Each day from October 23-November 3, there will be a basketball blogger/fan previewing their team in this space.
Under eighth year head coach
Larry Hunter, the Catamounts return a total of seven players from last season’s squad that won seven-straight games in making a run at the
Southern Conference Basketball Championship title before falling in the thrilling double-overtime loss by 2 points to
Davidson at the
US Cellular Center in Asheville.
All-tournament selections
Trey Sumler, 6-2 / 175 (red shirt junior - guard) and
Tawaski King, 6-8 / 245 (junior - post) return, as well as four of the top six leading scorers from last season, led by
Sumler (13.5 points per game) and
Brandon Boggs, 6-5 / 190 (junior – guard -10.0 ppg).
Absent of any seniors on this year’s team, the large returning junior class of
Trey Sumler,
Tawaski King,
Brandon Boggs (guard),
Preston Ross, 6-5 / 190 (forward), and
Tom Tankelewicz, 6-4 / 180 (forward) are both talented and athletic.
Sophomores James Sinclair, 6-3 / 180 (Sophomore – guard) and
Kenneth Hall, 6-7 / 210 (sophomore – forward) round out the returning seven.
New Faces
Mike Brown, 6-3 / 175 (freshman - guard) from West Charlotte HS. Brown scored 775 points in his first three high school seasons including a career-best 512 as a junior, helped guide West Charlotte to the North Carolina 4-A State Championship with a 28-2 overall record in 2011, earning Most Valuable Player honors.
Rhett Harrelson, 5-10 / 170 (freshman – guard) from Enterprise Alabama. Finished high school career with 2,322 career points, a 16.0 point per game average. All-time leading scorer in Alabama 6-A history and 16th best in state history at all levels, ranking fourth best in career free throw percentage (87%), seventh-best in single-season free throw percentage (88%) and eighth-highest career 3-point percentage (38%), also averaging five assists and 3.5 steals per game.
Torrion Brummitt, 6-7 / 240 (freshman – forward) from Columbus, Georgia. Averaged 12.1 points and 9.0 rebounds per game as a junior for the Raiders and head coach Anthony Jenkins ... As a sophomore, was named Defensive Player of the Year and team MVP.
Brandon Littlejohn, 5-11 / 175 (freshman – guard) Two-sport athlete that plays for the WCU football team and is expected to join the men's basketball squad after the season.
Justin Browning. 6-4 / 175 (freshman – forward) A two-star recruit by Rivals.com, Browning has averaged 12 points and eight rebounds per game through his first three years as a prep, adding a 1.5 assist per game and three steals per contest average and claimed the state 5-A high jump championship as a junior with a leap of 6-foot,4-inches
Josh Mendenhall (junior forward) Sat out the 2011-12 season after transferring to Western Carolina in the fall prior to the season. Took a redshirt and enters 2012-13 as a redshirt junior with two years of eligibility.
2012-13 WCU Basketball Schedule
In the upcoming season, the
Catamounts will play 13 games in the friendly confines of the
Ramsey Center, where the
Catamounts have an 82% winning percentage over the last 5 years. The 2012-13 schedule includes hosting an
ESPN BracketBuster game, as well as, road trips to the likes of
Tennessee, Georgetown & Illinois.
Seven of the 2012-13 opponents saw action in post-season play last year, five in the
NCAA tournament, and one each in the
NIT and
College Basketball Invitational. The
Catamount non-conference schedule also includes four games against teams that make their home in Western North Carolina, including mountain-rival
UNC Asheville.
Playing in the "
Mayan Division," the Catamounts open in the
2012 Cancun Challenge by visiting
Wichita State (Nov. 15) and
Western Kentucky (Nov. 17) on the road before traveling to Mexico for two additional tournament games. Once in
Cancun, the
Catamounts will play
Austin Peay on Nov. 20, and will face either
Howard or
Gardner-Webb the following day.
"We have assembled another top-notch and challenging schedule for our players and fans," said head coach
Larry Hunter, talking about the 2012-13 schedule. "The start of the year should be as exciting as any we have had in recent years. We need our students, faculty, season ticket holders, alumni and supporters to quickly get fired up about basketball because our rivalry game with
UNC Asheville (Nov. 9) and home-opener two days later tip-off our season." He added, "This is a schedule that will afford our team room for growth and development as we prepare for the rigors of the
Southern Conference season."
THREE QUESTIONS
1. What effect, if any, does not having any senior leadership have on the team? Can the large and talented junior class step-up and provide the leadership that
Harouna Mutombo and
Keaton Cole provided for last years team? This role will probably fall to
Trey Sumler and
Tawaski King.
2. Can
Hunter replace
Mutombo and
Cole? Most likely Mutombo & Cole’s role on the team will be filled again by Sumler and King. According to reports, King has made great strides in this game during the off season. The play of Sumler and King will be the key to the Catamount success this season
3. Which freshman steps up for another “freshman of the year” type season? In the last five seasons, the Cats have produced two freshmen of the year (Mutombo & Sumler), is there another on waiting in the wings? Freshman
Rhett Harrelson has the potential for an outstanding season, however the new face on the team that may make the most noise this season in the Catamount line up just may be junior transfer
Josh Mendenhall.
Head Coach
Larry Hunter is entering his eighth season guiding the
Catamounts and is excited about the prospects of the upcoming season. Over the last five seasons, the Cats are 42-9 at home - an 82.4% winning percentage - including 32 of its last 39 SoCon games.
Coach Hunter has succeeded in making
Cullowhee one of the most difficult places in the
SoCon to pick up a win by visiting teams. "We have good basketball players in our program. Skill wise, athletically, they are very strong.” Hunter said. "We're excited to have some potential depth on our team, and hopefully it can all come together and we can play some solid basketball." "Even though we are not exceptionally big, we have a lot of talent, experience and character on our team. It will be fun to see how it all comes together during the season," added
Hunter.
The last time The Citadel finished dead last in both preseason polls was prior to the 2008-09 season. The Bulldogs had gone 6-24 the previous year, in head coach Ed Conroy’s second season at The Citadel. More of the same was expected, but instead the Bulldogs won 20 games for only the second time in school history, 15 of them coming in league play. It was the finest season on the hardwood for The Citadel in 30 years, and one of the best in school history.
But Mike Young guided the team to a respectable 19-14 overall record, including 12-6 in the SoCon. That was good for second place in the SoCon's South division. Wofford played in the CBI postseason tournament. The team was lead by senior guards Brad Loesing and Kevin Giltner, who both played about every minute of every game, and senior center Drew Crowell.
Davidson returns nearly 95% of the minutes played from last year. We say goodbye to AJ Atkinson, Frank Ben-Eze, and Will Reigel. Everyone else is back. The five starters last year (Brooks, Cohen, Cochran, Kuhlman, and Czerapowicz) averaged between 23 and 32 mpg, between 10.1 and 15.7 ppg, and they all shot at least 34% on 3-pointers. De'Mon Brooks earned one of the POY awards in the conference last year. He led the Wildcats in points, rebounds, and steals. He did that in just 22.8 mpg. As a junior this season, he'll probably be able to focus his enthusiasm a bit better and avoid some of the foul trouble that limited him last year. The other POY award went to Jake Cohen. He barely trailed Brooks in points and rebounds. He was the Southern Conference leader in blocked shots with 55. Jake played 24.8 mpg as a junior. Kuhlman and Cochran are senior guards. They led the Wildcats in mpg. Cochran played just under 30 mpg, had 10.9 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 3.6 apg, shot almost 89% at the line, and had an assist/TO ration over 2.1. Kuhlman played 31.9 mpg, scored 10.8 ppg, had 3.8 rpg, 2.9 apg, and had an assist/TO ratio of 1.86. The fifth starter last year was Chris Czerapowicz. He played 25.1 mpg, scored 10.1 ppg, and had 4.9 rpg. He had some surgery in the off-season and is expected to be at full strength soon. Clint Mann played in 31 games last year. He played his best basketball at the end of the season and is poised for a strong senior season. Tom Droney has often started for the Wildcats. He averaged 21.2 mpg last season. He is a large guard who handles the ball and rebounds well. He worked hard to improve his shooting this summer and looked very good at Davidson's recent scrimmage. Tyler Kalinoski had a solid freshman season. He played 17.4 mpg and scored 155 points. He's a well-rounded guard, posting impressive numbers of rebounds, assists, and steals. He'll give Cochran and Kuhlman another very capable backup. The other four returners are Mason Archie, Clay Tormey, Ali Mackay, and Youssef Mejri. They combined for just 77 minutes last year, but all are capable players. Ali Mackay is particularly intriguing to Davidson fans. He's 6'11, has played a good bit of international ball for Scotland and Great Britain, and has added significant muscle in his time on campus.
