Outside of one returner, Indiana State's men's basketball team has a brand-new look, but there's also confidence.
While the exhibition games helped the Sycamores to figure out rotations, chemistry growth and to feel out schemes, Third-year head coach Matthew Graves said teams play different rotations of players, including ISU. However, he said there's definite reason for excitement.
The new roster includes 6-foot-3 freshman guard DeShawn Denson, 6-4 senior guard E.J. McQuillan, 6-1 senior guard Meechie White, 6-7 freshman guard E.J. Hazelett, 6-7 redshirt sophomore guard Chance Puryear, 6-1 redshirt senior guard Karmani Gregory, 6-5 sophomore guard Duce Paschal, 6-10 freshman forward Kingston Land, 6-5 sophomore guard Maguire Mitchell, 6-9 sophomore forward Aleksa Vlajic, 6-4 redshirt freshman guard Martin Kaupanger, 6-2 freshman guard Ian Thomas, 6-9 freshman forward Kade Speckman, 6-7 senior forward Jackson Cooper and 6-10 junior forward Alessio Calamita.
Remaining with the team is 6-4 senior guard Greyson Pritzl, out for the season with an injury. ISU hopes he'll choose to return next season.
So who should fans look for this season in various statistical categories?
Karmani Gregory dropped 22 points at Butler, so one might liken him to Samage Teel from a couple of seasons ago.
Mitchell could be a key player, both grabbing rebounds and scoring, as he scored 10 at Butler and 19 against Rose. Cooper has shown the ability to score with 12 at Butler and 22 against Rose-Hulman and grab a few boards as well. But Puryear was the leading Sycamore rebounder at Butler with eight and then tied Cooper for seven against Rose.
Graves said there will be adversity, but that the potential for growth is higher with this group than any of his previous ISU teams. Graves and his coaching staff worked to recruit bigger players in the offseason. Last season, the Sycamores struggled against taller Missouri Valley Conference opponents such as Bradley and Northern Iowa.
He praised his coaching staff saying they did a great job bringing in the right character type of players.
"We've had good people in the past," Graves pointed out, "but these guys really work and love playing basketball."
One aspect that has been a bit of a struggle in the past is out-rebounding teams with Graves saying it's been better with this team.
"I think it's been a mindset," Graves said. "We need our guards to rebound more defensively because on the defense side of the ball, all five guys have the responsibility of rebounding."
Graves said sometimes people think if a team doesn't rebound well, it's because of the frontcourt players.
While almost a completely different roster, last year's Sycamores averaged 35.1 rebounds per game while opponents averaged 35.8 rpg. ISU sits 195th in the NCAA in rebounding out of 361 Division I institutions.
"That's not the case, I think really good teams, you look through their stats, whether it's their wings or their guards, they'll have a couple really good rebounders in that mix," Graves mentioned.
Last season's team finished 11-21 overall and 4-16 in Missouri Valley Conference play with a first-round Arch Madness conference tournament exit.
Speaking of Valley play, the Illinois State Redbirds fell to Green Bay in an exhibition game and Bradley was dealt a setback by Saint Louis.
However, Graves doesn't put much stock into exhibition contests because of players that may or may not have played, lineups coaches fiddled with and possible injuries like one player on Bradley who will be out for a bit.
While the 10-man rotation is pretty solidified, Graves said players like E.J. Hazelett, Ian Thomas and DeShawn Denson II must continue to learn and get better.
"But they're not that far behind," Graves said. "We always talk about having the 'next man' mentality, but right now the guys with more experience playing in college, they have a little bit of an edge right now."
One aspect of the game the Sycamores struggled mightily with was turnovers as they were dead last in the Valley with an average of 13.8 a game. ISU opponents averaged 10.8 turnovers a game.
Graves said if the Sycamores can take care of the basketball, that should eliminate two to four points a game right there.
"Being able to set our defense, make it difficult for [the opposition] to get to the paint to begin with and that starts with our physicality and our willingness to set our defense in transition," Graves said.
ISU opens the regular season at home against Charlotte at 7 p.m. Monday in Hulman Center.
