[Previously posted on another thread, but it belongs here, so:]
The Bucs start their season Friday with a home game against a team calculated to give them an inflated sense of their current abilities. Then 4 days later visit a Sun Belt champion Georgia State team ready to knock them down several pegs.
Southern Wesleyan was 1-17 in Conference Carolinas (a DII conference headed up by King, Barton and Lees-McRae) and 2-26 overall.
They were dead last in this DII conference and are picked to finish 10th again.
https://www.swuathletics.com/sports/mbkb...1024m5v6wp
What they lack in height (their 3 front court stalwarts are 6-5, 6-5 and 6-6 giving them a -3.8 rebounding margin) they make up for with turnovers (-3.9 t.o. margin) and lack of shooting (.412 from the field and .280 from 3 with 4.8 makes a game. Their best shooter, Kylie Blackett, hits only .310 from 3 averaging 1.0 makes per game). As for defense, their mostly DII opponents averaged .501 from the field and .377 from 3 to give them a -17.4 margin in points per game.
http://www.conferencecarolinas.com/sport...r=1&pos=sh
Key returnees are.
Front Court:
#25 6-6 220 Sr. DJ Dobson, 23 min., 14.7 ppg on .250 from 3 (0.1), 2.8 reb, 0.7 blk
#32 6-5 182 Sr. Jeremy Wert, 26.3 min., 9.4 ppg on .238 from 3 (0.7),
3.9 reb, 0.7 stl
#33 6-5 225 Sr. Zalan Richards, 24.4 min., 6.0 ppg with no 3’s,
4.4 reb
#24 6-8 190 So. Kallen McDaniel 15 games, 4.2 min., 0.8 pts, 0.7 reb.
#11 6-2 160 Sr F Najarius Green, 7 games, 8.6 min., 1.7 ppg
#34 6-9 240 Jr. J.T. Noellert, 9 games, 3.9 min., 0.8 ppg, 0.4 reb.
Guard:
#5 5-8 158 Sr. Javon Hunter, 25.1 min., 8.0 ppg on .238 from 3 (0.7),
3.3 ast, 2.0 reb, 0.7 stl
#22 6-2 180 So. Jalen Lowery, 25.3 min., 8.9 ppg on .287 from 3 (1.2), 1.7 ast, 2.4 reb
#23 6-1 160 So. Kylie Blackett, 20.8 min., 4.6 ppg on
.310 from 3 (1.0) 1.8 ast, 2.3 reb
#3 6-1 165 So. Jacob Smith, 13.1 min., 4.1 ppg on .298 from 3 (0.8)
#21 6-5 185 So. Issac Ford, 13.1 min., 3.3 ppg
#12 5-11 So. Bryson Williams 7.8 min., 2.8 ppg
#2 6-1 Tr- Jr Diego Poore, 7 games at Tusculum, 3-7 from 3 on the season
#15 6-3 Fr. Chris McClean
#13 6-1 Fr. Lamont Smith
#30 5-10 Fr. Devon Brewster
I have no idea what their few new additions might bring. 6-2 Jr. transfer from Tusculum Diego Poore did hit a few threes in the 7 games in which he saw limited action: going 3-7 on the season. They also add 3 freshmen.
Their brand new coach Nick Pasqua has his work cut out for him.
The Bucs meanwhile will have to stay disciplined and focused to get something out of this game and not let things totally degenerate. We’ve got one of our toughest OOC challenges coming up only 4 days later in Georgia State and we don’t want to get into bad habits. It will still be awfully good to see the team on the floor. I won't miss it.