It's that time of year again, when college campuses pack into their gymnasiums and the boys of the hardwood go to battle. The nights of Dick Vitale screaming bloody murder on your television, putting off tomorrows' paper until morning to watch the midnight West coast game, hours of SportsCenter highlights and conference break downs are back.
There is no better time than this, for the college basketball season is upon us and the Mid-American Conference looks to repeat the successes of last season.
The MAC sent three teams to the postseason in the 2002-2003 campaign. Central Michigan advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, eventually falling to Duke, while Western Michigan and Kent State participated in the NIT.
The MAC has shown continuous progress in the last couple of years, as it tries to be mentioned among the nation's elite conferences. The conference will look upon a new corps of stars to replace the likes of lottery draft pick Chris Kaman of Central Michigan, Brandon Hunter of Ohio and Chris Williams of Ball State. The 2003-04 MAC men's basketball champion race will be an exciting race from start to the finish.
Here's what to look for this season in the MAC.
East Division
Akron Zips
Akron has a roster filled with experience. The Zips return 11 of last year's 12 roster positions, including all five starters. Last season, Akron finished third in the East Division with a record of 14-14 (9-9 MAC).
Head coach Dan Hipsher relies heavily on its excellent guard play. Senior guards Johnny Hollingsworth (17.4 ppg) and Derrick Tarver (20.6 ppg) are the stars of Hipsher's team. Tarver, All-MAC second-team, was the conference's fifth-best scoring and 29th highest scorer in the nation. Hollingsworth is a well-rounded point guard who makes the Zips' offense go. He is the team's second leading scorer while also contributing 4.11 assists and 2.18 steals a game. Hollingsworth creates open shots for his teammates as Akron finished last season 10th in the country in field goal percentage (48.7 percent) and had the 24th highest scoring offense in the nation with 78.6 ppg.
This team should improve just because of experience, and if they find a complement to their two stars, Akron will become very dangerous in the East.
Kent State Golden Flashes
Kent State comes into the season riding a streak of five consecutive seasons with 20 or more wins. Last year's head coach Jim Christian took over the reigns of a program that had just been to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament. Christian continued the Golden Flashes' success by leading them to a 21-10 record and KSU's third straight MAC East title. There is no reason to doubt that the Golden Flashes will be in the mix for the East Championship again this year.
Kent St. will be returning All-MAC honorable mention guard Eric Haut. Haut is a sharp shooter with good accuracy from beyond the arc. He was the second best three-point shooter in the MAC last year burying threes at a 41.6 percentage. Haut returns as the Golden Flashes leading scorer with an average of 14.1 ppg.
Joining Haut is up and coming sophomore DeAndre Haynes. KSU will need Haynes to provide solid play at the point as he did in his freshman year. In his first season Haynes led the team with 4.26 assists per game and an assist to turnover ratio of 1.71 while chipping in 5.4 points.
Marshall Thundering Herd
Marshall had a changing of the guard this off-season as head coach Ron Jirsa takes over command of the Herd. He and his assistants bring tons of coaching experience to the Thundering Herd program, as they tally 53 years in college basketball between them.
The new coach will enjoy the play of junior guard A.W. Hamilton. A strong sophomore performance saw Hamilton lead the MAC in assists with 138 and an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.19, also tops in the conference.
Forward Marvin Black gives the Thundering Herd a presence in the paint. Black returns as the leading scorer and rebounder with 11.3 ppg and 7.3 rebounds per game.
Marshall seems to have a huge home court advantage as they have accumulated an 80-15 home record since 1996, including wins over Wake Forest and Georgia.
Miami of Ohio RedHawks
Miami is in good shape, returning 91.5 percent of its scoring and 78.7 percent of its rebounding from a team that finished second in the MAC East Division. Head coach Charlie Coles will benefit from a team that already has a year of experience playing with each other. The RedHawks finished last year with a 13-15 (11-7 MAC) record.
Juby Johnson, Chet Mason and Josh Hausfeld are responsible for most of the returners' output. Guards Johnson and Hausfeld both earned MAC postseason honors as well as being named second team All MAC and MAC All Freshman Team respectively. Johnson scores at an average of 14.1 ppg, leading the RedHawks, and needs just 46 more points to reach 1,000 for his career.
Chet Mason is a feisty as they come. At only 6 feet 3 inches, he returns as Miami's leader in rebounding (6.2), assists (2.4), and steals (1.3). His hard work is contagious and he is the spark plug of the Miami of Ohio team.
Ohio Bobcats
Ohio was killed by graduation this year, losing three 1,000-point scorers to graduation. Head coach Tim O'Shea will need to look elsewhere for the offense output provided by graduates Brandon Hunter, Steve Esterkamp and Sonny Johnson.
Coming off a 14-16 (8-10 MAC) season, O'Shea will rely on some unproven players to carry his team this season. Sophomore Jeffrey Halbert will have to continue to show the promise he did the last 20 games of last season. Halbert averaged 7.0 points per game during the 2002-2003 season. O'Shea will look for him to become one of the Bobcats major threats. O'Shea is also relying on former Mr. Basketball of Minnesota, Stephen King, to step it up in his second season.
The leader of the team must be senior Javion Harris. He returns for his last year at Athens after averaging 7.9 ppg, 3.5 rebounds, and 3.1 assists a season ago. This leads all returning players in those categories. This could be a long year for the Bobcats unless Harris, or one of the new faces, has an instant and significant impact.
West Division
Ball State Cardinals
The return of three double-digit scorers is always nice for a coach and that's exactly what head coach Tim Buckley has. Cameron Echols, Matt McCollom, and Robert Owens all return to the Cardinals squad that finished tied for fourth in the MAC West with a 13-17 (8-10 MAC) record.
Cameron Echols and Matt McCollom give the Ball State Cardinals a legitimate inside-outside game. Echols is a horse in the paint leading Ball St. in scoring and rebounding with an average of 13.1 and 8.7 respectively, while shooting an outstanding 48 percent from the field.
McCollom is BSU's second scoring threat coming into the season averaging 11.9 ppg and 2.6 assists a game. The streaky guard can go off and become a big scorer if needed as he had games of 29 points and 22 points last season and has seven 20-point games in his career. The Cardinals will need more consistent scoring from McCollom to make a move up the MAC West standings.
Bowling Green Falcons
The Falcons consist of a team with just five upperclassman. Luckily for head coach Dan Dakich, most of the 11 underclassmen were forced into action last season and gained valuable experience.
Will that experience transform into an improvement of their 13-16 (8-10 MAC) performance last season? That's up to returning center Kevin Netter, sharp shooting John Reimold and MAC All-Freshman Team member Ron Lewis.
Netter provides an excellent pivot man with good feet and low-post moves. He provided a team leading 15.3 points a contest to the Bowling Green offense. Netter also draws a lot of attention in the lane allowing Reimold, the MAC's leading 3-point shooter, to roam the perimeter freely. Reimold shot the long ball at a 42 percent clip while averaging 15.0 points and adding a team leading five rebounds per game.
Lewis looks to build on an awesome freshman year where he was a monster in the MAC Tournament. Lewis raised his scoring average three points in the final eight games to 12.5 ppg, including 29.0 points per game in two MAC Tournament games. Lewis also contributes five rebounds a game, tying him for the team lead despite being just 6-4.
The X-factor for the Falcons will be Lewis. If Lewis becomes the player he showed in the MAC tourney there is a star in the making and BGSU will be a force to be reckoned with this year, but if Lewis needs more time before he makes that jump so will the Bowling Green Falcons.
Central Michigan Chippewas
Last year's MAC Cinderella story, the Chippewas look to retool a starting five depleted by graduation and the NBA draft. Central Michigan must replace 76 percent of its scoring and 64 percent of its rebounding to repeat as the 25-7 (14-4 MAC) MAC regular season and MAC Tournament champion. The Chippewas also went to the second round of the NCAA tournament beating Creighton and eventually failing to Duke.
Head coach Jay Smith, last year's MAC Coach of the Year, will rely on the two returning starters to his starting five, T.J. Merman and Tony Bowen. Bowen played big down the stretch for Central Michigan starting the final 22 games. He returns as the team leader in rebounding and assists with 3.3 rebound and 3.3 assists per contest Merman started all but one of CMU's games last year and contributed 5.6 points and 2.9 assists a game.
Merman stepped up big last year in the MAC tournament by turning up his offensive output to 11.3 point per game and 3.3 assist a game. He will have to put tournament type numbers up for the Chippewas to even have a shot as returning as champions.
Eastern Michigan Eagles
Last season, head coach Jim Boone and the Eastern Michigan Eagles increased their win total eight games from the previous season. Coming into the season the Eagles look to continue their upward climb up the MAC West standings. Improvement on their 14-14 (8-10 MAC) record will rely on the play of juniors Markus Austin and Michael Ross.
As a sophomore, Ross established himself as one of the MAC's premier point guards. Ross was second in the MAC dishing out 5.1 assists a game and was second on his team with 11.3 ppg. Ross takes care of the rock and plays defense as well. He finished the 2002-2003 season with an assist to turnover ration of 1.75 and leads the team with 1.5 steals a contest.
Markus Austin was named team Most Valuable Player for his consistent contribution last season. Austin tallied 14.3 ppg and 4.3 rebounds a game, both tops on the Eagles team. The forward not only provides the Eagles with an offensive threat but also a team leader.
Northern Illinois Huskies
Coming off their first winning campaign since 1995-96, the Northern Illinois Huskies will ride the shoulders of first team All MAC selection Marcus Smallwood. The Huskies' leader and team Co-MVP averaged 13.3 point, 10.1 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks a game. Despite only being 6 feet 6 inches and 192 lbs., Smallwood was one of only 20 players in the country to average a double double. He returns as the MAC's leading rebounder and sixth best rebounder in the nation.
Whatever Smallwood is not doing, team Co-MVP P.J. Smith will probably be doing it. Smith was a huge contributor for the Huskies in the MAC Tournament as he was named to the All-Tournament team after averaging 23.3 ppg. During the regular season, the guard led the team in points per game with 14.7, assists with 1.9 and steals with 1.6.
Northern Illinois finished last season 17-14 (11-7 MAC) and second in the West. Head coach Rob Judson hopes that his two Co-MVPs can improve enough to project his Huskies to the top of the MAC West The duo might just have enough firepower to just that.
Toledo Rockets
Late last season, senior guard Keith Triplett became the player head coach Stan Joplin was searching for. The Rockets were without a go-to guy when their backs were against the wall. Triplett caught fire in Toledo's last nine games averaging a staggering 22.1 points. This brought his season average to a team leading 16.9 ppg to go along with his team leading 5.8 boards a game.
Triplett is the Rockets' emerging star. Last year, a significant improvement in his shooting statistics as well as being named team Defensive Player of the year shows the determination the senior had to become better. In his senior season, he will be leading Toledo after a seventh place finish in the MAC West and a 13-16 (7-11 MAC) record.
Expect Triplett to be aided on the offensive side by 2002-2003 MAC Freshman of the Year, Sammy Villegas. Despite playing out of position at point guard, Villegas return as the team's second leading scorer with 10.8 ppg and leading passer with 3.6 assists per game.
Toledo fell in love with the three ball last season, attempting the 14th most per game in the nation and hitting at a .387 clip. With very little size on the offensive glass, the Rockets will need for these threes to fall again this season if they are to be competitive.
Western Michigan Broncos
The Broncos is a team that is looking to capture the MAC West Title. Coming off a 20-11 (10-8 MAC) season that ended in the postseason tournament, Western Michigan has every right to have those expectations.
New head coach Steve Hawkins takes over at the helm and benefits from the return of four starters and nine letter winners from last season's 20-win squad. Hawkins is also very well equipped with size. Low post forces Anthony Kann and Mike Williams will make it very difficult for opposing teams to defend.
Kahn, a forward/center, returns after an honorable mention All-MAC performance in which he had team highs in scoring (14.4 ppg) and rebounding (8.8 rpg). Williams, whose .534 field goal percentage was fifth in the MAC, is joined by Kahn down low. Williams is second on the team in scoring with an average of 13.6 ppg.
The big question for the Broncos is who will run the show at point guard. This decision might determine how the 2003-2004 season unravels for Western Michigan. Point guard Ricky Willis is the only point guard on the roster with any college experience and looks to be the favorite for the job. In competition with Willis are unproven freshmen Mike Jefferson and walk-on Jeremy File, both standout prep recruits. Whoever is slotted at point guard will be quick to learn that success goes through Kahn and Williams. The point guards' effectiveness getting the ball to the post will make or break the Broncos attempts at the MAC West title.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
