Men look to shake losing ways as group matures
For the first time in Keno Davis’ three years as the Central Michigan University men’s basketball coach, his team will have more juniors and seniors than freshmen and sophomores.
Last year, the squad featured just four upperclassmen and finished 10-21 overall and 3-15 in the Mid-American Conference.
But Davis’ hopes for his squad this winter remain elevated.
“I have high goals for this year’s team,” Davis said. “I haven’t put a number on it or a postseason on it or a seeding on it, but I think where we’ve come in a couple years is an exciting time. We’re looking forward to the next couple weeks to see how good we can be when we start the season.”
The schedule
The Chippewas will begin their season with an exhibition game against Saginaw Valley State at 1 p.m. Sunday at McGuirk Arena.
“I expect our team to play extremely hard and make mistakes,” Davis said. “I’d be surprised if our fans saw anything other than a great effort on Sunday.”
CMU will only play one game against a team from a major conference in its 11 non-conference games when the team travels to Northwestern on Dec. 17.
Davis intentionally scheduled less notable opponents at home to give CMU students opportunities to see the team succeed before the semester break.
“The idea is that as we have some success and the fans see the product on the court, they will want to come back for the MAC season,” Davis said. “Being able to get a home court (heavy) schedule was really important.”
Realistic outlook
CMU finished fifth out of six teams in the MAC West last season and were predicted to land in the same spot this season in the MAC Preseason Poll.
While Davis said the team is still not a finished product, freshman forward DaRohn Scott said the goal of the group he has joined is to win the MAC Championship.
“I’m definitely looking forward to winning with my team,” Scott said. “With our other freshmen such as Luke (Meyer) and Filip (Medjo) and Milos (Cabarkapa), we should be able to achieve that goal.”
CMU has not had a winning record since the 2002-2003 season, during which the team finished 25-7, won the MAC Championship and won in the first round of the NCAA Tournament as an 11-seed.
A difference in culture
Junior forward John Simons committed to CMU four months before former head coach Ernie Zeigler was fired.
Simons kept his commitment to the Chippewas through the hiring of Davis and has been with the team through some of the toughest rebuilding processes.
“We expect to take a big step from the past two years,” Simons said. “We’ve been building something here since all of us got here. We’ve had two rough years of getting things going, but I think that we’ll be able to show a little bit this year of what we’ve been doing.”
Davis said the tough blowout losses in 2013-14 should benefit the team this season.
“We’re a better shooting team, better ball-handling team, better depth, we’re better in every area,” Davis said. “What does that mean for wins? I don’t know, but we’re better in every area.”
The 2014-2015 team sports seven juniors and one senior, most of which have had playing time since their freshmen year, including Simons, guard Chris Fowler and forward Blake Hibbitts.
“Now is the time to put it together,” Hibbitts said. “Last year we didn’t do as well as we would have liked to. It’s time for a winning year.”
