|
Post by ptctitan on Oct 12, 2018 8:03:21 GMT -5
Thanks to Commissioner for these previews.
My thoughts so far.
None of these upper echelon teams are clearly unbeatable. In the current game with lots of 3-point shooting, perimeter defense has become very important.
Wright State: what does the loss of Benzinger do to the rotation? When he was contained in the NCAA, Wright St was clobbered. His consistent outside shooting opened up rebounding lanes for Love and Ernsthausen because the defense had to guard the perimeter. Out of all the players, who will step up and try to replace Benzinger's leadership and consistency?
NKU: last year exposed the importance of Cole Murray to their early success. Without a consistent 3-point threat, NKU could have problems. Our lowly Titans should have beaten them at Calihan last year even without Kam Chatman who had been injured versus Wright State. If Drew McDonald is their best 3-point threat, then they will have problems.
UIC: how good a rebounder is Blount without Odiase there to create space? Without Odiase to block shots, how effectively can the Flames pressure the perimeter? Odiase had allowed the guards to put greater pressure on the ball knowing that Odiase could stop the driver even if the guard was beaten.
Oakland: again, on defense, without Brock and Hayes, can they defend the perimeter? Are Brechting and Hill-Maas anywhere close to being 1 for 1 replacements of Hayes and Brock? Certainly Newman and Nobles could score in the HL. But can they stop their opponents?
IUPUI: very underrated team. They could surprise the entire league with upperclass leadership. If the 7-footer works out well, they are the one team other than Wright State that could defend the perimeter.
Milwaukee: like us, an unknown quantity. They look good on paper due to the length added. But we'll see how well they play together.
Green Bay: can Pipes replace Small's veteran leadership? He was an important reason why Cohen and Hankerson got the ball in places to score. Also Jesperson was an important piece of last year's rotation. He provided upperclass experience during his minutes. Even with them, they had a losing record. Why? They had no interior stopper when their pressure broke down. Who can fill that role this year? If not, can Pipes get the ball to their scorers better than Small? Questionable.
Cleveland State: much the same problem as Green Bay. How good is Appleby without Word and the other upperclassmen who cannot return? He was inconsistent last year. And he could turn into a quick, but inefficient scorer if all the new players do not pick up Felton's offense quickly. Felton runs lots of set plays that depend upon each player knowing his role in each play.
Youngstown State: again does Calhoun have the horses to play the type of game he wants to play? It's one thing to play mini-Huggins at Fairmont State in D-II. He had a really good player in Morse last year, but could not win with him. Again no proven interior defense to help when his G/F's pressure the perimeter. And no veteran guards. YSU vs GB could make all the chiropractors happy due to all the neck injuries caused by the frantic up and down action.
Detroit Titans: Davis has brought in a lot more length on the perimeter compared to the Bacari teams. The unknown is how quick are they. It's a big jump from JUCO or post-grad academy ball to even a low mid-major conference. Under Bacari, we were actually pretty slow compared to a lot of our opponents. Thus, while we have more length, can that length get to the perimeter in time to defend adequately? If Curry is eligible this year, it would help a lot. Blackshear has never demonstrated any staying power on the floor due to being foul prone. Like Milwaukee, we are an enigma due to the fact that we have 13 new players on the roster. But Coach Davis and his staff are tape hounds. And they coach to their team - not to a pre-determined system that the team must run. In addition to IUPUI and Milwaukee, our Titans have the biggest pre-season chance to surprise in the HL to the upside; and, this is due to coaching alone.
|
|
|
Post by Commissioner on Oct 12, 2018 8:07:03 GMT -5
Lots of good questions, PTC.
|
|
|
Post by Commissioner on Oct 16, 2018 19:00:45 GMT -5
Cleveland State 12-23 overall, RPI # 282 6-12 conference (tied for 8th, lost in Horizon tournament finals)
Losses Kenny Carpenter, 13.3 ppg, 5.1 ppg, 2.4 apg Bobby Word, 10.3 ppg, 39.1% 3PtFG Anthony Wright, 8.0 ppg, 5.8 rpg Jamarcus Hairston, 5.6 ppg Evan Clayborne, 3.0 ppg (transferred) Terrell Hales, 0.9 ppg Shawn Christian, Derek Sloan, scrubs
Returns 41.6 % of minutes 43.7 % of points 29.8 % of rebounds
Cleveland State struggled through Dennis Felton’s first year as Coach, yet almost pulled off an NCAA bid, winning three games in the HL Tournament before falling to Wright State in the tournament final. That team was a hodgepodge of leftovers from the Gary Waters era and newcomers from the short recruiting season, and CSU’s tournament success emphasized that Felton can coach a game. This year, we’ll see a team with much more of Felton’s imprint. Felton was very successful at Western Kentucky nearly two decades ago, and it will be interesting to see if he can repeat that type of mid-major success in Cleveland.
Felton will have a revamped roster including 6 scholarship freshman, a juco transfer, and DePaul transfer and one-time Titan recruiting target Algevon Eichelberger. They’ll join a pair of promising freshmen from a year ago—Tyree Appleby and Stefan Kenic—and veterans Kasheem Thomas and Dontel Highsmith, and we’ll see what happens.
I suspect that CSU will rise or fall on the performance of two guards who have star potential.
The first is Tyree Appleby, who pushed Kasheem Thomas out of the starting position at point last year, then won 4 “Freshman of the Week” awards and was named to the conference All-Frosh team. He was also named to the conference All-tournament team after averaging over 15 points and 5 assists during the Vikings’ improbable run to the finals. Appleby’s one weakness last year was three point shooting (32%), but I don’t suppose it will be a weakness this year—he averaged 47.7% over his last 11 games. Generally, he just kept getting better all year. He could well emerge as the league’s best point guard this year.
The second key could be freshman guard Rashad Williams, who averaged 23.7 points and 6.7 assists at Wayne Memorial outside Detroit. He’s a very good three-point shooter and a rugged defender and rebounder, and could compliment Appleby nicely in the backcourt.
If Williams isn’t ready for a starting role, Felton can fall back on Thomas, or Dowagiac’s Dontel Highsmith, a rare 6th year senior. Highsmith was a great athlete in high school, a finalist for Michigan Mr. Basketball back in 2013, state long jump champion, and a scholarship-quality football player, becoming the first ever two-time Michigan boys athlete of the year. He was Northern Illinois’s prize recruit in 2013, and was leading the team in scoring in late December. After scoring a season high 27 against Cal Riverside, Highsmith was leading NIU with 19 points and 6 assists against #13 Iowa State when he went down with a knee injury late in the second half. He missed the rest of the 2013-14 season and the next two years (during which time he also transferred to CSU). He’s never recovered his pre-injury form, but he’s a smart, reliable player. He looked at the grad transfer market this spring but ultimately stuck with CSU for this final season. He’ll be 24 years old this year, and he’s not the kind to make mental mistakes. He should be a steadying force on this very young team.
Thomas, the starter at the point as a true freshman for all of the 2017 season and the first third of last season, adds further depth at guard. Thomas doesn’t turn it over much, can score a bit, and is a pretty good assist man. In 2017, he was 9th in the league in assists and third in assist/turnover ratio. That’s a pretty good player to come off the bench and indicates Appleby’s quality in his displacing Thomas. Thomas will be 22 by the season opener, and thus another player adding some maturity to a young squad.
Stefan Kenic, a 6-9, 230 lb. forward from Serbia, started 31 games last year as a freshman, averaging 9.5 points and 3.3 rebounds. Despite his size, like a lot of the big Europeans and more and more Americans, he likes to play a perimeter game, and is a pretty good three point shooter (37.1% last year). CSU needs a banger inside and that may come in the form of Eichelberger, who Ray McCallum recruited hard for Detroit a few years back. Eichelberger went instead to DePaul, where he played limited minutes in 26 games as a frosh. Eichelberger is listed at 6-8, 250, and should be a good Jaleel Hogan-type in the Horizon. Out of high school in Saginaw he had a bunch of mid-major offers, but got fixated on P6 schools, which simply didn’t have much interest. He’s just a bit short and a bit slow (he had knee injuries in high school) for his skill set to excel at the high major level, and I always thought he made a mistake going to the Big East. But he should be a good Horizon player. On their foreign trip to Italy this summer, the Vikes were starting 6-6 Seth Millner at the other forward spot. An AP and Detroit News first team all-stater last year, he played well.
Providing depth in the front court is Jaalam Hill, a 6-7 juco transfer. In two years at Southwestern Illinois, he averaged just under 20 points and more than 8 rebounds. Hill also put up big numbers in Italy this summer. My presumption before that trip was that Hill would nab the last starting spot ahead of Millner, but Felton seems to like having his size and experience off the bench. Regardless of whether Hill or Millner starts, both will get a lot of minutes.
Other front line depth will have to come from freshmen, and there are four who might contribute. One is 6-9 Detroiter Deante Johnson, a Class C all-stater at Detroit Edison, but “Spider” didn’t play on the Italian trip. Even if they plan to redshirt him this year, he could have played in Italy, so one wonders if there are eligibility or injury problems. Johnson was, by the way, also Michigan’s Class C Defensive Player of the Year. It’s also nice to have a 6-9 defensive stalwart, so even if Johnson doesn’t play much this year he should be a big part of CSU’s longer term future. Another option is Columbus’s 6-7 Dibaji Walker. Walker spent last season in a post-grad year at a prep school, but still seems a bit underdeveloped. He should contribute eventually, but probably not a lot this year. The most likely source of immediate help is probably another 6-9 Serb, Aleksa Popovic. It will be kinda fun when the Vikes have the two Belgrade emigres, Popovic and Kenic, on the court together. With 4 promising freshman bigs, and the sophomores Kenic and Eichelberger, CSU looks set up front for a while.
Felton has always gone 9 or 10 deep in the rotation, so several of the freshmen should see significant minutes. Highsmith is the only roster player of note scheduled to graduate this year, the first 6 players in the rotation in Italy were all freshmen and sophomores, and the Vikings are assembling some decent talent. The future looks good. I look for CSU to pull some upsets and be quite competitive, but this is a very young and inexperienced team and that means that they’re probably a year away from challenging for the top.
Probable Starters PG – Tyree Appleby, 6-1 Soph. (11.8 ppg, 4.0 apg) SG – Rashad Williams, 6-2 Fr. SF – Seth Millner, 6-6 Fr. F – Stefan Kenic, 6-9 Soph. (9.5 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 37.1% 3PtFG) PF – Algevon Eichelberger, 6-8 RS Soph. (1.7 ppg, 1.3 rpg at DePaul in 2017)
Key Reserves PG – Kasheem Thomas, 6-0 Jr. (5.4 ppg, 2.3 apg) SG – Dontel Highsmith, 6-2 Gr. (4.9 ppg) F – Jaalam Hill, 6-7 Jr. (18.9 ppg, 8.5 rpg at Southwestern Illinois CC) F – Aleksa Popovic, 6-9 Fr. F – Dibaji Walker, 6-7 Fr.
|
|
|
Post by Commissioner on Oct 19, 2018 20:50:03 GMT -5
#9 on our list...
Youngstown State 8-24 overall, RPI # 325 6-12 conference (tied for 8th, lost in Horizon tournament first round)
Losses Cameron Morse, 15.4 ppg Braun Hartfield, 13.6 ppg, 4.3 rpg (transfer) Tyree Robinson, 7.5 ppg, 3.6 rpg (transfer) Jaylen Benton, 6.6 ppg, 40% 3PtFG Devin Haygood, 6.6 ppg, 4.5 rpg (transfer) Jeremiah Ferguson, 4.2 ppg (transfer) Francisco Santiago (injured most of season) Jason Brown, Ryan Strollo, Dan Ritter, Alex Wilbourn (deep bench)
Returns 34.6 % of minutes 27.3 % of points 41.2 % of rebounds
When Jerrod Calhoun was hired at YSU, it seemed like a perfect match. And it may yet be. But Calhoun’s first season at Youngstown didn’t look much different from any other YSU season—8 total wins, an 8th place conference finish, and a quick exit from the Horizon League tournament. And now Calhoun’s second season starts with YSU losing six of its top 8 scorers from that team, 4 of them transfers out, including the best returning player, Braun Hartfield.
Yet there is still something of a new, “can-do” feel to the Penguins. Under former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel, they’ve been sprucing up the campus and bumping up recruiting budgets. Tressel himself has become something of the “closer” for recruits in all sports as YSU team’s have pulled off some minor recruitment coups in the past couple years. As to hoops, Calhoun has retooled the team, bringing in four freshmen (one of whom had offers from Kansas State and Temple, among others) and four good looking jucos. He’ll also gain the services this year of Devin Morgan, a third-team All-MEAC selection in 2017 who sat out last year as a transfer.
While the newcomers try to find their way around, Calhoun does have a few returning parts, key among them sophomores Garrett Covington and Naz Bohannon. Covington, a 6-5 shooting guard, averaged 8.3 points per game while shooting 34% from three. He’s YSU’s top returning scorer. Bohannon, a muscular 6-6, 230 lb. forward (that’s a Jaleel Hogan frame), led the Penguins with over 9 rebounds per game in conference play, third best number in the Horizon, and was projected a second team all-conference player in the preseason Horizon League poll.
The 5-10 Morgan is likely to take over at the point, a weak spot for YSU last year. The junior transfer from Delaware State was MEAC Freshman of the Year in 2016 and All-Conference in 2017. He can shoot the three and is a wicked good foul shooter, always a nice attribute in the point guard—though YSU will have to get some late leads to take full advantage.
YSU has another promising young guard in freshman Atiba Taylor. At one time or another Taylor had offers from Seton Hall, St. Joe’s, Temple, La Salle, Kansas State, and Rutgers. Rated the #2 guard in New Jersey, Taylor is one of those athletes who said Tressel helped close the deal to bring him to YSU. He averaged 17 points and 7 assists as a high school senior, has a nice 6-4 frame, and should be an impact player in the Horizon. Calhoun could also play Taylor at the point and Morgan, a good 3-point shooter, at the two spot.
The Penguins are also high on another freshman point guard, Darius Quisenberry, a First Team All-State player in Ohio’s Division 1 (the largest schools) (Ohio names 10 players to the First team). If YSU can keep Taylor and Quisenberry in the fold, there is definite potential to have the league’s best backcourt by 2021, if not sooner. Also in the backcourt is 6-3 junior Kendale Hampton, who shot over 40% from three in the juco ranks last year.
Another newcomer is 6-5 swingman Donel Cathcart, a 2nd team juco all-America last year. Cathcart should give Calhoun some real flexibility, as he is capable of playing the 1-2-3 or 4 spots.
Upfront muscle is being added in the form of a couple of juco transfers with D-I experience, Antwan Maxwell and Alex Holcombe. The 6-7 Maxwell started 14 games for Charleston Southern as a freshman in 2017, then played last year at Central Florida CC, averaging 7.6 rebounds. Holcombe, a 6-9, 244 pounder, started at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, then played last year at Panola JC, where he led the nation’s jucos with 4 blocks per game. Returnees Noe Anabir and Michael Akuchie should also see good minutes. Calhoun also has a 6-9 freshman on the roster, Olamide Pedersen.
Calhoun likes to play an up-tempo game—the Penguins were in the top 15% of NCAA teams for tempo last year--and this year’s team looks even more equipped, personnel-wise, to run. He’ll go 9 or 10 deep in the rotation. His Penguins like to gamble on defense, leading the conference in steals last year. But those strategies have bad consequences, too—the Penguins gave up more points than any team in the league last year except for our Titans. Given his style, I expect he’ll use a three guard offense with some combo featuring three of Taylor, Quisenberry, Cathcart and Morgan on the floor most of the time. There’s only one senior on the team, back-of-the-rotation forward Noe Anabir, but the jucos lend some experience and send the message that YSU wants to win now.
An interesting name on the ‘Guins is John Sally, Jr., son of the former Piston star. The 6-11 redshirt freshman is a walk-on, however, so don’t expect to see him much.
I have little idea where to put the Penguins in the Horizon this year—anywhere from 4th to 10th seems reasonable, though probably nearer the bottom than the top of that projection. But this could be the most interesting season of Penguin ball since Kendrick Perry was around.
Probable Starters G – Devin Morgan, 5-10 RS Jr. (14..4 ppg, 3.2 apg, 36.0% 3PtFG, 89.4% FT at Delaware St. 2017) G – Atiba Taylor, 6-4 Fr. SF/G – Donel Cathcart, 6-5 Jr. (20.6 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 2.8 apg at Niagara County CC) PF – Naz Bohanan, 6-6 Soph. (7.2 ppg, 8.1 rpg) C – Alex Holcombe, 6-9 RS Jr. (7.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 4.0 bpg, 63.3% FG at Panola JC)
Key Reserves PG – Darius Quisenberry, 6-1 Fr. SG – Garrett Covington, 6-5 Soph. (8.3 ppg. 3.6 rpg., 34.3% 3PtFG) F - Antwan Maxwell, 6-7 RS Jr. (8.4 ppg, 7.6 rpg at Central Florida CC) F – Michael Akuchie, 6-8 Soph. (3.5 ppg, 2.0 rpg) F – Noe Anabir 6-8 Sr., (2.4 ppg, 1.9 rpg)
|
|
|
Post by Commissioner on Oct 23, 2018 21:21:02 GMT -5
And last (literally) but not least, our Titans ...
Detroit 8-24 overall, RPI # 318 4-14 conference (10th, lost in Horizon tournament first round)
Losses Kameron Chatman, 17.8 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 2nd team all-conference (entered draft) Corey Alley, 14.4 ppg (transfer) Jermaine Jackson, Jr. 10.5 ppg, 2.7 apg, All-freshman team (transfer) Tariq Jones, 9.7 ppg, 4.6 rpg (left team) Roschon Prince, 9.2 ppg, 5.2 rpg Jaleel Hogan, 7.6 ppg, 3.2 rpg DeShawndre Black, 4.6 ppg Jack Ballantyne (transfer), Isaiah Jones, Malik Eichler (transfer), deep bench Bass Ollie, Jacob Joubert, Ed Carter, walk ons
Returns 23.2 % of minutes 20.7 % of points 18.3 % of rebounds
In my Titan preview last year I asked, “do the Titans ever exceed expectations?” And after a quick review, I concluded that the answer is rarely, if ever, and added optimistically, “the law of averages tells me that long-suffering Titan fans are due a break, a season of surprising wins rather than disappointing losses… I just have a gut feeling that the Titans are due for a good surprise. I hope I’m right, and I’ll note that I’m not generally a particularly optimistic fan.”
Well, I was colossally wrong. Not just wrong in that the Titans were terrible, but wrong in that the Titans were, once again, an “unlucky” team.
Statistician Ken Pomeroy calculates each team’s “luck” each year, that is, the number of games above or below what a team with its points scored and points breakdown should win. Here is where the Titans have ranked as far back as I can find Pomeroy’s records:
Luck rank: 2018 – 208th 2017 – 143 2016 – 111 2015 – 204 2014 – 289 2013 – 284 2012 – 193 2011 – 235 2010 – 195 2009 – 171 (of 344) 2008 - 305 2007 – 290 2006 - 55 2005 – 308 2004 – 188 2003 – 309 2002 – 56
As you can see, in the 17 years for which Pomeroy has published luck rankings, the Titans have ranked in the bottom half 12 times—that means in 12 of 17 years (indeed 12 of the last 16) our guys have done more poorly than would have been expected based on points scored and points allowed. Plus, one other year(2009) the Titans were only barely in the top half. Only in 2002, 2006, and 2016 have we been in the top third for “luck.’ And the Titans have been in the bottom 25% six times. In other words, we've been in the bottom 25% more than we've been in the top 50% when it comes to getting "lucky."
I also did a quick review of the last 5 years, for which I’ve been tracking the Horizon pre-season poll, and the Titans have underperformed preseason projections far more than any other Horizon team in that time. In fact, we’re the only team of the 11 that have participated in the league in that time not to have finished higher that we were predicted in any preseason Horizon League poll. Our total “underperformance” is 3 times that of UIC, the next most “underperforming” team in the league over the five-year period.
So we’re even more overdue to exceed expectations than we were last year. Of course, when the consensus is that you’ll finish last, it’s not too difficult to exceed that “expectation.”
New coach Mike Davis has said repeatedly that it will take just two months to begin to turn things around. And by the time practice started in October, barely 3 months into his term, the Titans did seem to have a new attitude of effort, a better camaraderie, and a new sense of calm direction. But how much that will show up in the “Win” column is another issue. Lack of “chemistry” might cause a talented team to fail (last year's Titans?), but good “chemistry” really isn’t a substitute for talent (this year's Titans?).
Beyond these musings, I have almost no idea what to say about this year’s Titans. I don’t know who will get minutes, what position they’ll play, what offensive or defensive sets we’ll use. Historically, Mike Davis teams play mostly but not exclusively man-to-man (but some stray comments on media day and practice at Hoops Night in the ‘D’ suggest we may see more zone this year); they both score and allow a smaller percentage of points than average on three pointers; they play at more or less an average tempo, neither too slow nor too fast. It’s almost impossible, though, to look back over the years and find a distinctive “trademark” style for Mike Davis teams.
The Titans top returning player is, of course, Josh McFolley, a career thousand-point scorer who has shown flashes of brilliance but was (like most of the Titans) poorly utilized the last two seasons. I presume he’ll start in the backcourt. But Coach Davis made the comment at one of the Titan lunches that he didn’t see McFolley as the point guard, That leaves the Coach’s kid, Antoine Davis, as the likely point, and that should be a pretty decent backcourt. Davis is the early favorite for conference Freshman of the Year, and will try to keep the Titans’ 5-year string of having a member of the league’s all-freshman team going. Davis’s strength is three-point shooting, so between he and McFolley the Titans should have the long ball as an effective weapon, and that can make even the worst team dangerous on any given night.
Transfer Darrell Riley is a late walk-on but my guess is he’ll get decent minutes backup point role. He had a solid freshman season with Mississippi Valley State in 2017, and even allowing that the SWAC is one of the weakest conferences, starting D-I experience should count for something. He’s also a good three point shooter. Junior Tra’Quan Knight is one of several jucos on the Titan squad, and those he’s generally presented as a shooting guard, he played the point in the juco ranks and could see time running the Titan offense.
With the Titans short on big men, I expect we’ll see a lot of 3-guard lineups. Besides the 6-3 Knight, a juco All-American, look for Lamar Hamrick and Jacob Holland, both 6-4, as guys who could see some major minutes. Knight and Hamrick are particularly athletic—or so I’m told.
The Titans also have a bunch of wings who could be factors. Most interesting is 6-7 grad transfer Derrien King, who started for much of the fall of 2016 for Washington State before transferring. King has a reputation as a streaky shooter. He’s sat out 3 semesters now, but I think we’ll see him in the starting lineup. A couple other guard/forward tweeners are 6-7 Chris Brandon and 6-6 Marquis Moore, both freshmen, but neither had other reported D-I offers.
The true forwards include two of the three returning scholarship players, Gerald Blackshear and Cole Long. Blackshear has been dogged the last couple years by a series of nagging injuries. If he’s healthy, he’s a good bet to start and should at least get major minutes. Long is a hard worker who logged good minutes in the disastrous 2018 campaign, but I wouldn’t be surprised if his playing time is squeezed. One “squeezer” is the 6-8, 235 lb. Georgian Willie Isiani, but like a lot of European big men he likes to play the perimeter as much as bang down low. Isiani was nursing some injury in mid-October but is expected to be ready to go when the season starts. 6-8 freshman Boe Nguidjol may also see PT.
A kicker is 6-7, 230 lb. junior forward Harrison Curry. After a couple of impressive juco seasons, Curry was at Louisiana Tech last season but was injured in the season opener and missed the rest of the year. The Titans have reportedly sought a waiver so that Curry can play this year. If he can, he’ll likely start.
Davis says he plans to go just 7-8 deep in the rotation, and I’m quite uncertain which 7-8 players will emerge. On this team, anybody who is not injured or taking a transfer redshirt year, including walk-ons Juan Parilla and Musial Gjysma, could see considerable PT. I'll hazard a guess that five roster players (of 17) unlikely to make that rotation are Moore, Brandon, Parilla, Gjysma, and another walk-on (and likely redshirt) Jordan Gorman. Add Curry, of course, if he's not declared eligible. If he is eligible, I think Nguidjol's odds of being in the rotation drop considerably. But even if I'm right on those six, that leaves lots of competition for playing time.
After two terrible seasons under Bacari Alexander, there is visible excitement among the Titan faithful. But expectations should be tempered. There are 13 new players on the Titans. Most of them were lightly recruited, and several appear to have had no other D-I offers. While I'd love to see more, 10-12 wins and a more competitive atmosphere would certainly make good on Coach Davis’s vow to turn things around within a few months. Then we can build from there.
Probable Starters PG: Antoine Davis, 6-1 Fr. SG: Josh McFolley, 6-1 Sr. (11.1 ppg, 34.2% 3PtFG, 1.5 spg) G: Tra’Quan Knight, 6-3 Soph. (14.7 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 4.7 apg at Shelton State) SF: Derrien King, 6-7 Gr. (6.6 ppg, 4.3 rpg with Washington State in 2017). PF: Harrison Curry, 6-7 Jr. (14.5 ppg, 6.3 rpg w/ Pensacola JC in 2017)] If Curry is not eligible: PF: Gerald Blackshear, 6-9 Sr. (2.6 ppg, 2.8 rpg)
Key Reserves
PG: Darrell Riley, 5-8 RS Jr. (9.0 ppg, 2.9 apg, 43.5% 3PtFG with Miss. Valley St. in 2017) G: Lamar Hamrick, 6-4 Jr. (11.4 ppg, 5.3 rpg at San Jacinto JC) G: Jacob Holland, 6-4 Gr. (14.7 ppg, 2.8 rpg at New Mexico Highlands). F: Cole Long, 6-8 Jr. (3.8 ppg, 2.6 rpg) F: Willie Isiani, 6-8 Fr. F: Boe Nguidjol, 6-8 Fr.
|
|
|
Post by Commissioner on Oct 27, 2018 13:51:51 GMT -5
My usual practice is not to do "predictions" (as opposed to "previews") because predictions are a bit of a fool's game--even if interesting. After all, you can't know who will be injured, or suspended, or decide to transfer mid-season; there are always a lot of question marks on almost every team. So really, it's hard to be anything but wrong. But this year, I'll try: 1. Wright State. I wasn't going to pick Wright State to finish first. They seem to have emerged as the consensus pick among the prognosticators, and in my two big interest, politics and sports, I've learned that whenever conventional wisdom starts to harden, it's time to run the other direction. And I think the hardening consensus starts to overrate the Raiders. BUT... they probably are the best single pick, even if it's close. And though it's more likely than not that they won't finish first, they're more likely to finish first than anyone else. And I picked them first in the Titan prediction contest. Plus, I couldn't decide if my other choice would be UIC or Northern Kentucky. So what the heck--Wright State for regular season champion. 2. UIC. I was going to go with Northern Kentucky, but then my top three would exactly follow the CW, and we don't want that. Gotta like their guards. 3. Northern Kentucky. Drew McDonald and John Brannon are a great team. 4. Cleveland State. Now it gets hard. But why not the Vikings? They were playing well at the end of the season, going 6-5 over their final 11 games; they've got a really exciting player in Tyree Appleby, who kept getting better and better; Al Eichelberger is, I think, a potentially big addition. They've got size, decent guards, some shooting, they're well coached. CSU for #4. 5. IUPUI. IUPUI finished 5th last year, and they return quite a bit. I think Manhattan transfer Ahmed Ismael will be a defensive force, and I think the league will overlook IUPUI once again. 6. Green Bay. They're a trendy #4 pick, but they were 10-23 last year against D-I teams. Sandy Cohen is great and Kam Hankerson a fine sidekick, but I'm not sold on this team. I keep switching them back and forth with IUPUI. 7. Oakland. I'm really, really tempted to put OU ahead of both Green Bay and IUPUI--that's my purely rational self. But what's the glory in that? OU loses everything, but they've got a lot of talent coming back from injury or transferring in. Kampe is usually at his best when nobody expects much, so that should bode well for the Grizzlies. But they started Jaevin Cumberland in their unimpressive exhibition win over HIllsdale. Jaevin Cumberland is not a D-I player. 8. Detroit. Because, look, I'm not going to pick the Titans to finish last. And I have a lot of confidence in Mike Davis. 9. Milwaukee. Milwaukee has emerged as the consensus #7 team from the 14 prognosticators I've chronicled so far. Yet even at that, I think they're overrated. Like Oakland, they return almost nothing, and they weren't that great last year (16-17). People seem high on Miami, Ohio grad transfer Jake Wright, but he only averaged 5 points per game last year in the MAC. They've got a lot of jucos, and really need juco Bobby Arthur-Williams to score. They should be a lot better next year. 10. Youngstown State. YSU's progress under Jerrod Calhoun has been a bit disappointing. They were expected to struggle last year, but not to have four of their top six returning scorers transfer at the end of the year. Like Detroit and Milwaukee, they've got a lot of new faces, and are counting on some jucos to come up big. Transfer Devin Morgan should be a decent point guard, but I think he's being overrated by a lot of folks. Anyway, YSU, as I noted a while back, is in the league to finish last.There you go. Don't take 'em too seriously. I'm not.
|
|