D-III Men’s Bball

After one successful season as interim coach, Greg Dunne will take over as Head Coach of the men’s basketball team. This is a great hire for the program. Since Dunne has been here as an assistant, the team has went to five NCAA Tournaments, including the 2006-2007 ride that took Brockport into the Elite Eight.

As far as this year goes, Brockport loses its top two scorers, and four of their top six. The electric Sherod Harris and always dependable Brandon Williams are gone. Key reserves Aaron Poles and Dave Maldonado are gone as well.

Returning Starters:

5-11 Sr – Mychal Wilkes (11.7 ppg, 3.4 rpg)

5-10 Sr – Shawn Harris (3.2 ppg, 2.3 apg)

6-6 Jr – Cantrel Parish (8.8 ppg, 5.2 rpg)

Others Returning:

6-0 Jr – Jermaine Johnson (5.5 ppg, 3.3 rpg)

6-5 Sr – Eamon Kays (3.6 ppg, 1.6 rpg)

6-2 Sr – Joe Clarke (3.5 ppg, 1.9 rpg)

6-8 Sr – Bobby Brooks (2.0 ppg, 1.4 rpg)

6-1 Sr – Ian Mack (1.5 ppg, 1.7 apg)

Newcomers

5-11 Jr – Brandon Williams – Transfer from Finger Lakes CC

6-4 Jr – Joel Almeida – Transfer from Mohawk Valley CC

The “new” Brandon Williams will likely make the most impact, but look for Almeida to get an early shot to fill in for the “old” Brandon Williams.

Dunne admitted only Wilkes is a definate starter thus far. The rest of his players are battling for starting spots and minutes. My guess, which is somewhat obvious, would be Parish and Almeida up front with Wilkes, Johnson and Harris in the backcourt. Clarke, Mack, Br. Williams and freshman Gerald Williams should all have a serious chance of starting as well, though.

Dunne said he has “12-14 guys that can really play” and is looking for the next week and a half to show which guys are going to get PT.

Schedule:

They’ll open at Johns Hopkins (16-10 last year) for the Blue Jay Invitational. The Golden Eagles will open with Whitworth College (21-7, NCAA Sweet 16 LY) Friday. Johns Hopkins will play Moravian (11-14 LY).

Whitworth, out of Spokane, Wash., should be a good early test for Brockport. I would like their chances against either of the other two programs, so we’ll see what happens in the opener.

Brockport’s lone home game for the first semester will be against St. John Fisher Tuesday, Nov. 25. Back-to-back road games against Potsdam and Plattsburgh to open the SUNYAC schedule will end the first semester schedule. They’ll get back on the court Jan. 3-4 at DeSales University.

Their first six conference games are all on the road so it will be interesting to see if the Golden Eagles can get off to a good start. If they can, look out. They went 12-0 at home last year.

Outlook:

First five games should tell us a lot about how good this team can be. Don’t forget they have three starters back from the Elite Eight team two years ago. They have seven seniors, six with plenty of experience at this level. Another six juniors with Parish and Johnson playing significant minutes since their freshman year and the JC Transfers should help out immediately. So, despite losing four of their top six scorers, this team still has plenty of experience. Plattsburgh lost all five starters from last year’s team, so without question, this team has a legit shot at a SUNYAC title and a sixth NCAA Tournament appearence in 10 years.

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