SEASON PREVIEW
SEASON PREVIEW
T
he more things change at West Liberty, the more they seem to remain the same.
For the fourth straight year, head coach Jim Crutchfield is welcoming back a 30-win team that swept its way to conference and regional titles en route to an NCAA Division II Elite Eight bid. Coming off last year’s run to the national championship game – an 84-77 loss to Central Missouri – the Hilltoppers lost some key performers but, as always seems to be the case, a strong nucleus is being joined by a promising collection of newcomers on the hilltop. Heading into his 11th season, Crutchfield has the highest winning percentage (272-49, .847) in history for any coach with 10 or more years at an NCAA school. With a 130-10 (.929) mark over the past four seasons and eight national scoring titles in the past nine years, this is obviously a man who knows how to reload. That seems to be the consensus among most preseason prognosticators as several national publications have West Liberty at No. 1 in their preseason rankings. “I’m sure most teams that lose four double-figure scorers including a first-team All-American and the nation’s No. 2 shot blocker would think their cupboard’s pretty bare,” Crutchfield said. “That’s not the case here. I think we have some pretty good guys back and with some new faces who should make their presence felt. What we’re doing has worked pretty well for 10 years so I don’t see any reason to change the formula now.” Preseason All-American C.J. Hester (14.2 ppg., 8.4 rpg.), a 6-4 senior, leads the Black and Gold returnees. A two-time Academic All-American, Hester earned All-Conference and All-Region honors last season. With 1,423 points and 910 rebounds already on the books, he could be the first WLU player with 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds by Christmas. There’s plenty of firepower behind Hester as 6-7 junior Seger Bonifant (10.3 ppg., 3.1 rpg.) leads all active NCAA Division II players in career 3-point field goal percentage (142-256, .555) while 6-0 sophomore Devin Hoehn (11.8 ppg., 2.6 rpg.) led the Hilltoppers with 86 3-pointers a year ago. Also back after seeing significant playing time last winter are 6-5 junior Mike Lamberti (4.8 ppg., 3.3 rpg.) and 6-7 sophomore Zak Kirkbride (3.3 ppg., 1.9 rpg.) with 6-4 sophomore Brandon Smith (1.5 ppg., 0.9 rpg.) expected to see his minutes increase. “The main difference this year is that we have more new faces than any time since my first season,” Crutchfield said. “Nine of
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our 15 guys weren’t here last year. That’s a lot for us but we put a lot of effort into player development in our program and all six of our returning players made strides over the summer. They’re better players now than they were at the end of last season and they’ll be the guys we count on.” Leading a lengthy list of newcomers is a trio of collegiate transfers. Indiana Faithfull, a 6-4 senior guard, led NCAA Division I Wofford in assists two years ago while 6-3 junior guard Joe Lococo averaged 20.0 ppg. at NCAA Division II Shippensburg (Pa.) last year to earn second-team All-PSAC honors. Zac Grossenbacher, a 6-8 sophomore post, played in 17 games as a redshirt freshman at Wofford last winter. “These guys all have the skill sets and competitive fire to be good fits for our system,” Crutchfield said. “Indy sees the floor well and is really good at creating shots for his teammates while Joe is a proven scorer who gets to the foul line a lot. Zac’s one of the biggest kids we’ve had but he’s a really good shooter and gives us more of a physical presence in the post.” The seeds for future reloading projects have already been planted with a bumper crop of six freshmen joining the Black and Gold. Headlining the group are 5-8 Brady Arnold, a 2,000-point scorer and “Mr. Basketball” finalist from Millersburg, Ohio, and 6-4 Evan French, a two-time first-team All-Ohio Division II standout from Vincent Warren but there’s plenty of talent top to bottom as every Hilltopper recruit collected multiple AllConference, All-District, All-Region or All-Area honors. Also donning the Black and Gold for the first time this year are 6-5 forwards Marco Colombo of New Philadelphia, Ohio and Eric Meininger of Centerville, Ohio along with 6-2 guard Anthony Wallace of Linsly School in Wheeling and 6-4 guard Tyler Primmer of Teays Valley (Ohio) High School. “As much as we like 30-win seasons, scoring titles and regional or national championships, none of them have ever been goals,” Crutchfield said. “Our goal hasn’t changed in 11 years. When we’re getting ready to go to the MEC tournament, I want to feel we have a legitimate chance to win it. “I’ve always believed if you focus too much on distant goals, you run the risk of tripping over one of the smaller steps leading up to it. When you take care of the little things, the big things have a way of taking care of themselves.” Former Bethany College head coach Aaron Huffman and ex-Hilltopper standout Ben Howlett return as Crutchfield’s assistants.
T
he more things change at West Liberty, the more they seem to remain the same.
For the fourth straight year, head coach Jim Crutchfield is welcoming back a 30-win team that swept its way to conference and regional titles en route to an NCAA Division II Elite Eight bid. Coming off last year’s run to the national championship game – an 84-77 loss to Central Missouri – the Hilltoppers lost some key performers but, as always seems to be the case, a strong nucleus is being joined by a promising collection of newcomers on the hilltop. Heading into his 11th season, Crutchfield has the highest winning percentage (272-49, .847) in history for any coach with 10 or more years at an NCAA school. With a 130-10 (.929) mark over the past four seasons and eight national scoring titles in the past nine years, this is obviously a man who knows how to reload. That seems to be the consensus among most preseason prognosticators as several national publications have West Liberty at No. 1 in their preseason rankings. “I’m sure most teams that lose four double-figure scorers including a first-team All-American and the nation’s No. 2 shot blocker would think their cupboard’s pretty bare,” Crutchfield said. “That’s not the case here. I think we have some pretty good guys back and with some new faces who should make their presence felt. What we’re doing has worked pretty well for 10 years so I don’t see any reason to change the formula now.” Preseason All-American C.J. Hester (14.2 ppg., 8.4 rpg.), a 6-4 senior, leads the Black and Gold returnees. A two-time Academic All-American, Hester earned All-Conference and All-Region honors last season. With 1,423 points and 910 rebounds already on the books, he could be the first WLU player with 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds by Christmas. There’s plenty of firepower behind Hester as 6-7 junior Seger Bonifant (10.3 ppg., 3.1 rpg.) leads all active NCAA Division II players in career 3-point field goal percentage (142-256, .555) while 6-0 sophomore Devin Hoehn (11.8 ppg., 2.6 rpg.) led the Hilltoppers with 86 3-pointers a year ago. Also back after seeing significant playing time last winter are 6-5 junior Mike Lamberti (4.8 ppg., 3.3 rpg.) and 6-7 sophomore Zak Kirkbride (3.3 ppg., 1.9 rpg.) with 6-4 sophomore Brandon Smith (1.5 ppg., 0.9 rpg.) expected to see his minutes increase. “The main difference this year is that we have more new faces than any time since my first season,” Crutchfield said. “Nine of
//14
our 15 guys weren’t here last year. That’s a lot for us but we put a lot of effort into player development in our program and all six of our returning players made strides over the summer. They’re better players now than they were at the end of last season and they’ll be the guys we count on.” Leading a lengthy list of newcomers is a trio of collegiate transfers. Indiana Faithfull, a 6-4 senior guard, led NCAA Division I Wofford in assists two years ago while 6-3 junior guard Joe Lococo averaged 20.0 ppg. at NCAA Division II Shippensburg (Pa.) last year to earn second-team All-PSAC honors. Zac Grossenbacher, a 6-8 sophomore post, played in 17 games as a redshirt freshman at Wofford last winter. “These guys all have the skill sets and competitive fire to be good fits for our system,” Crutchfield said. “Indy sees the floor well and is really good at creating shots for his teammates while Joe is a proven scorer who gets to the foul line a lot. Zac’s one of the biggest kids we’ve had but he’s a really good shooter and gives us more of a physical presence in the post.” The seeds for future reloading projects have already been planted with a bumper crop of six freshmen joining the Black and Gold. Headlining the group are 5-8 Brady Arnold, a 2,000-point scorer and “Mr. Basketball” finalist from Millersburg, Ohio, and 6-4 Evan French, a two-time first-team All-Ohio Division II standout from Vincent Warren but there’s plenty of talent top to bottom as every Hilltopper recruit collected multiple AllConference, All-District, All-Region or All-Area honors. Also donning the Black and Gold for the first time this year are 6-5 forwards Marco Colombo of New Philadelphia, Ohio and Eric Meininger of Centerville, Ohio along with 6-2 guard Anthony Wallace of Linsly School in Wheeling and 6-4 guard Tyler Primmer of Teays Valley (Ohio) High School. “As much as we like 30-win seasons, scoring titles and regional or national championships, none of them have ever been goals,” Crutchfield said. “Our goal hasn’t changed in 11 years. When we’re getting ready to go to the MEC tournament, I want to feel we have a legitimate chance to win it. “I’ve always believed if you focus too much on distant goals, you run the risk of tripping over one of the smaller steps leading up to it. When you take care of the little things, the big things have a way of taking care of themselves.” Former Bethany College head coach Aaron Huffman and ex-Hilltopper standout Ben Howlett return as Crutchfield’s assistants.
