You are here > VanDelaySports.com > MAC Basketball > MAC Basketball Preview 2005-2006 - MAC East

2005-06 MAC Basketball Preview - MAC East

VanDelay Sports previews MAC basketball for the 2005-2006 season.

West Teams: Ball St. | CMU | EMU | NIU | Toledo | WMU

East Teams: Akron | Bowling Green | Buffalo | Kent | Miami | Ohio

Northern Illinois Huskies

2004 Season
For the second straight year, a season ended for the Huskies in Buffalo, New York, in front of thousands of basketball-starved Bulls fans who cheered Turner Battle and the Bulls onto victory.

Northern Illinois wasn’t terrible last season, but they were hardly great. An 11-17 record (7-11 MAC) was enough to force them to the road once again for the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament. Not good times. This could be the year that all of that turns around for everyone out in DeKalb.

Northern Illinois returns six juniors and seniors this season. Hardened from years of 10 and 11 wins, these classes are ready to claw their way up the ladder in the West. It doesn’t hurt that several of the other teams in the MAC West are rebuilding this season. Certainly Northern Illinois is tired of ending its season in Buffalo. This year Rob Judson is shooting for the West Division crown and a first-round tournament bye. At worst, a first-round home game would be a step up.

The Good
Northern Illinois has some very good returning upper-classmen. Not only are they talented, but they’re not overloaded at 1 or 2 positions. The talent possessed by these returning players is certainly diverse. NIU can block shots, hit their free throws and keep opponents off-balance with an inside-out game as well as any team in the league. Of course, returning your top 5 scorers from a year ago can’t hurt either.

This team can knock down the threes. Todd Peterson a 6-8 forward was ranked fourth in nation in 3-pt percentage last season, and at most times NIU will run 4 guys together who are all threats from deep. Peterson is the sharpest shooter of the group, but the Huskies really hope he has improved his inside game once again this off-season as they could really use some added muscle in the post and on the glass.

Anthony Maestranzi, Northern’s hard nosed 5-10 point guard is back for his senior campaign. After playing hurt for parts of his sophomore campaign, Maestranzi bounced back big time in 04/05. Maestranzi scored at a respectable clip and dished out a couple assists a game. More importantly Maestranzi, one of the best on the ball defenders in the MAC, does a spectacular job of shutting down the other team’s point guard.

Mike McKinney was an honorable mention All-MAC selection last season and looks to improve even more in his junior campaign. He likes to penetrate to the hoop and averaged over 12 points and 6 rebounds per game last season. McKinney is said to have also been working on his 3-point shot. If he can add this to his arsenal like he started to last season, watch out!

Cory Sims is another returning wing. He nearly averaged 10 points and 5 assists in his first season in DeKalb after transferring from a Community College in Illinois. Sims excelled at making timely passes and hitting shots in pressure-packed moments last season. Look for more of the same in his senior campaign.

James Hughes should be a key cog once again as a 6-11 center whose main value comes on the defensive end. Hughes led the MAC in blocked shots last season, averaging almost 2 per game. Also impressive, Hughes has converted successfully on over 57% of his field goal attempts in his career.

The Bad
As good as the starting five for NIU are, it is going to be important to develop some depth in the next five players off the bench. Especially up front where Hughes can quickly wear down and Peterson can play a little too much on the perimeter, when the Huskies could use his help on the blocks.

Look for redshirt freshman Craig Reichel to factor in here spelling Peterson and Hughes up front. Reichel is a big-bodied power player who should be able to provide some toughness on the front line. He looks to be fully recovered from the ankle injury that sidelined him last season.

Hopefully Reichel can help Northern Illinois on the boards because that was a big weakness for them last season. Northern ended the year at almost minus one in rebounding margin. They can’t afford to be so passive on the glass again. It seems like ever since Marcus Smallwood graduated, none of the Huskies have wanted to rebound. For the Huskies to win, this needs to change now.

Northern Illinois needs to turn up the pressure on defense this season. Last season the Huskies were last in the MAC in forcing turnovers. This season they should look to good defenders Hughes and Maestranzi to turn up the pressure in their departments, while McKinney provides some good perimeter defense.

Outlook
For the first time in 2+ years, things are looking good in DeKalb. There’s a great returning core making up the starting five. Judson knows his teams strengths are knocking down 3’s and FT’s. He knows that they need work on turning up the pressure on defense and rebounding the ball. They know what they have to do to win.

Northern Illinois will have limited chances out of conference to make any noise this season. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. While Judson doesn’t have a slate of top teams lined up for NIU to face-off against, they’re certainly not all cupcakes either. It looks like the Huskies are going to try to just warm up for conference play.

And why not? The MAC has certainly proved in the past couple of years that it doesn’t matter who you play or beat out of conference. Every team is going to beat up on each other in conference, and it’s all going to result in one bid. That said, Northern Illinois will finish 2nd in the West. If they can develop some depth behind their super-starting five, they can challenge for the Conference Championship and NCAA Tournament bid.

Toledo Rockets

Last Season
Toledo basketball fans would probably just prefer skip this section. Last year had some big expectations. Keith Triplett, along with 5 returning starters led to the Rockets being named the Mid-American Conference preseason favorite, and team most likely to make a run in the NCAA Tournament.

Oops. Things never really materialized like they should have for last season’s Rockets Team. They started slowly, started picking it up, then slowed down again. Every time it looked like Toledo was going to gain some momentum they would fall back on their faces. It turned out to be a very long season for the Rockets, who were supposed to be oh, so good. They only won five games away from Savage Hall, and lost to Buffalo in the quarterfinals of the MAC Tournament. No NIT. No NCAA. No postseason at all. It was the end of the season and the end of heralded Keith Triplett’s career at UT.

The Good
Once again this season, Toledo returns a very talented group of players. Gone is Triplett, but back are the other seven of the team’s top eight scorers from a year ago. The best of that bunch has to be junior point guard Justin Ingram. Ingram can score, shoot, pass, steal, and even led the team in rebounds last season. Expect to see him expand on his stats even more this season. He’s that good.

Another player with major talent, although he’s coming off a poor 04/05 performance is Sammy Villegas. Villegas, a great shooter, needs to augment his game beyond just that of 3-pt shooting. There are a lot of people who think Villegas is more talented than he showed last season. It’s going to take some hard work, hustle, and grit on Sammy’s part to grab some rebounds, and work the ball inside every now and then.

Kashif Payne is a 5-9 sophomore guard. Not only is Payne a pretty good player, he was selected to the All-MAC freshman team last season, but Payne’s emergence could have even more significance to this Rocket team. Payne’s ability to handle the ball can allow Justin Ingram to spend more time at the off-guard spot. If Payne can give Ingram a break by not forcing him to bring the ball up court all the time, and sharing ball handling responsibilities it could give Ingram the extra added energy to be an even better player this season.

Kenota Howell is another guard who should round out Stan Joplin’s 3-guard lineup. Howell is yet another sweet shooter, but the main difference between him and the rest of the roster is Howell can define the word ‘rebound’. Howell is not as pure of a set shooter as some of the other options on this roster, and should be able to add some offense off the dribble and through penetration.

Toledo’s most experienced returning front-court player is Florentino Valencia. Valencia is rock-solid at about 6-6 240-pounds, but he needs to improve his play for UT this season. Despite his size, Valencia averaged almost 10 points a game, yet less than 4 rebounds a game last season. While we can expect to see Valencia have an increased focus on offense this year, Stan Joplin needs Valencia to hit the boards.

The Bad
Last year Toledo had a major problem accumulating the hustle stats. They could steal the ball, but had major issues grabbing loose balls and rebounds. When a team’s point guard is the team leader in rebounds, you know there’s a problem. It wasn’t that Toledo lacked size, or rebounding ability. Joplin will be the first to admit that they lacked the desire and tenacity to hit the boards. That has to reflect on leadership and coaching.

The leadership issue should be taken care of with Triplett graduating. He was certainly a dynamic scorer during his time at UT, but the one major knock on Triplett was his perceived lack of leadership abilities. If there are more hustle, desire, and leadership issues this season it’s going to reflect on Stan Joplin.

Toledo needs Sammy Villegas to shake whatever funk was plaguing him and Triplett last season. With Sammy V and Ingram both firing on all cylinders UT will have an explosive one-two punch. If Villegas struggles it could spell trouble with a capital-T for the Rockets. If Villegas does struggle expect Joplin to start cutting his minutes and giving them to highly-touted freshman guard Tyrone Kent.

It’s all ready been alluded to several times in this section, but it’s important enough to repeat. Toledo must rebound. Whatever problems effected their rebounding numbers last season, they need to be solved, and they need to be solved fast.

Outlook
Toledo is loaded with shooters, and guys who can score. If they can learn to play defense and grab some rebounds, they could be extremely dangerous. If Sammy Villegas returns to his sophomore form, they could be even more dangerous. If freshman Tyrone Kent lives up to the hype that he’s been getting before setting a foot on UT’s campus . . . even more dangerous.

Justin Ingram is Toledo’s leader on the court, and probably their best player. Hopefully Villegas will be his running mate this year. If not, much of the pressure will fall on Payne, Howell, and Valencia.

Western Michigan Broncos

Last Season
For much of the 2004-05 season Western Michigan again appeared to be the class of the MAC. Some expected Western to fall off a little after their NCAA Tournament appearance in 2003-04, and the loss of seniors Mike Williams and Anthony Kahn. Instead they appeared to get better. Western was nearly unbeatable at home and tough on the road. It appeared that their roster had gained valuable experience from their NCAA Tourney appearance the year before.

Then things fell apart. Western became very beatable over the final month of the regular season, which culminated with a loss in the MAC Tournament semifinals and an NIT bid. Sure, in the Mid-American Conference it’s nice to make it to any postseason tournament, but it was disappointing for the Broncos and their fans, because they had seen the opportunity for so much more.

This year life must go on without Ben Reed, who not only was a selection to the All-MAC first team last season, but also the heart and soul of the team. Life must also go on without sweet shooting forward Levi Rost.

The Good
Western Michigan is returning two starters, the first of which, center Joe Reitz, was selected to the All-MAC Freshman team last season. Reitz is a 6-7, 250-pounder who never played with Anthony Kahn, but reminds the Western Michigan faithful an awful lot of him. Reitz showed the ability to score and rebound the ball last season. He should get an opportunity to show what he can do even more-so this year as the centerpiece of the team.

Brian Snider can play both guard spots. He can score a little, but his main value comes in how well he takes care of the ball. Snider regularly has a very high assist-turnover ratio. He’ll probably be the guy to take over at the point until some of the freshmen are ready to start logging some major minutes.

Stane’s Bufford is another returning member who showed some talent last season. Bufford can score, which is nice since WMU could have a hard time replacing all of the points that Reed and Rost supplied last season. Bufford is very dangerous on penetration, but lacks an effective jumper. If he can add that to his game, watch out.

Western Michigan brought in a fantastic recruiting class this season. Rated tops in the MAC, and very highly across all mid-majors, Steve Hawkins is hoping the new kids can step right in and play. The most exciting and anticipated of the freshman appear to be the trio of Andre Ricks, Shawntes Gary, and Derek Drews. Remember these names. If these kids pan out as expected Western Michigan could have a fantastic team, very soon.

The Bad
Western Michigan could have some trouble scoring at times this year. Reed and Rost brought a mountain of points with them last season. Now that they’re gone Western is going to have to find a go-to-guy who can score when the offense is pressing, and the team really needs a basket.

There are some depth issues this year as Western tries to sort out their roster and rotation. There could be some shortages at some positions, especially shooting guard. An injury to junior Silver Laku, which should keep him out until the early 2006, only complicates matters at the 2-guard position.

There could also be some depth problems next to Reitz up front. Western is going to need to settle on a power forward. Expect sophomore Andrew Hershberger to get the first chance at filling that spot this season. Word has it that Hershberger was a gym-rat all summer and that his hard work may have really paid off. Time will tell.

Western Michigan’s team is largely inexperienced. Reitz is very experienced for a sophomore. Snider, Bufford, and Laku all have some level of experience. After that there’s a group of sophomores who haven’t seen much time, and the freshmen, who while talented, will certainly have a learning curve throughout the season.

Outlook
Things are looking good in Kalamazoo. The Broncos lost two major players in Ben Reed and Levi Rost, but it looks like this season will be some sort of combination between a “rebuilding year” and a “reloading year” which is good news. The incoming freshman is supposed to be fantastic, and apparently Hawkins has already locked up three players for next year.

One of the 2006-07 recruits is a power forward rated in the Top 100 overall, who spurned Iowa to come to Kalamazoo. The other is a guard who had interest from Tom Izzo at Michigan State. If just half of these players pan out Western Michigan is going to be sitting pretty very soon.

The major challenge for Western this season could be scoring. There are going to be times, especially against some of the better defensive teams in the conference, when it will be very difficult for Western Michigan to score. They’re going to need someone who can step up and takeover in those times. Western Michigan will finish 4th in the West this season. With the way the top recruits are pilling into the program this should be the lowest they finish for quite some time.

West Teams: Ball St. | CMU | EMU | NIU | Toledo | WMU

East Teams: Akron | Bowling Green | Buffalo | Kent | Miami | Ohio

By Dan Whitmyer, VanDelaySports.com Writer