victory at AAC member South Florida, and beat Oakland twice. In recent years, the team everyone agrees will finish last in the HL has a history of rising up, not into competition at the top of the league, but at least well above expectations (as with Cleveland State last year). With a couple gunners in Burk and Minnett, IUPUI will always be a dangerous opponent. I'm not about to suggest a first division finish, but IUPUI is not necessarily an easy out, and could win more than expected.
Probable Starters: PG: Mike DePersia, 5-11 Soph. (2.6 ppg) G : Jaylen Minnett, 6-1 Sr. (16.6 ppg, 3.4 apg, 3.1 rpg, 36.5% 3PtFG) SG: Marcus Burke, 6-3 RS Sr. (21.3 ppg, 38.5% 3PtFG) F : Isaiah Williams, 6-8 RS Sr. (8.0 ppg, 4.4 rpg) F : Elijah Goss, 6-7 RS Sr. (9.1 ppg, 11.5 rpg, 1.0 bpg)
Key Bench: PG: Bakari LaStrap, 6-0 Fr. SG: Bobby Harvey, 6-3 Jr. (11.9 ppg at Wabash CC) SG: Azariah Seay, 6-4 Jr. (13.5 ppg at Blinn CC) PF: Jonah Carrasco, 6-9 Jr. (5.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg at Otero JC). PF: Dmitri Georgiadis, 6-9 RS Soph. (3.9 ppg, 5.6 rpg at State Fair CC) PF: Dimitar Pandev, 6-10 Jr. (3.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg at Clarendon JC)
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