SB Nation - Delaware St. Hornets

BtB 2009-10 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Preview

Chris Dobbertean — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:04:19 -0000

The 2009 offseason was one of comings and goings in the MEAC. For a period of a day, the conference's membership stood at 13. On September 10, the conference invited North Carolina Central to become member number 13. NCCU was actually a founding member of the MEAC back in 1969, but the Eagles withdrew a decade later, as they dropped down to Division II and joined the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association. They left that conference after the 2006-07 season to start the classification process for Division I. NCCU will become an official member for the 2010-11 academic year.

The conference's membership dropped back down to 12 the very next day; however, as Winston-Salem State decided to drop back down to Division II. Their former conference, the CIAA, invited them back on October 2.

Meanwhile, Savannah State, a Division I independent, waits. The Tigers originally applied to the MEAC in 2005, but their application was placed on hold while they were on NCAA probation. However, their admission wasn't announced at the same time as NCCU's. SSU officials are hopeful about their prospects, especially as the MEAC plans to expand to "up to 14 schools." Yet, they still have no firm word about their fate.

On the court, it appears everyone will again be chasing defending champion Morgan State. More after the jump.

Let's first take a look at last season's MEAC standings.

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Standings

(updated 3.20.2009 at 2:52 AM EDT)

	Conf		Overall
	W	L	W	L
Morgan St. Bears	13	3	23	12
S. Carolina St. Bulldogs	10	6	17	14
Bethune-Cookman Wildcats	9	7	17	16
N.C. A&T Aggies	9	7	16	16
Norfolk St. Spartans	9	7	13	18
Coppin St. Eagles	9	7	13	19
Hampton Pirates	8	8	16	16
Florida A&M Rattlers	6	10	10	21
Howard Bisons	6	10	8	23
Delaware St. Hornets	6	10	8	24
Md.-Eastern Shore Hawks	3	13	7	23
Winston-Salem Rams	0	0	8	22

Now, here are my picks for 2009-10, presented in reverse order, starting with Winston Salem State, who is ineligible for the conference title..

Winston-Salem State (last NCAA: None) Had the Rams remained in Division I, this would have been their final transitional year. Since they aren't, Bobby Collins' squad will try to improve on the 8 wins they earned last year. Guards Brian Fisher (13.9 ppg) and Diontae Gibson (6.9 ppg) and forward Paul Davis (6.5 ppg, 5.6 rpg) will lead the way.

Maryland-Eastern Shore (last NCAA: None) The Hawks finished last among the teams that were eligible for the MEAC title last year, and that probably won't change this year. The biggest reason UMES will probably struggle is lack of backcourt experience, as starters Jaime Boyer (6.1 ppg) and Marc Davis (5.6 ppg) have moved on (and they didn't exactly light up the scoreboard themselves). Frankie Allen's squad will be frontcourt-oriented thanks to the return of 6-6 F Neal Pitts, who averaged 16 points and 8 boards a contest last year. The Hawks will also feature St. Bonaventure transfer Hillary Haley, another 6-6 forward, who averaged almost 6 points a game in his time with the Bonnies.

Howard (last NCAA: 1992) The Bison would have won more than 6 MEAC games last year if they had been better defensively, where they ranked as one of the worst outfits in the nation. Offensively, the team will miss the only starter they lost, 6-5 guard Eugene Myatt, who averaged almost 16 points a game. Junior guard Kyle Riley and 3-point specialist Curtis White (5.9 ppg, 34.5% from 3-point land) are capable of boosting their production to make up for Myatt's departure. In the frontcourt, center Paul Kirkpatrick (7.8 ppg, 4.9 rpg) and forwards Kandi Mukole (4.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg) and Adam Walker (4.7 ppg, 5.1 rpg) will have to step their games up. Howard will be challenged by four games at the Glenn Wilkes Classic in Florida, including contests at UCF and in Daytona Beach against Akron and Niagara.

Florida A&M (last NCAA: 2007) Like the Bison, the Rattlers struggled mightily on defense last season. They also struggled on the boards, where 6-8 F Yannick Crowder (5.2 rpg) and 6-6 Larry Jackson (4.4 rpg) are the only serious returning threats. So, Eugene Harris signed some bigger guys this year, led by 6-8 JC transfer Jeremy Lightfoot, 6-7 Diamon Alexander, and 6-6 Travis Wallace. Leading scorer Lamar Twitty (11 ppg) is also gone, and so are two-thirds of the starting backcourt, Joe Ballard (6.9 ppg) and Byron Taylor (2.6 ppg). Brandon Bryant is the leading returning scorer (10.1 ppg). and he'll be joined in a revamped guard unit by returnee Dale Hughes (9.5 ppg) and JC transfer Rasheem Jenkins.

Delaware State (last NCAA: 2005) The Hornets usually feature at the top of the league, so last season's 6-10 conference mark, their first losing MEAC campaign since '99-'00, was a major disappointment. Del State's big issue last season was offensive production, which may not improve thanks to the graduation of two of the team's three leading scorers from a year ago--G Donald Johnson (12.3 ppg) and F Arturo Dubois (9 ppg). 6-6 F Frisco Sandidge is back (10.4 ppg, 6.7 rpg) though, but he'll need help from guards Marcus Neal (8.4 ppg) and Trevor Welcher (5.4 ppg), along with frontcourt-mate Kris Douse, who only averaged around 4 points a contest last year. Among the newcomers, watch for 6-3 Shannon Newman, son of NBA veteran Johnny Newman, and 5-11 G Jay Threatt, a transfer from George Mason.

Hampton (last NCAA: 2006) The Pirates have a new coach, as Ed Joyner, Jr. replaced Kevin Nickleberry after a .500 campaign, both overall and in the league, in 2008-'09. Like the Hornets, the Pirates couldn't score last year, and were the worst three-point shooting team in the country. However, Hampton returns more starters than DSU, as only 6 point/5 board performer Donte Harrison is gone. Vinny Simpson, the team's leading scorer (11.7 ppg), is a legitimate threat for all-MEAC honors this time around. Joyner's team will feature five other performers who averaged at least 5 points per contest. If he can get them to shoot better, the Pirates should shoot up the standings.

Coppin State (last NCAA: 2008) The Eagles must now begin life without the school's all-time leading scorer Tywain McKee (18.4 ppg), While Coppin lost two other starters, McKee was the impact player for the program. However, head coach Fang Mitchell has plenty of players who can contribute. Four players, led by 6-4 guard Michael Harper, averaged more than 7 points a contest this year. Their averages could very well go up now that McKee has graduated. Center Sam Coleman, a 6-10 senior, should be a player to watch, as he averaged more than 8 points and nearly 5 boards a game last season in a reserve role. Mitchell dialed down the team's always rough non-league schedule a bit this year. The Eagles will play Loyola (MD) at home and travel to local schools Navy and UMBC. Their longer road trips include visits to rebuilding Colorado and USC and NCAA tourney squads Michigan, Oklahoma State, and West Virginia.

Bethune-Cookman (last NCAA: None) A 17-16 record wouldn't be considered impressive at most D-I schools, but for the Wildcats, the mark represented their first ever winning season at this level. The key player for head coach Cliff Reed is his son, C.J., who was the MEAC Newcomer of the Year last time around. C.J. Reed averaged 15 points and nearly 4 assists per contest last time around. However, he'll have to take better care of the ball as a sophomore. Cliff Reed has his other four starters back too, but he'll need more points out of them, as 6-6 forward Alexander Starling was the team's second leading scorer, only averaging 7.5 ppg. Starling can rebound though, as he averaged more than 7 boards a contest. Depth could also be an issue, and the newcomers, led by 6-9, 320 pound center Albert Abrahams and 6-3 guard Aric Williams, will have to contribute immediately for B-CU to seriously challenge.

South Carolina State (last NCAA: 2003) Tim Carter's team won 17 games overall and 10 in the MEAC in his inaugural season in Orangeburg, but he'll have a hard time matching that total thanks to two key departures. Leading scorer and rebounder Jason Johnson (13.8 ppg, 8.2 rpg) graduated and freshman guard (8.6 ppg. 4.6 rpg) transferred, meaning returning starters Jason Flagler (12.9 ppg, 6.4 rpg) and Carrio Bennett (7.6 ppg) will have more work to do this season. Johnson's graduation also means that the Bulldogs' backcourt is their strength, as Carter will have to rely on a mostly new crop of forwards, led by 6-7 Stony Brook transfer Rio Pitt and 6-7 JC transfer Joe Wright.

North Carolina A&T (last NCAA: 1995) Despite the loss of two starters, including leading scorer Ed Jones (12.8 ppg), the Aggies should remain a serious threat in this league, thanks to the presence of 6-foot guard Tavarus Alston (11 ppg, 4.1 apg, 1.8 spg). He'll get the ball to A&T's two returning frontcourt starters, 6-6 Robert Johnson (9.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg) and 6-9 C Thomas Coleman (7.7 ppg, 6.3 rpg), who could turn into the best unit in the league. Alston will be joined in the backcourt by 6-2 Dwane Joshua (6.9 ppg) who will see more time this season, as Jerry Eaves' squad becomes less frontcourt-oriented.

Norfolk State (last NCAA: None) The Spartans got great news in the offseason when the MEAC's leading scorer, Michael DeLoach (21.4 ppg, 2.7 apg) was granted an extra year of eligibility for academic progress. Aleek Pauline (6.7 ppg, 3.8 apg) joins DeLoach in the backcourt, and while he'll continue to feed DeLoach, he'll be looking for new targets in the frontcourt. That's because NSU's second leading scorer, 6-4 forward Corey Lyons (15.3 ppg), graduated. 6-9 forward Kyle O'Quinn (5.3 ppg, 3.4 rpg) and 6-11 center Joseph Dorsett-Jeffreys (4.9 ppg, 2.9 apg) make up the rest of the frontcourt crew for the Spartans. NSU's ultimate success may depend on how Anthony Evans' transfers--G Rob Hampton (Drexel), F Marcos Tamares (UMBC), and C Christian Morris (Rutgers)--fit in with the team.

Morgan State (last NCAA: 2009) Todd Bozeman has built the Bears into the MEAC powerhouse at the moment, as they've won the last two regular season crowns and last year's tournament title. To repeat last year's double, Bozeman will have to replace three key starters, led by 6-5 forward Marquise Kately (11 ppg). The frontcourt should remain solid without him, however, as 6-8 sophomore Kevin Thompson averaged almost 9 points and more than 7 boards a game off the bench. 6-10 C Rodney Stokes (4.7 ppg, 3.4 rpg) is one of the two returning starters for Morgan, but the other is their key player, 6-4 guard Reggie Stokes, who averaged almost 17 points and 5.5 boards a game. However, Bozeman will have to replace his other two backcourt starters, Jermaine Bolden and Roger Barnes, who both averaged around 9 points a game. Cleveland State transfer Joe Davis will fit a shooting guard role alongside Stokes, while JC transfer Danny Smith will replace Bolden at the point.

The Bears are my pick to repeat, so they'll hold the MEAC's auto bid in my 2009-10 Final Preseason Bracket, which I will release on November 9. To wrap up this preview, here is my preseason All-MEAC team, featuring the best returning players from last season.

Preseason All-MEAC Team

Player of the Year: Michael Deloach, 6-0 G, Sr. (Norfolk State)

Remainder of the Team
Tavarus Alston, 6-0 G, Sr. (North Carolina A&T)
Jason Flagler, 6-4 F, Sr. (South Carolina State)
Reggie Holmes, 6-4 F, Sr. (Morgan State)
Frisco Sandidge, 6-6 F, Sr. (Delaware State)

Poll

Which team is your pick to win the MEAC this season? (Note that Winston-Salem State is not listed as they are ineligible.)

Bethune-Cookman

2 votes

Coppin State

0 votes

Delaware State

1 votes

Florida A&M

0 votes

Hampton

0 votes

Howard

0 votes

Maryland-Eastern Shore

1 votes

Morgan State

3 votes

Norfolk State

1 votes

North Carolina A&T

0 votes

South Carolina State

0 votes

8 votes | Poll has closed

Delaware State @ Kentucky: Post Mortem

Truzenzuzex — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 19:30:00 -0000

The Kentucky Wildcats picked up their first win of the 2008-09 season today against the Delaware State Hornets. Good effort by an undermanned but hard-fighting Delaware State team. The Hornets showed a lot of heart and demonstrated the kind of effort against overwhelming odds that will hopefully make their fans proud.

For the Wildcats, it was a workmanlike performance that looked very sound overall. Despite having a large physical and talent advantage, the 'Cats did not showboat and did not engage in the kind of casual play that teams who are handily beating an opponent so often do, which I really appreciate. We saw some very decent fundamental basketball today and a very solid defensive effort. On the negative side, Patrick Patterson's effort was uncharacteristically poor in almost every respect, and Perry Stevenson did very little to recommend his play. On the positive side, Darius Miller was extremely impressive, DeAndre Liggins less so but still impressive. Jodie Meeks had a very good game in every respect, although I would like to see him get more rebounds.

Some observations:

The officiating was completely inconsistent -- touch fouls in the first half and a normal game in the second.
Kentucky, for having a huge size advantage, was unimpressive on the glass, actually losing the rebounding battle 30-31, by a team that played a lot of zone. Not good.
Turnovers were significantly reduced, but this team played a lot of zone and very little pressure. Still, 12 turnovers is about as good as this team is capable of, and they clearly have been working on reducing them. That work had a positive result.
Michael Porter played a good game. If he can every turn in a performance like that against high competition, that would be something. But for now, I remain a Porter skeptic especially at the point, but his shooting form was very good today.
Darius Miller is going to be a great player at Kentucky. He will be uneven this year, but he sure was good today. 13 points, 0 turnovers, 4 assists. He only had 3 rebounds, though, and that is not in line with my expectations.
Patrick Patterson gets a pass for this game. He so rarely stinks up the place that when he does, I just look the other way.
Perry Stevenson was non-existent. He had one block and 4 rebounds and missed a couple of point-blank shots. He never seemed to have his head in this game.
Ramon Harris turned in his typical solid, workmanlike performance. His stat line will not show the number of deflections and turnovers that he forced or had a hand in.
DeAndre Liggins only had 2 assists, but he did other things that were helpful. He is developing into a nice player, and by SEC time, should be at or near the starting lineup.
Harrellson was useful today, although not particularly impressive. He showed some pretty quick feet for a guy his size. He needs a bit more confidence, though.
What happened to A.J. Stewart? First sub off the bench, and then never saw another minute. Probably the 2 turnovers in 3 minutes that did him in.
Only 5 blocks against the Hornets. That isn't impressive against a team who's biggest player is 6'7".

The good news -- we won the game by a convincing enough margin that the Big Blue Nation can actually sigh in relief. The bad news is that we still have issues, particularly on offense, but they look rather more manageable now than they did just a few days ago. Gillispie had the team well prepared for this game, and addressed some of the big concerns that Wildcat fans had. There is much left to do, but this game represents a positive step in a game where a positive step was difficult to achieve.

Delaware State @ Kentucky: The First State comes to town

Truzenzuzex — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:36:43 -0000

I have a special place in my heart for Delaware. One of my businesses is incorporated there, and they are a very friendly in general to commerce. But the reason I am talking about them right now is because the Delaware State Hornets are coming for a visit to Rupp Arena tomorrow at noon.

Basic facts about Delaware State:

Conference: MEAC
Head Coach: Greg Jackson
Location: Dover, Delaware
Enrollment: 3,756
Nickname: Hornets
Colors: Columbia Blue and Red

Team Statistical Comparison (Courtesy of StatSheet.com):

School	Kentucky	Delaware St.	Comments
Conference	SEC	MEAC
State	KY	DE
Founded	1865	1891
School Type	Public	Public
Enrollment	26545	3711
Rankings
Conf Standing	2	2
AP Rank	0	0
RPI	0.31	0.25
RPI Rank	242	271	Sheesh.
SOS	0.42	0.33
SOS Rank	176	207
Wins & Losses
Overall	0-2	1-4
Home	0-1	1-1
Away	0-1	0-3
Neutral	0-0	0-0
Conference	0-0	0-0
Top 25	0-1	0-0
Scoring
Pts Per Game	80.5	55.4	That's different
Shooting
FG Pct	50.4	41.2	Amazing that we are shooting 50% and are 0-2
FT Pct	71.2	61.6
3pt FG Pct	21.4	35.4	Ah. This could be why
Rebounds
Reb Per Game	44	34.8	No contest
Off Rebs Per Game	13.5	11
Def Rebs Per Game	29	22.2
Assists, Steals, & Blocks
Assists Per Game	15.5	10.2
Steals Per Game	6	4.2
Blocks Per Game	10	3.8	Ten (10) blocks per game over two games including the #1 team in America
Turnovers & Fouls
TO Per Game	26.5	17.4	Dear God ...
Fouls Per Game	20.5	14	Nothing new here.

Well, what can I say? Kentucky looks superior on paper just like they did to VMI, with the notable exception of 3-point shooting. The Hornets are a pretty good three-point shooting team, and you can bet they know that UK has been giving up the three like mad, and shoots it poorly.

I must confess, it is amazing for UK to be averaging ten blocks a game. I have never heard of that, especially since we had as many blocks against North Carolina as we did against VMI. I wonder how long that stat holds up at that impressive number.

UK is averaging 26.5 turnovers per game. That makes last year's 18 TO/game look like something to be proud of. On the other hand, one thing we can be proud of over last year is the 15+ assists we are averaging so far, a big improvement over the 12.7 we averaged last year.

Players

Lets have a look now at the players and their stats. Probable starters are highlighted in yellow:

Kentucky

Player	Yr	Pos	GP	GS	FG%	3FG%	FT%	Per Game Averages
Player	Yr	Pos	GP	GS	FG%	3FG%	FT%	Min	Pts	Reb	Ast	TO	STL	BLK
J. Meeks	Jr	G	2	2	38.3	30	88.9	36.5	29	5.5	1	5.5	1.5	0.5
P. Stevenson	Jr	F	2	2	61.5	0	77.8	32.5	11.5	10.5	1	2	1.5	3.5
P. Patterson	So	F	2	2	73.3	0	71.4	31.5	13.5	9	2	1	0	2.5
R. Harris	Jr	F	2	2	66.7	0	53.8	30	15.5	1.5	1.5	4.5	2	0.5
D. Liggins	Fr	G	2	0	42.9	0	0	22.5	3	4.5	6	5.5	0.5	1
M. Porter	Jr	G	2	2	40	0	0	20	2	3.5	2.5	4.5	0.5	0.5
D. Miller	Fr	F	2	0	50	0	50	17	6	4	1	3.5	0	0.5

Delaware State

Player	Yr	Pos	GP	GS	FG%	3FG%	FT%	Per Game Averages
Player	Yr	Pos	GP	GS	FG%	3FG%	FT%	Min	Pts	Reb	Ast	TO	STL	BLK
F. Sandidge	Jr	F	5	5	32.3	20	56.7	32.8	7.6	6.8	2.6	2.8	0.4	0.8
D. Johnson	Sr	G	5	3	39.6	37.9	92.3	31	12.2	3.4	0.4	1	0.6	0.2
M. Neal	Jr	G	5	5	41.9	30.8	60	29.8	6.6	4.8	2	3	1.4	0.2
T. Welcher	So	G	5	4	50	33.3	80	26.2	4.6	2.6	2.4	1.8	0.8	0
F. Bouie	Jr	G	5	1	38.9	33.3	54.5	24	8.2	1.6	0.8	1.8	0.4	0
A. Dubois	Sr	F	4	4	37.1	0	100	28.3	6.8	7.3	1.5	2.3	0	2.8
K. Douse	Jr	F	5	2	44	60	30	17.2	5.6	2.4	0.4	1.6	0.4	0.4

Delaware State does not have a player over 6'7" tall, so we are much bigger than they are -- which ought to be a caution to us, since the last team with that kind of statistics ran us all over the floor and came out victorious. Fortunately for the 'Cats, Delaware State does not seem like the kind of team that can really do that with a 55 point/game average.

Conclusion

There really seems to be no justifiable reason why UK should not dominate the Hornets, and if they don't, we will see even more recriminations than we have recently. UK is clearly a work in progress, but I am encouraged by Gillispie's recent conversation with Andy Katz of ESPN, and I am confident that Billy Gillispie knows what he is talking about.

The Big Blue Nation needs a Big Blue walkover, and I truly hope Gillispie has the Wildcats well prepared for the Hornets. Every small D-I school we play is thinking they have a shot at hanging a Wildcat scalp in their tiny arena after Gardener-Webb and VMI, and they are going to attack our weaknesses (which have been so obvious a Jai-Alai fan could identify them), so UK must find a way to get the ball up the floor and into the hands of Patrick Patterson.

By the way, the word is that Patterson has sheared his 'fro. Maybe it's a reverse-Sampson thing. We can only hope.