by BigMacAttack » July 23rd, 2023, 10:50 am
Let/s start with the last place team from 2023, the Evansville Aces. No where to go but up! As Coach Rags said in a podcast this summer, the team had 6 weeks of summer pratice with players that were familiar now with the offense, defense, and terminology the coaching staff is teaching compared to 2 weeks last summer with all new players. I will touch on both returning and losing players as who stayed is more important to this year's progress.
WHO LEFT – Fifth year starting point guard Marvin Coleman II ran the offense last year and started all but one game averaging 10.7 ppg. He was a one and done after 4 years at UNLV. He is playing ball in Europe this year.
EIGHT other players left including part time starters Smith and Phillips. Those eight players contributed 18.6 ppg. Beauchamp left the team in December averaging 8.6 ppg in the 9 games he played in.
WHO STAYED – Four starters and one walk on. Kennny Strawbridge Jr. started all games averaging 14.4 ppg and earned third team all conference. Yacine Toumi and Gage Bobe started all but one game each and averaged 10.4 and 5.6 ppg. Sekou Kalle, the only true center on the team started 12 of 15 games but was injured the majority of the MVC season.
OUTLOOK – The incoming Aces are taller and should be more athletic and better shooters than the players that left. Heir apparent to the vacant PG position is a fifth year player Antonio Thomas who played his first two seasons at Bradley and his past two seasons at Kentucky Wesleyan. Five Aces are listed between 6'9” and 6'11” and two newcomers are true post players. Cam Haffner, son of Aces hall of famer Scott Haffner joins the team after playing his freshman season at Eastern Illinois. Cam was freshman of the year in the OVC and a true 3 point threat. Chuck Bailey III is a 6'5” freshman combo guard who was first team all metro Detroit last year.
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