Welcome to The Sports Bank’s third annual college basketball season preview series. Two years we looked at 99 teams in 99 days. Last year, we were slightly more aggressive and expanded to 111 teams in 111 days and will do so again as we look ahead to the 2012-2013 season.
We will rank the 75 power conference teams and top 36 mid-majors in reverse power ranking order. We’ll break down rosters, transfers, incoming freshmen, non-conference schedules, and pick a player to watch for each team.
Conference USA is pretty wide open this season in terms of who will finish in second place behind the Memphis Tigers. Of the candidates, the Marshall Thundering Herd enter the season with the most talent.
MARSHALL THUNDERING HERD
Last Season: T-5th, 9-7 in C-USA, 21-14 overall
Predicted C-USA Finish: 2nd
Projected Depth Chart
C: Robert Goff (Sr)/Nigel Spikes (Sr)/Yous Mbao (Jr)
PF: Dennis Tinnon (Sr)/J.P. Kambola (So)/Jamir Hanner (So)/Elijah Pittman (Jr)
G/F: DeAndre Kane (Jr)/Devince Boykins (Fr)
SG: D.D. Scarver (Jr)/Tamron Manning (Fr)
PG: Chris Martin (So)/Kareem Canty (Fr)
Gone: PG-Damier Pitts, G/F-Shaquille Johnson, SG-Dago Pena, G/F-Justin Coleman (transfer)
2012-2013 Outlook:
The strength of this year’s Marshall team will be up-front led by senior Dennis Tinnon who averaged a double-double last season in his first year with the Herd. The Green Bay, Wisconsin native’s eligibility was in question but the NCAA ruled that would be allowed one more year in college which must have come as a huge relief to head coach Tom Herrion.
Tinnon won’t have to do it alone inside as Marshall also returns starting frontcourt player Robert Goff and key reserve Nigel Spikes. Both players bring some physicality inside specifically on the glass, but are limited with their offensive games. 7’2 Yous Mbao adds a different dimension to the floor with his length but is still very raw with his all around game and often looks lost on the floor. He played sparingly a year ago as did Jamir Hannar who also returns. There is even more depth inside with J.P. Kambola and JUCO transfer Elijah Pittman.
The backcourt welcomes four new players into the mix but does return do it all wing DeAndre Kane. He led the team in scoring a year ago and finished second in both rebounds and assists. Kane relies on his ability off the bounce and if he can improve his outside shooting, could creep up towards 20 points per game this year.
Junior college transfer Robert Scarver will be asked to contribute right away to help replace Shaquille Johnson. Scarver was a big time scorer at the JUCO level and will try to take some of the burden off Kane. DeVince Boykins redshirted last season and figures to compete for minutes off the bench alongside true freshman Tamron Manning.
The biggest question mark for Herrion comes at point guard where the Herd must replace four year starter Damier Pitts. There is not a whole lot of experience between sophomore Chris Martin who barely sniffed the court last season and freshman Kareem Canty. As a result, Pitts could see plenty of time with the ball in his hand.
Marshall also picked up a recent transfer in Ohio shooting guard TyQuone Goad. Goad didn’t see a lot of playing time last year for a Bobcat team that advanced to the Sweet 16 and must sit out this season per NCAA transfer rules.
UCF’s recent off the court issues has dropped them in the C-USA hierarchy meaning Marshall figures to be the only team capable of possibly contending with Memphis which is still a long shot. The Herd will be challenged in their non-conference slate and will have to pull off an upset or two before the new year if they want to have any chance of earning an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Player to Watch: DeAndre Kane
Kane is easily the one of the most versatile players in C-USA as he can effect the game in a variety of ways. With a lack of experience at the point, Kane’s role will be slightly different this year and it will be interesting to see how he handles the responsibility of having to initiate the offense more than he did while Pitts was around.
Key Non-Conference Games:
11/11 at Villanova (2k Sports Classic)
11/24 vs. Nevada
12/5 vs. West Virginia
12/15 vs. Cincinnati
12/22 at Kentucky
1/5 at Ohio
OTHER 111 IN 111’S:
#71 Iona Gaels
#72 Northwestern Wildcats
#73 Oklahoms State Cowboys
#74 Rutgers Scarlet Knights
#75 USC Trojans
#76 UConn Huskies
#77 Harvard Crimson
#78 Xavier Musketeers
#79 Ole Miss Rebels
#80 Clemson Tigers
#81 Oregon State Beavers
#82 Texas A&M Aggies
#83 Providence Friars
#84 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
#85 Oklahoma Sooners
#86 Lehigh Mountain Hawks
#87 Washington State Cougars
#88 Long Beach State 49ers
#89 Belmont Bruins
#90 Vanderbilt Commodores
#91 Dayton Flyers
#92 Houston Cougars
#93 UCF Knights
#94 Old Dominion Monarchs
#95 Oregon Ducks
#96 LSU Tigers
#97 South Carolina Gamecocks
#98 Seton Hall Pirates
#99 Georgia Bulldogs
#100 DePaul Blue Demons
#101 Boston College Eagles
#102 Penn State Nittany Lions
#103 Arizona State Sun Devils
#104 Virginia Tech Hokies
#105 Texas Tech Red Raiders
#106 Auburn Tigers
#107 Wake Forest Demon Deacons
#108 TCU Horned Frogs
#109 Mississippi State Bulldogs
#110 Utah Utes
#111 Nebraska Cornhuskers
David Kay is a senior feature NBA Draft, NBA, and college basketball writer for the Sports Bank. He also heads up the NBA and college basketball material at Walter Football.com and is a former contributor at The Washington Times Communities. David has appeared on numerous national radio programs spanning from Cleveland to New Orleans to Honolulu. He also had the most accurate 2011 NBA Mock Draft and the most accurate 2012 NBA Mock Draft on the internet (Yup, repeat champ… #humblebrag.)
You can follow him on Twitter at David_Kmiecik.