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**HKF** · 10-30-2003, 06:42 AM

There is a new era in the Mid-Con and the era is of the Golden Grizzlies. For the first time in a long time the Valparaiso Crusaders are not the favorites and will have to fight and claw if they expect to win the league. Oakland and UMKC figure to be right there all season and with Valpo having a pretty young team this year, they are ripe for the plucking. Mike Helms and Michael Watson should be in the top 5 in scoring in the nation and they both reside in this conference. How newcomer Centenary performs after being an independent for a few years remains to be seen. Should be an interesting year in the conference nonetheless.

Now the predictions:

1. Oakland (MI) - Coach Greg Kampe has had some very good seasons since the Golden Grizzlies have been in the Mid-Con. This could be his best team this year, led by superstar guard Mike Helms. The nation’s leading returning scorer at 26.9 a year ago, he is a big time shooter and creates havoc due to his outstanding quickness and Kampe yearning to push the basketball. This year he will get to focus even more on scoring with the arrival of JUCO PG DeMarcus Ishmeal. The 5’9 little general will be responsible for getting this team’s offense in motion. If he fails it could cut back on the effectiveness of Helms which hurts the entire team. Junior forwards Rawle Marshall (Ball State) and Courtney Scott (Iowa), both exerted their will in their first seasons in the Mid-Con as transfers. The both of them are easily capable of being 20 ppg scorers and just might still be able to get closer to it, even with the high scoring helms on the roster. Marshall is the slicky smooth wing player, while Scott punishes on the low block. Senior Jordan Sabourin will have to be more of an intimidator in the paint as teams usually scored as frequently as Oakland did. Young big men Courtney Williams, David Ritzema and Shawn Hopes will be fighting for the back-up minutes in the frontcourt and should gain some good experience sitting behind some real good players this year.

2. Valparaiso - Scott Drew left to coach Baylor, no biggie as Homer Drew came out of retirement to come back and win with the Crusaders. Coach Drew has a lot to smile about (like he doesn’t smile enough), due to a top 25 recruiting class headlined by big man Kenny Harris. Harris will step right in for departed senior Raitis Grafs. He is a different type of player than Grafs however, as he will battle you in the paint and with his 300 lbs body he won’t be an easy guy to move out of the paint. Next to him will be senior Joaquim Gomes at PF. Gomes avg. close to 10 and 6 last year, but should be even better with the big man Harris taking up space in the paint. Miguel Ali Berdiel and Roberto Nieves will be in the backcourt for the Crusaders and should improve on even more this year with Homer Drew back. Berdiel plays like a point forward type as led the club with 4.7 apg a year ago. He should find his passing options on the perimeter to be pretty good with the arrival of Marquette transfer Ron Howard and slick freshman Jimmy Miles. The addition of these guys plus the Oppland brothers leaves a lot of guys fighting for PT with some strong competition. This doesn’t look like the year Valpo wins the conference, though they should be right there at the top. If this touted group of newcomers gel and they respond to Coach Drew’s teaching, they might just arrive, a year ahead of schedule.

3. Missouri-Kansas City - The Kangaroos are ready to finally start winning some games in the conference. Last year they were .500 in conference, but expect that to change for the better with the return of the conference’s second leading scorer Michael Watson. Watson is everything for this team and with him moving over to the 2G spot, he could have an even better year than a year ago. Coach Zvosec has put a good supporting cast around in him starting in the frontcourt with big men Carlton Aaron and Brandon Lipsey. Aaron, is another one of those 300 lb, space eaters here in the Mid-Con and his numbers should improve from a year ago with better conditioning. Lipsey is a solid player who shot over 35% from three as freshman. With added strength and experience he could help make this team even more dangerous than they are now. Mike English is being looked at to fill the small forward spot for this team and coming from JUCO has a rep as scorer and solid defensive player. If he can provide defense this team shouldn’t have trouble staying with the top teams in conference. Jamaal Thompson, Mark Huppe and Dan Leadbetter should be the first guys off the bench for what is the deepest team Coach Zvosec has ever had.
They definitely have a shot to win the conference tournament which is being played in Kansas City this year.

4. Oral Roberts - Oral Roberts has had two really good seasons back to back but have nothing to show for it, other than more broken dreams. Coach Scott Sutton returns for his 5th year and has an experienced backcourt at his disposal. Luke Spencer-Gardner, Josh Atkinson and soph. Johnathan Bluitt are going to have to step up big time to make up for the loss of departed big man Cameron Tragardh, who left to play pro ball in Australia. The team will have to turn to JUCO big man Schulyer Thomas, to help shoulder the load in the paint offensively. He will be aided by soft center Matt Gastel, who while a terrific long range shooter you would like to see him go down low and bang a little bit more. Gastel might play some PF this year also with the arrival of Texas Tech transfer Mickey Michalec. Coach Sutton is going to have to continue to stress defense with this team because his guards are going to be tested by the offensive juggernauts at Oakland and UMKC. Hopefully they are up to the challenge.

5. IUPUI - The Jaguars made their first ever NCAA Tournament appearance a year ago and coach Ron Hunter promises to not tear his only good suit if they make the tournament again this year. Senior guards Matt Crenshaw and Odell Bradley return to bolster the backcourt and give Hunter something to work with. Hunter lost six seniors from last year’s team but reloaded with JUCO and HS players. The most touted of them are guard Akeem Clark and big man James Booyer. The team didn’t have much size last year and doesn’t have much size this year with the exception of 7’0 Bill Van Senus. If he can give the team anything, they may have a chance. On paper you look at this team and think there is no way they can win in the league, but they are a good 3-point shooting team and Coach Hunter is very underrated when it comes to getting his team prepared to play in a one and done type of atmosphere. One thing we know about the Jaguars is they will compete so you need to bring it ever night in the league or you could get beat.

6. Southern Utah - Was it really two going on three years ago that Jeff Monaco and Fred House were driving this team? Coach Bill Evans would love a return to that with this years team. Seniors Robbie Warren and David Palmer are going to have to be the glue for this team as they bring in 4 newcomers who will most likely jump right into the rotation. Guard Jason Baker and forward Tim Gainey are stepping out of JUCO and right into the fire. Hopefully they are up to the challenge. DeAngelo Newsom is the least touted of the newcomers but is said to be a strong defender on the perimeter or the interior. This team doesn’t have much height other than 6’9 sophomores Lubor Olsovsky and Vaughn Schouten. They are going to need to be strong on the backboards and improve a lot over avg. freshman seasons. Next season should be the year Evans’ team makes it assent up the ladder, but can he wait that long, if some of his newcomers step up big time, he might not have to.

7. Centenary - Being an independent is hell for most teams. Good thing the Gents finally have a conference then huh? They came into the season with what could be the most experienced team to play in the league this year, though they are newcomers to the conference overall. Kevin Johnson’s club is led by senior guard Andrew Wisniewski. With him and Josh Thibodeaux in the backcourt, this might be the best shooting backcourt in the league which is saying something. Michael Gale is an all purpose guard who can beat you from the perimeter or driving to the hole. Forwards Chad Maclies and Shawn Davis are going to hold down the front court but are going to need some help from big man Paul Buettner if they expect to do well in their first season in the conference. It’s going to be difficult for this team to win this year in conference, but they do the fact that they play in Shreveport, LA working to their advantage. The newness of them also helps them as they look to pull some upsets.

8. Western Illinois - UNLV assistant Derek Thomas takes over a Western Illinois team in total disarray. The program has been going nowhere for years now and needed a different direction. Thomas will have two good players to help ease his transition, though their performances might not show in the Win column. Forwards JD Summers and Will Lewis both return and are double figure scorers from a year ago. Besides them, the Leathernecks are most likely to turn a group of newcomers this year led by guards Doyle Cole and freshman TJ Gray. With 4 new freshmen including Gray, Thomas might as well throw them into the fire to help quicken the rebuilding project. Thomas is in for a long season this year, so he could be yearning for another year of being an assistant with Spoonball, hopefully he is ready to gain a few Grey hairs.

9. Chicago State - Craig Hodges, Bo Ellis and now Kevin Jones. It’s gone from worse, to worser, to worsest, with the last two having to be made up words to describe how bad this team has been over the years. This team hasn’t won a conference game since the 2000-01 season and they don’t look good enough to win a conference game again this year and that is saying something, considering the bottom of the conference isn’t very good. Craig Franklin will try and lead this team but if his scoring goes up expect his shooting percentages to go down because this team doesn’t have many other offensive options. Seniors Rubeen Perry, Geoff Richard and Tony Hasbro are going to have to be much improved from a year ago. They might be better off if they come off the bench, unfortunately there might not be better players than them to take their spots in the rotation. Sophomore Nate Carter and freshman Jeleel Akindele are going to be asked to play big in the paint and with the minutes available they are going to have to work through the growing pains. Should be a long season for the Cougars. Winning a conference game would be a step in the right direction for this team. If they do that the season should be considered a success.

NCAA Tournament Team: Oakland (MI). The Golden Grizzlies have the most talent here in Rochester since Dan Champagne and company 3 years ago.

Valpo Terry · 11-01-2003, 05:53 PM

Where does your knowledge of the Mid-Con come from? I noticed you got Roberto Nieves name wrong. Did you copy this from another publication or did you guess?

**HKF** · 11-01-2003, 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by <b>Valpo Terry</b>!
Where does your knowledge of the Mid-Con come from? I noticed you got Roberto Nieves name wrong. Did you copy this from another publication or did you guess?

I'm sorry that was a typo. I went around the net and looked up information on all the programs in the conference. Since I have satellite and ESPN full court I see quite a bit of Mid-Con basketball on weekends.

I take it you didn't like my preview too much?

Valpo Terry · 11-01-2003, 10:07 PM

Your preview seemed detached from the whole situation. I do believe you might have it correct. One team that I believe should be rated higher is IUPUI. They somehow won the Mid-Con tournament last year and this year fall to 5th? When it comes to crunch time games the Jags have always performed well.

Valpo Terry · 11-01-2003, 10:22 PM

The Mid-Con coaches & media poll picked

1. Oakland
2. Valpo
3. IUPUI
4. UMKC
5. ORU
6. Centenary
7. Southern Utah
8. Western Illinois
9. Chicago State

tmh8286 · 11-03-2003, 10:33 AM

One small correction on an otherwise excellent preview of the league - for ORU, Mickey Michalec is ineligible this year due to his transfer from Texas Tech. His eligibility will begin next year.

Otherwise, I think you pegged our team. I had a chance to hear Coach Sutton speak this weekend, and he said that Matt Gastel, who you correctly described as "soft" in the past, has been playing the best in practice that he has since he's been at ORU. We need Matt to play big since losing Cameron Tragardh to the Australian Pro league.

Although we will have several new guys as starters, most likely including two freshmen, I'm hoping that we surprise some people. Caleb Green, who was selected as the Oklahoma High School Player of the Year last year, will make an immediate impact, as will Ken Tutt, another freshman who was high scorer in four of the five Canadian games.

Great job pulling all that info together. I enjoyed reading it.

**HKF** · 11-03-2003, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by <b>tmh8286</b>!
One small correction on an otherwise excellent preview of the league - for ORU, Mickey Michalec is ineligible this year due to his transfer from Texas Tech. His eligibility will begin next year.

Otherwise, I think you pegged our team. I had a chance to hear Coach Sutton speak this weekend, and he said that Matt Gastel, who you correctly described as "soft" in the past, has been playing the best in practice that he has since he's been at ORU. We need Matt to play big since losing Cameron Tragardh to the Australian Pro league.

Although we will have several new guys as starters, most likely including two freshmen, I'm hoping that we surprise some people. Caleb Green, who was selected as the Oklahoma High School Player of the Year last year, will make an immediate impact, as will Ken Tutt, another freshman who was high scorer in four of the five Canadian games.

Great job pulling all that info together. I enjoyed reading it.

Welcome to the site and I hope to see you and other Oral Roberts fans posting here.

Quick Oral Roberts Tidbit: I was a HS senior thinking of attending and I had a 7K grant offer from them. They call me and say it's coming, and I was going to decide but the letter never came, so I took Oral Roberts off my list of colleges and went to Bradley. I always thought it was strange.

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