OUTLOOK: This is inaugural season of the Great West Conference with respect to
men's basketball, and the league features seven teams that previously served
as Division I Independents. The winner of the season-ending conference
tournament will receive an automatic bid to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament
(CIT), as the league won't be eligible for an automatic berth to the NCAA
Tournament until 2020. As it stands, only two of the league's seven teams are
eligible for NCAA Tournament consideration as the other five are still going
through the qualification process.
CONFERENCE CHAMPION: South Dakota
PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH:
1. South Dakota, 2. Utah Valley, 3. Chicago State, 4. North Dakota, 5. Texas-
Pan American, 6. NJIT, 7. Houston Baptist
TEAM BY TEAM ANALYSIS:
SOUTH DAKOTA - The Coyotes won 20 games last season, and the hope is that
long-time coach Dave Boots will have his team in position to win the first-
ever Great West Conference regular season and tournament championships this
year. In order for that to happen, the three returning starters will need to
continue their stellar play and lead by example. Louie Krogman (12.8 ppg, 4.0
rpg) is joined in the backcourt by Roman Gentry (12.2 ppg), while 6-11 center
Steve Smith (8.1 ppg) is expected to man the fort down low. The real star for
South Dakota, however, is 6-8 senior forward Tyler Cain (15.4 ppg, 11.0 rpg),
a monster performer who simply gets it done at both ends of the floor. Cain
was picked by the league's coaches to win the Great West's first Player of the
Year award. The Coyotes open the season in Lubbock against Texas Tech and will
play Oregon State the following night. South Dakota may not hit the 20-win
plateau again this year, but the team appears to be the class of the Great
West at this point.
UTAH VALLEY - The Wolverines are playing their first season as a full-fledged
Division I member, and they are led by Dick Hunsaker, the former Utah interim
head coach who was tabbed as the 2001 Mountain West Conference Coach of the
Year for the tremendous job he did running the Utes. Hunsaker doesn't have the
talent he did at Utah, or even the caliber of players he had last year when
Ryan Toolson (23.8 ppg) and Josh Olsen (11.2 ppg, 3.6 apg) wore the green and
white, but he doesn't need it playing teams like North Dakota State, William
Jessup, Chadron State and Southern Oregon. Still, Utah Valley does have some
skilled players, notably Jordan Swarbrick (7.5 ppg, .500 three-point FG
percentage), Tyray Petty (6.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg) and Jordain Scoubes (6.4 ppg),
although all will need to raise their respective games for the Wolverines to
challenge for the top spot in the conference.
CHICAGO STATE - Coming off their first winning season in 23 years, the Cougars
are hoping to take the next step and actually win a league title and advance
to the postseason. In order for that to happen, junior forward Carl Montgomery
will need to carry the team on most nights after averaging 11.0 points and 7.2
rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game in 2008-09. Coach Benjy Taylor welcomes eight
players back from last year's 19-13 team, but needs to replace four starters.
In addition to Carl Montgomery, big things are expected from transfer Jonathan
Montgomery (Northern Iowa), one of the top recruits from the Chicago area a
few years ago. Chicago State won 11 of its 14 home games last season, and the
team opens this new campaign with four of its first five in front of the Windy
City faithful.
NORTH DAKOTA - The Fighting Sioux will be hard-pressed to duplicate last
year's 16-win campaign, but it won't be for a lack of effort as coach Brian
Jones enters his fourth season in Grand Forks and will undoubtedly have his
team prepared for the battles that lie ahead. North Dakota boasted three
double-digit scorers in 2008-09, with Daniel Harkins, O.J. Harrison and Darius
Joseph combining for 35.1 ppg. Unfortunately, all three are gone so it will be
up to Travis Bledsoe (10.7 ppg, .477 three-point FG percentage) and Travis
Mertens (9.1 ppg, 5.5 rpg) to lead the team up the Great West ladder. The
Fighting Sioux shot 48.2 percent from the floor last season, but allowed the
opposition to connect on 46.6 percent of their total shots, so a greater
disparity is needed if the team is to be successful.
TEXAS-PAN AMERICAN - The Broncs went just 10-17 a year ago, and said goodbye
to former Division I Independent Coach of the Year Tom Schuberth. Ryan Marks
is the man now in charge at UTPA, and he has the good fortune of having four
of the top five scorers from last season back for another go. The loss of
Emmanuel Jones (17.7 ppg, 8.0 rpg) hurts, but Nick Wiermiller is back after
averaging 10.7 points and 5.6 assists per contest in 2008-09. Nathan Hawkins
(9.7 ppg) shot 52.7 percent from the field last season and will be expected to
further his development this winter. Defense will be the key to UTPA's
success, or lack thereof, after the team allowed opponents to shoot 46.5
percent from the field last year. The Broncs' effort from three-point range
will also need to improve (.298). Coach Marks' club plays a challenging
schedule this season, with foes like Missouri, Mississippi State, Nebraska,
Texas, Virginia and Northwestern all lining up to try and saddle the Broncs.
NJIT - The Highlanders are 1-59 over the last two seasons (1-30 in 2008-09),
yet there is reason for optimism heading into this new campaign as three
starters are back in the fold, including junior Jheryl Wilson (preseason All-
Great West First Team selection). Wilson led NJIT in scoring (12.6 ppg) last
year and scored a career-high 26 points in the team's lone win (vs. Bryant).
Another guy slated to help coach Jim Engles' club turn the corner toward
Division I legitimacy is Isaiah Wilkerson, who started 20 games last season
and averaged 12.5 ppg, while Gary Garris is the team's top returning rebounder
(5.7 rpg), and the only player in program history to start 31 games in a
season. The Highlanders' will win more than a single game this year, but a
major turnaround seems unlikely. Bouts with Big East foes Seton Hall and
Rutgers will almost assuredly end in defeat, while ACC opponents Virginia and
Boston College will also use NJIT as tune-ups for their respective league
schedules. Still, there is no where for the Highlanders to go but up.
HOUSTON BAPTIST - While not as dreadful as NJIT last year, the Huskies are
still smarting from a 5-25 season in which they weren't even competitive in
most cases. The loss of all four of its top scorers means Houston Baptist will
likely endure a similar degree of futility this year. Head coach Ron Cottrell
will lean heavily on seniors Mario Flaherty and Wendell Preadom, the former
averaging just 6.3 points and 3.3 caroms per contest in 2008-09 and the latter
making his first appearance for the Huskies after transferring from Wichita
State. HBU plays one of the toughest schedules of any of the teams in the
Great West this year, lining up against the likes of South Alabama, Sacramento
State, Rice, Michigan, Boise State, Creighton and Memphis prior to the start
of conference play in mid-January. Houston Baptist will have several
youngsters logging plenty of minutes this year, and it remains to be seen if
any of them have the chops to make the Huskies anything but a Division I
afterthought.
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