Eastern Kentucky

OVC Basketball Preview: 08-09

CHN — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 01:40:15 -0500

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Conference Rank: 26th

10 year average: 22nd

All-OVC Team
Pos.	Player	Team	Yr.

G	Marquis Weddle	UTM	So
G	Lester Hudson	UTM	Sr
G	Mike Rose	EKU	Sr
F	Daniel Northern	Tenn. Tech	Sr
F	Drake Reed	Austin Peay	Sr
CHN Award Winners		Returning Leaders
Mid-Major All-Americans Lester Hudson		Points: Lester Hudson 25.7 Rebounds: Daniel Northern 9.3 Assists: DeAndre Bray (JSU) 6.3

Ohio Valley Standings
Nat'l	Team	League	Tourney

106	Murray State*	OVC	1	NCAA
162	Tennessee Martin	OVC	2
184	Austin Peay**	OVC	3
204	Tennessee St	OVC	4
215	Morehead State	OVC	5
286	Eastern Kentucky	OVC	6
304	SE Missouri St	OVC	7
322	Jacksonville St	OVC	8
328	Tennessee Tech	OVC	9
340	Eastern Illinois	OVC	10

*Click on links for full Top 144 team preview

** returning conference champion

Poll: Who Do You Think Will Win the OVC?

Other OVC Content

Conference Media Poll

Other

Top Shooting Guards: Lester Hudson

Rise & Fall: OVC

State of '08: Kentucky

Shawn Siegel — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:33:50 -0400

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Duke or Carolina? BC or UMASS? Gonzaga or Washington.. or Washington State? What is the best program in each state? While there's not much competition in Hawaii.. there are great debates to be had in loaded regions like California, North Carolina, and Texas. The State of '08 is a ranking of every program in every state.. based mostly on recent success (the last five years) mixed in with subjective factors such as conference prestige, historical success, and overall program direction.

Up today: Kentucky. For more info, check out the State of '08 introduction.

KENTUCKY

KENTUCKY - Obviously one of the top programs of all-time, Kentucky has amazingly made the tournament every since 1991. I say amazingly, because one would have thought that Tubby Smith drove the program into the ground. Then again, its been 10 years since their last Final Four trip, one of the longest droughts in the programs history (at least post-Rupp).

LOUISVILLE - Last year was the first time in over a dozen years that Louisville topped Kentucky in the RPI. The Cardinals finished 13th in the computer poll, and advanced to the Elite Eight.. while UK was a questionable at-best at-large bid with an RPI of 57. In 2005, while both teams had similar regular seasons, Louisville advanced to the Final Four, while UK just missed out due to an epic double-overtime loss. A couple more seasons where Louisville surpasses their Lexington rivals, and perhaps they will sit on top of this ranking.

WESTERN KENTUCKY - In the past eight years, WKU has made the postseason six times, including four NCAA Tournament trips. This is nothing new for an underrated program that historically never goes more than 3 or 4 seasons without competing for a postseason bid. However, now that Darrin Horn has bolted for South Carolina, and Courtney Lee is off to the NBA.. perhaps one of those postseason gaps is coming up?

MURRAY STATE - While not quite as good as WKU, Murray State is also a solid mid-major program that consistently competes for the OVC title. In fact, its been well over a decade, and many coaches ago, since Murray last finished below .500 in conference play. The program has been rather mediocre since Mick Cronin departed, and the Racers have only beaten one Top 100 team in the last three seasons. But Billy Kennedy's team is our preseason OVC favorites and this could easily be the program's 14th NCAA Tournament trip.

EASTERN KENTUCKY - In 2005 & 2007, EKU made the dance thanks to the impressive work done by Travis Ford, the new head coach at Oklahoma State. Now that the program is fully in Jeff Neubauer's hands, the future is a bit uncertain. Can Neubauer continue the recent success, or will the program slide into the dark pre-Ford depths of 1999-2003 when EKU won just 20 D1 games in 4 seasons.

6. MOREHEAD STATE - The Eagles are coming off a quality campaign that included a 12-7 OVC record and a pair of wins over in-state rival EKU. This was a welcome turnaround considering the struggles experienced between 05-07. While the team could be decent once again in 08-09, a return to the tourney for the first time in 24 years will have to wait.

Last: Iowa - Next: Louisiana

State of '08: The Introduction (& State list/links)

Three Stars of the Day: Dials, Lee, Nelson

Shawn Siegel — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 09:14:47 -0500

Three Stars of The Day

We handpick the best performances of the day, whether it be stat lines that make you drool, or clutch performances. Either way, its our way of showing the love:

Darnell Dials - Eastern Kentucky

Had the best game of his 4-year career with 25 points, 11 rebounds, and the eventual game-winning three (his 5th three ever)

Tony Lee - Robert Morris

Approached a triple-double in a 764-71 win over WSU, finishing wih 16 points, 11 rebounds, and 9 assists

DeMarcus Nelson - Duke

Sure, he could have gone scoreless and Duke would still have won, but 23 points on 6 of 7 shooting in 26 minutes is solid

Other Top Performers

John Bryant - Santa Clara - Quietly putting up averages of 20 and 9 on the season, Bryant had 14 and 12 in a home win over Montana

Terrance Carter - James Madison - The senior had his 4th 20-point game of the year in a win over Radford, finishing with 22 and also hauling in 12 off the glass

Henry Salter - TCU - The Horned Frogs ended UTA's perfect record in OT, behind 17 and 14 from the junior

Previous Stars of the Day

December 16th - Ty Lawson, UNC

December 15th - Demetric Bennett, South Alabama

December 13th - Jack McClinton, Miami

December 12th - Lee Cummard, BYU

December 11th - Bryan Mullins, SIU

December 10th - Ben Nwachukwu, Columbia

December 9th - Dane Watts, Creighton

December 5th - Drew Lavender, Xavier

December 4th - Luke Harangody, Notre Dame

December 3rd - DJ White, Indiana

December 2nd - Jerryd Bayless, Arizona

December 1st - George Hill, IUPUI

November 30th - Craig Brackins - Iowa State

November 29th - Ryan Anderson, California

November 28th - James Powell, UCSB

November 27th - Stephen Curry, Davidson

November 26th - Michael Bramos, Miami (OH)

November 22nd - Michael Beasley, Kansas State

November 21st - Kyle Singler, Duke

November 20th - Patty Mills, Saint Mary's

November 19th - Matt Causey, Georgia Tech

November 18th - Daniel Hackett, USC

November 17th - Chris Douglas-Roberts, Memphis

November 16th - JJ Hickson, NC State

November 15th - Jon Brockman, Washington

Top 144 Previews | 2007-08 Preview & Awards | Interviews | Discuss the Preview

2007-08 Eastern Kentucky Basketball Preview

Joel Welser — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 17:04:23 -0400

Eastern Kentucky Colonels

Overall Rank: #140

Conference Rank: #2 Ohio Valley

2006-07: 21-12, 13-7, 2^nd (t)

2006-07 postseason: NCAA

Eastern Kentucky only had six players who averaged over ten minutes per game during their 2006-2007 NCAA Tournament season. Returning four of those players is nice, but it does leave a couple major gaps that will need to be filled by inexperienced players. Josh Daniel, Josh Taylor and Harrison Brown do not have experience, but have enough talent to be bigger contributors.

Who’s Out:

Guard Julian Mascoll and forward Michael Brock are the two players that need to be replaced. Mascoll averaged 11.1 points, 4.8 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 steals as a senior and those numbers will not be easily substituted. Brock was never a prolific scorer, but the power forward led the team in rebounds last year and did the dirty work under the basket. Without Mascoll leading the way, the returning starting backcourt duo of Adam Leonard and Mike Rose will need to develop into leaders on and off the floor. Derek Adams left the team early last season after seeing action in only two contests.

Who’s In:

The Colonels could use some depth and they may find another Leonard, who had a surprisingly impressive freshman campaign last year, in this batch. The likely candidates to break out immediately are guards Justin Stommes and Rodney Ford. Stommes is a great shooter for a 6-6 wing, but will have to work harder to get open at the college level. As long as he can get more intense on defense, Coach Jeff Neubauer will give Stommes an opportunity as a freshman. Ford demonstrated that he could score, pass, block shots and hit the glass very effectively during his prep career in St. Louis. The 6-4 guard posted some ridiculous numbers all over the box score and is an interesting do-it-all prospect in the mold of Mascoll. Ryan Dilman, who redshirted last year, is a smart point guard who will add some depth to the backcourt. Incoming freshman Deveyon Hunter will battle for some minutes at small forward, but it is the return of Ryan Wiersma that makes it much easier to replace the departed Brock. Wiersma, a 6-6 forward, missed all of last season with a shoulder injury. He missed most of the 2005-2006 campaign with the same affliction and it may take some time for the junior to get back into the flow of the game. But there is no doubt Wiersma will work hard to be even more effective than he was before the injury.

Who to Watch:

Leonard and Rose were the top two scorers a year ago and they will need to develop into more than simply scorers this year. Without Mascoll’s leadership, it falls on the talented duo to lead the team. Leonard averaged 12.5 points and 2.6 assists during his freshman campaign. The problem is most of those points were from long range. Eight of his ten shots per game were from beyond the arc. With a little more strength and confidence driving the lane, Leonard will become one of the best in the OVC. Rose is no stranger to the three-pointer either and, now as an upperclassman, will be taking all the big shots for Eastern Kentucky. Leonard and Rose are still relatively young and developing players. If they continue to improve, EKU will be looking for another NCAA Tournament.

Final Projection:

Big man Darnell Dialls kept the perimeter open by developing into a solid scoring threat under the basket. Getting 8.7 points per game out of Dialls again will keep the opposing defense off balance, and his superb passing does not hurt, but he will need to increase his production on the boards to help cover the loss of Brock. Jamaal Douglas will be asked to do the same. After earning 11 starts in his first season in Richmond, Jamaal Douglas is expected to do more for his senior season. The transfer from Lafayette was the leading rebounder in the Patriot League in 2004-2005 and has the tools to be more than the sixth man.

Projected Post-season Tournament: none

Projected Starting Five:

Adam Leonard, Sophomore, Guard, 12.5 points per game

Mike Rose, Junior, Guard, 15.1 points per game

Josh Taylor, Sophomore, Forward, 2.7 points per game

Jamaal Douglas, Senior, Forward, 6.2 points per game

Darnell Dialls, Senior, Forward, 8.7 points per game

Complete Top 144 Ranking | 2007-08 Preview | Discuss the Preview