Men's Basketball looking forward to 2020-21 season with incoming class
MIDDLETOWN, Ohio --- Carlow University men's basketball was ranked 13th in the River States Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll, the league announced Tuesday.
MIDDLETOWN, Ohio --- Carlow University men's basketball was ranked 13th in the River States Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll, the league announced Tuesday.
The Celtics placed sixth in the RSC East Division standings. The poll was released as part of the RSC Men's Basketball Media Day, and voting was conducted by the conference head coaches.
Head Coach Tim Keefer enters his seventh season, and is the only head coach the program has known since its inception in 2014-15.
Keefer is joined by associate head coach Dave Gordon (seventh season), and assistant coaches Keith Ptomey (third season) and Jake St. George (first season), a 2019 graduate of Carlow.
The Celtics brought 10 new faces to the program this season – five true freshmen and five transfers.
"Defensively, we had to get some rim protectors, so that's what we did in our recruiting this year," Keefer said. "We have some 6-foot-8, 6-foot-9 guys who will play inside, and our forwards from last year can move out to the wings."
Carlow returns almost all of its starting lineup from last season, including leading scorer and rebounder, Marcus Millien. Millien averaged 13.73 PPG, 4.54 RPG and had 12 blocks on the season.
Swade Redman, who led the team with 38 steals last year, and Jenkins Kimber are the two seniors on the squad.
Last season, the Celtics went 1-27 (0-15 RSC), with the only win coming over NCAA DIII opponent Washington & Jefferson College Jan. 15, 2020.
Coach Keefer said the RSC is a tough conference, but the Celtics can be successful this season with better rebounding and defense.
"We have to keep teams in the 80s if we can. We were giving up 100 points, and you can't do that if you want to win games," he said.
Throughout the season, Keefer never loses sight of the real reason the athletes are there.
"I tell them, basketball for me is part of my life experiences and it's part of theirs," Keefer said. "They're here to get a degree and hopefully get a good job, and basketball is part of that."
The 2020-21 River States Conference Men's Basketball Coaches' Preseason Poll predicted Indiana University East as the favorite this year. The Red Wolves are the defending RSC Championship winners, and they lead a crowd at the top of the preseason poll.
IU East, which was 23-10 overall, 14-2 RSC last year, won the RSC Championship with a thrilling win over Indiana University Kokomo at home. The Red Wolves garnered 134 total votes and five first-place votes to lead this year's preseason poll. That's right in front of IU Kokomo, which is coming off a season of 27-7 overall, 13-3 RSC and received 131 total votes and three first-place votes.
WVU Tech, which was last year's RSC Regular Season Champion and RSC East Division Champion, came in third in the poll with 129 total votes and the remaining five first-place votes. The Golden Bears are coming off a season of 23-8 overall, 15-1 RSC.
The preseason poll voting was also broken down into RSC East and West Divisions. IU Kokomo was the unanimous choice to win the RSC West with all 12 of the possible first-place votes. IU East was the favorite to win the RSC East with seven first-place votes, one more than WVU Tech.
The 10-player RSC Men's Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team was also conducted by voting from the league head coaches. Returning players from last year's All-RSC First Team were automatically named, and returners from the All-RSC Second Team were voted onto this year's preseason team.
2020-21 RIVER STATES CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL COACHES' PRESEASON POLL (OCT. 13)
(First-Place Votes in Parenthesis)
School | Votes |
1. IU East (5) | 134 |
2. IU Kokomo (3) | 131 |
3. WVU Tech (5) | 129 |
4. IU Southeast | 116 |
5. Point Park (Pa.) | 97 |
6. Midway (Ky.) | 79 |
7. Asbury (Ky.) | 74 |
8. Ohio Christian | 61 |
9. Rio Grande (Ohio) | 57 |
10. Brescia (Ky.) | 50 |
11. Alice Lloyd (Ky.) | 49 |
12. Oakland City (Ind.) | 24 |
13. Carlow (Pa.) | 13 |
RSC MEN'S BASKETBALL COACHES' EAST DIVISION PRESEASON POLL
(First-Place Votes in Parenthesis)
School | Votes |
1. IU East (7) | 62 |
2. WVU Tech (6) | 61 |
3. Point Park (Pa.) | 45 |
4. Ohio Christian | 30 |
5. Rio Grande (Ohio) | 27 |
6. Carlow (Pa.) | 12 |
RSC MEN'S BASKETBALL COACHES WEST DIVISION PRESEASON POLL
(First-Place Votes in Parenthesis)
School | Votes |
1. IU Kokomo (12) | 78 |
2. IU Southeast (1) | 67 |
3. Midway (Ky.) | 48 |
4. Asbury (Ky.) | 46 |
5. Brescia (Ky.) | 32 |
6. Alice Lloyd (Ky.) | 31 |
7. Oakland City (Ind.) | 13 |
2020-21 RSC MEN'S BASKETBALL PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
David Burton, F, IU Southeast
Desean Hampton, F, IU Kokomo
Justin Barksdale, F, Ohio Christian
Kwon Evans, F, Midway
Tamon Scruggs, F, WVU Tech
Trequan Spivey, G, IU Kokomo
Garrett Silcott, G, IU East
Leander Ridgeway, G, Asbury
Jocobi Hendricks, G, IU Southeast
Jehu Lafeuille, F, IU East