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THE NEED FOR SPEED


Which team can boast the second highest scoring offense in the nation last season? It’s likely that Campbell didn’t roll off the tongue. Last season only one other school had a greater improvement in conference wins then Camels of Campbell.

After failing to win a single game in the Atlantic Sun in 2004-05, Robbie Laing’s group tallied nine wins last season. The win total was more then double the number of conference wins in the previous three seasons combined.

The reason for the great improvement was Laing’s up-tempo offensive, which finished second in the nation in points per game (82.8). Now in his fourth season, Laing finally has the players he needs to play high-octane style. And he wants an even more frenetic pace this season.

Gone is All-Atlantic Sun performer Maurice Latham and his 18 points (3rd in conference) 8.9 rebounds (2nd in conference) per game. Also gone are Comerlee Poole and Diego Aguiar who were among the top offensive rebounders in the league and a big part of an offense that led the nation in possessions per game.

While there may be a lack of experience in the frontcourt, the backcourt brings an abundance of experience.

Senior Eric Smith, who is the A-Sun’s leading returning scorer (16.8 ppg), set a school record with 107 three-point field goals last season and should be even more comfortable in the offense this season.

Fellow senior Ledell Eackles, who ranked fourth in the conference in assists (5.4 apg) and junior Jake Wohlfeil, who was among the best three-point shooters in the league (40%), will both figure heavy into the equation as well.

And keep an eye on freshman Jonathan Rodriguez. The 6-foot-5 prize recruit led all Miami-area prep players in scoring (25.5 ppg) and was a first-team All-State selection and Florida’s Player of the Year in Class 1-A.

But after such a big jump last season, there is a lot “cautious” optimism in Buies Creek, NC.

As explosive as they have been offensively, they have had too many defensive lapses. The defense will need to improve and they will need to finish games. Ten wins was a great improvement, but there were more wins out there, had the Camels closed the door, in crunch time.

Perhaps the biggest question is whether or not this group can deal with the expectations that were created by the success of last season. Look for the Camels to push, preseason favorites, Belmont and Lipscomb.

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Like Campbell it has been a struggle in recent years for the Penguins of Youngstown State. It’s difficult to change perception, but Senior Quin Humphrey is doing all he can to bring change.

Last season Humphrey led the Horizon League in both scoring (19.2) and rebounding (8.3), for a team that finished 7-21. He’s a 6-foot-4 guard that led the league in rebounding. Unfortunately YSU really didn’t have a secondary option last season, but the Penguins look to be much improved, under second year head coach Jerry Slocum.

A preseason first team Horizon League selection, if Humphrey can get some support he could really put up some special numbers. Last season he became just the second player in league history to finish first in points and rebounding.

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Gregg Marshall’s decision to return to Winthrop is probably bad news for Big South Conference opponents. After all, in eight seasons at the helm he has led the Eagles to six NCAA tournaments. It’s a fact that gets mentioned from time to time, but it still doesn’t seem to sink in. To do that in a one-bid league is nothing short of remarkable and yet it doesn’t seem to ever get talked about enough.

Marshall isn’t campaigning for another job, which was clear when he opted out of the College of Charleston job over the summer. But while he’s not talking his way into another job (as some like to do) there should be more talk about the outstanding job he has done. Since his arrival the Eagles have averaged 20 wins a season. Maybe a seventh trip in nine seasons will get him into the discussion.

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The expression “best-kept secret” is often attached to talented players that get little or no national hype. Going hand-in-hand with that is the lack of television exposure. This year’s poster child for that title would then go to Jackson State’s Trey Johnson.

You might be able to catch him in November or December on the ESPN Full Court Package and it would be worth tuning in. The 6-foot-5 two-guard averaged 24 points and five rebounds per contest last season.

Even lower on the radar screen is Bucknell’s senior Abe Badmus. A four-year starter at the point, Badmus has really stepped up in his final season. With preseason Mid-Major All-American McNaughton struggling at the start of the season, it was Badmus that raised his level of play. Badmus did not receive any preseason recognition from the Patriot League (the five that did were very deserving), but he will get end-of-season league honors.

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Georgia State may surprise some people this season in the Colonial Athletic Association. Michael Perry, now in his fifth season, has a talented sophomore in Rashad Chase. The 6-foot-7 CAA rookie selection, Chase has improved on his game and appears to have a very bright future. The Panthers do have a number of question marks to go along with inexperience, which would not seem to equate too much success in the tough CAA. Perry’s club will be better then the record indicates this season.

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You would probably have to live in the Hudson Valley region of New York to really understand the interest in basketball in the past twelve months. Last season Army women’s basketball won its’ first-ever conference title and made it’s first-ever NCAA tournament appearance. About a 45-minute drive from West Point, Marist College is the preseason favorite to win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Association for the first time since joining the league.

A trip to the NCAA tournament would be the first for the Red Foxes since 1987, when Dave Magarity was at the helm. Just two seasons removed from that position at Marist, Magarity is now the head coach for the women’s team at West Point, after the untimely death of Maggie Dixon.

Third year coach Matt Brady has done an excellent job of molding this team into a legitimate NCAA team, but it was Magarity that recruited all the key components, including one of the better guards in America, in Jared Jordan who was named as the MAAC preseason Player of the Year. Another familiar name on the Marist roster is David Magarity, Jr.

In case you were wondering, the Army women’s team is the preseason favorite to repeat at Patriot League Champions and Cara Enright was named preseason player of the year in the league.

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New Orleans is among the favorites in the Sun Belt Conference this season, do in large part to the play of junior guard Bo McCalebb. The 6-foot guard is a scoring machine, but neither McCalebb nor the Privateers prospects for postseason are the big story here. It’s the simple fact that they are playing basketball a little over twelve months after Hurricane Katrina.

For UNO and others, last season was spent a long ways from home, with another university acting as a temporary homecourt of sorts. In the big picture it’s not all that important, but try telling that to the players, coaches and all associated with athletics for those institutions on the Gulf Coast.