Illinois college hoops teams give another season their best shot

After getting pushed around during a 6-22 overall, 3-12 Mid-American Conference season, Northern Illinois' basketball team went to the weight room, where coach's son Michael Patton raised the bar with a 15-pound gain to 180.

Will size matter?

Probably not much. But coach Ricardo Patton, as he embarks on Season 2 of his rebuilding plan in DeKalb, has to like a work ethic that suggests his Huskies are buying in, that they keep trying as they did through a trying 2007-08 campaign. Patton is certain it all will come together when an influx of talent, much of it from Chicago, finds its way to the court.

''I believe the foundation has been laid and the table is set for us to be a contender in this league,'' said Patton, who coached at Colorado from 1995 to 2007 before coming to NIU. ''We have the right pieces in our program now, and as they continue to grow and get better, we will be on our way.''

Sophomore guard Darion ''Jake'' Anderson makes for a nice centerpiece. The MAC freshman of the year from Carver averaged 12.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists last season and had 31 points and 10 rebounds Saturday in an exhibition against Division III Carthage. Center Sean Kowal, a 6-11 sophomore, is eligible after transferring from Colorado, but he's one of 10 Huskies who redshirted or did not play last season.

The Huskies bring a taste of Chicago to DeKalb with Anderson, 6-7 redshirt freshman Michael Fakuade (Von Steuben) and true freshman guards Mike DiNunno (Von Steuben), Bryan Hall (Young) and 5-5 Keith Smith (St. Ignatius).

Look for NIU, picked for sixth in the six-team MAC West, to prove forecasters wrong.

CHICAGO STATE: The Cougars have a splendid 7,000-seat, $38 million new facility and the nation's No. 10 scorer in 5-8 senior guard David Holston (23.1 points, 5.1 assists, 2.1 steals). Holston, a first-team All-Illinois choice of one Web site and the ''most entertaining'' player in Illinois according to another, led Division I in three-pointers with 4.6 per game. The Cougars were 11-17 in coach Benjy Taylor's first season.

ILLINOIS STATE: The Redbirds have injury issues (Brandon Sampay, Bobby Hill, Alex Rubin, Jeremy Robinson) to muddle through early, but Missouri Valley preseason player of the year Osiris Eldridge is well, and Oregon transfer Champ Oguchi is fresh after sitting out last season. Dinma Odiakosa, who averaged 6.9 points and 5.5 rebounds, provides a presence in the paint at 6-8.

Eldridge, a 6-3 guard from Phillips, was runner-up in last season's MVC player of the year voting after averaging 15.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists. Picked third in the MVC, the Redbirds (25-10) felt snubbed by the NCAA tournament after a surprise run under first-year coach Tim Jankovich and will use it as motivation.

BRADLEY: The Braves have a nice backcourt with St. Patrick grad Sam Maniscalco, a sophomore who averaged 13 points, four steals and 3.5 assists in exhibitions, and 6-5 Andrew Warren, who averaged 13.2 points despite nagging injuries. Seven-footer David Collins presents a defensive presence in the low post, and 6-7 Theron Wilson averaged 11.7 points and 6.2 rebounds in his first season. Bradley has plenty of big bodies to throw around with Collins, 6-10 Anthony Thompson, 6-9 Sam Singh and 6-9 Will Egolf.

The young Braves (21-17) reached the finals of the inaugural College Basketball Invitational, a postseason run that should have some carry-over benefit. They're picked fifth in the MVC.

SOUTHERN ILLINOIS: Picked by coaches and media to finish second behind heavily favored Creighton in the MVC, the defensive-minded Salukis (18-15 last season) need to find a way to score after missing the NCAA tournament for the first time in seven years. Senior guard Bryan Mullins (10.7 points, 4.9 assists) of Downers Grove, the MVC defensive player of the year who likely will become SIU's all-time leader in steals and assists, returns with wing Wesley Clemmons and forwards Carlton Fay and Tony Boyle.

Sun-Times Player of the Year Kevin Dillard, a 6-foot freshman from Homewood-Flossmoor who had nine points and nine assists on opening night, is one of eight new players on the roster.

Fay appears ready to step up as a scorer, netting a team-high 17 points in SIU's win against UMass on Wednesday night.

EASTERN ILLINOIS: Coach Mike Miller enters his fourth season with a 23-63 record, including an injury-plagued 7-22 last season, preaching balance and a shared workload while waiting for his three recruiting classes -- two of which were ranked among the top 100 by hoopscooponline.com -- to blossom. Romain Martin, who led the Panthers in scoring as a freshman and averaged 22.3 points through four Ohio Valley Conference games last season before an injury slowed him, is the top returning player. Center Ousmane Cisse averaged 5.8 points and 5.8 rebounds last season.

WESTERN ILLINOIS: Former Bradley and NIU coach Jim Molinari takes over for Derek Thomas, who resigned after finishing 12-18, 7-11 in the Summit League.

David Dubois (9.9 points, 5.3 rebounds) and David Nurse (9.4 points) are the top returning starters. The Leathernecks are picked for ninth in the 10-team Summit.

Smaller schools make impact in hoops recruiting

During his basketball recruitment, Zeke Marshall received countless letters from major basketball programs. He says the letters mostly talked up teams' gaudy numbers, as in won-loss records, championships and frequency of televised games.

"That's all they would send," Marshall, a 6-11 senior center at McKeesport (Pa.) High School, said Wednesday. "It would get annoying. I wanted to know something else."

Marshall said he signed a national letter of intent with the University of Akron on Wednesday because of its basketball team and because the school touted a major in computer information systems that he will pursue. Rated a top-40 prospect by Scout.com and Rivals.com, he bucked the trend that sees highly touted players pick power schools by signing with the Mid-American Conference school.

Two other notable defections from the power-school route: Rashanti Harris, a 6-8 post player at The Patterson School in Lenoir, N.C., and Aaric Murray, a 6-10 center at Concordeville (Pa.) High. Harris confirmed early Wednesday he was signing with Georgia State of the Colonial Athletic Association, and Murray signed with La Salle of the Atlantic-10 Conference.

Similarly, top-10 prospect DeMarcus Cousins, a 6-9 forward at Mobile (Ala.) LeFlore High, has publicly committed to Alabama at Birmingham of Conference USA, but has not yet signed.

Two weeks after dismissal, Yan gets reinstated by Central Michigan

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- Central Michigan Chippewas reinstated Marcus Van less than two weeks after the senior was dismissed for a violation of team rules.

"The opportunity to be a student-athlete at Central Michigan University is a privilege," coach Ernie Zeigler said. "In the last week, Marcus has demonstrated a better understanding of what is expected from members of our program."

Van will start the season with a six-game suspension, however.

Zeigler announced Van's dismissal on Oct. 24.

The 6-foot-7 center from Chicago played in 30 games last year, his only season with the Chippewas. He averaged 5.8 points and a team-high 5.3 rebounds.

"We feel this opportunity is warranted after an extended evaluation of this situation and a demonstration by Marcus that he understands his responsibilities," athletic director Dave Heeke said. "His reinstatement is contingent on him meeting a number of conditions set for him which includes serving a six-game suspension to start the season."

Flashes ranked No. 7 in early poll

The Kent State men's basketball team is ranked seventh in the first www.CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll of the 2008-09 season.
The Golden Flashes, which host Muskingum in an exhibition game next on Nov. 10, closed out last year with a 28-7 overall record.
Kent State was named the league favorite in the Mid-American Conference Preseason Poll last week, and was one of three teams from the league ranked in the top 25.
Miami (Ohio) is ranked No. 14, while Western Michigan came in at No. 24.
Akron and Eastern Michigan were listed among the other teams receiving votes.
For the eighth time in 10 seasons, Gonzaga earned the preseason No. 1 ranking just ahead of Davidson, which matched the Bulldogs with 15 first-place votes.
The Mid-Major Top 25 includes teams from America East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Colonial, Horizon, Independents, Ivy, Metro Atlantic, Mid-American, Mid-Continent, Mid-Eastern, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, Southwestern, Sun Belt and West Coast Conference.

Men's Basketball Team Loses Medlock for Season

YPSILANTI, Mich. – The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team received some bad news when head coach Charles E. Ramsey announced that senior point guard Carlos Medlock (Detroit, Mich.-Murrary Wright) will be sidelined for the 2008-09 season due to a broken right foot. Medlock, who broke the same foot midway through the 2006-07 season, is expected to have surgery Tuesday, Nov. 4.

"This is a severe setback for our team to lose a person like Carlos Medlock," Ramsey said. "Carlos is one of the top guards in the Mid-American Conference and he has been a major part of our team for the past three years. I know that Carlos was excited about the prospect of big things in his senior season and I really feel badly for him. I'm sure that he will have a great chance at coming back next year as a medical hardship and we just have to move on from here. Any time you lose your floor general and leading scorer, it hurts, but we have young men that now get an opportunity to fill the void and grow in our program." FULL STORY