Men's Basketball Preview, Part 2: Cleveland State

Oct. 24, 2007

Gary Waters has been very quiet about his expectations for the 2007-08 season, preferring to put in the hard work and effort on the court and wait to see how it translates into wins and losses.

Waters knows well from experience, first coming a decade ago when he turned around a floundering Kent State program and then again six years ago when he faced a similar situation at Rutgers.

"I expect this team to be above .500 and we want to compete for some things," Waters told the media during the preseason. "We want to compete for the title at the tournament in Daytona, we want to compete better on our home court and make it an advantage for us and we want to compete for the Horizon League title, both during the regular season and the post-season.

"You can never lower your expectations, because if you do, you are certain to achieve them. I have our guys striving for the highest part of the mountain and if they don't achieve that, then they will be somewhere just below it."

Starting just his second season at CSU, Waters will benefit from a roster full of players brought in over the last 18 months. Fourteen of the 16 players on the roster were recruited by the current coaching staff, allowing Waters to accelerate the job of building a winner in Cleveland.

"In order to run the system that we want to use, you have to have players capable of running it," Waters said. "We did a nice job last year of doing this with the personnel at hand but we couldn't effectively run our system because we were both short on depth and lacking the players with the skill set to play in the system."

Waters addressed the depth issue in recruiting, adding a class of newcomers that was ranked by experts as the second-best recruiting class in the state of Ohio. That is quite an accomplishment considering that the Vikings needed both quality and quantity in recruiting.

The bulk of the eight-player recruiting class came from in-state where Waters added one of the top five players at every position. Seven of the eight players are from Ohio, including three from the greater Cleveland area. Add to the mix the three transfers who joined the program last year but sat out the season to meet NCAA transfer guidelines and the Vikings will have 11 new players on the court this year.

Despite all of the new faces, the roster still has good balance, featuring eight upperclassmen (two seniors and six juniors) and seven underclassmen (one sophomore & six freshmen).

"We are a pretty young team this year," Waters said. "But when you take a close look, we are an experienced team as well. The only thing that we lack is experience playing together and that will come. This group has as good of a team chemistry as any team I've ever coached. They do everything together, both on and off the court, and that chemistry is going to translate into better team work on the court."

The bulk of the experience comes from the five returning players, two of whom were starters and each of whom saw considerable action a year ago. Add to the mix the the three Division I transfers -- Cedric Jackson, Chris Moore and George Tandy -- each of whom have two years playing experience and the Vikings boast at least one veteran at each position on the court.

"This is a good mix because over half of the team has played in the system for the last year and the other half are freshmen who have the potential to have an impact once they adjust to college basketball," Waters said.

Point Guard Position Improved
The best example of the balance on the roster is at point guard where junior Cedric Jackson and freshman Norris Cole will most likely split the playing time with freshman Eric Schiele entering the mix once he becomes eligible at the end of fall semester.

The most likely starter is Jackson, who transfered to CSU last year after starting 35 of the 54 games that he played during his two seasons at St. John's. Although he may be better suited to play at off-guard, his leadership skills, ball-handling and ability to penetrate opposing defenses to create scoring opportunities make him the perfect candidate to run the point.

At 6-3, 190 pounds, Jackson's size, strength and quickness have made him one of the top perimeter defenders on the squad.

Cole (6-1, 190) is the point guard of the future. He started on teams that went 50-6 during his final two seasons at Dunbar High, winning the state title each year. His athleticism allowed him to twice earn all-league recognition as a quarterback on the football team at Dunbar.

"Our point guard position is in good shape," Waters said. "Cedric is a high major athlete whose experience at St. John's will help him to be an impact player in this league while Norris is a winner who has all of the tools that you want from your point guard."

Schiele (5-10, 160) is the most intriguing of the Viking newcomers after leading the nation in scoring (39.6 ppg) as a senior at Waterloo High. His 120 three-pointers as a senior ranks him second in state history and he had four 50-point games, including a career high of 69 points.

"Eric is definitely high-octane offensively," Waters said.

In a pinch, Waters can also call on senior Breyohn Watson and sophomore Joe Davis to play the position though each will be used extensively elsewhere.

Shooters Wanted
The off-guard position is the deepest position for the Vikings. Watson (6-3, 190) and Davis (6-0, 180) are the two-returners at the position with freshman D'Aundray Brown (6-4, 180) being the best of the freshmen class.

Add to the mix Jackson and Schiele, when they aren't playing at the point, and Nick Weaver, when he isn't at small forward, and Waters has six players capable of providing minutes at the spot.

After setting the school record by making 198 three-pointers last season, the Vikings will be hard-pressed to equal the accomplishment this year as the roster features only two natural shooters.

"I like our guards this year because they are generally big and strong and capable fo cutting and slahing their way to the basket, but we need to work on improving our outside shooting," Waters said. "We've got a lot of guys who can make the shot but I don't consider them to be shooters."

Watson gave the Vikings a boost off the bench last year, averaging 2.3 points and 1.2 assists in 15.2 minutes. He used his size and quickness to be a defensive sparkplug.

A natural scorer, Davis ranked second among Horizon League freshmen a year ago by averaging 9.2 points a game. He was second on the team with 33 treys, but shot just .270 from behing the arc (33-122) as opposed to .504 from inside it (67-133). He started 19 of the last 20 games, scoring in double figures 13 times.

Brown is the name that pops up most when talking about the freshmen who can make an impact. He was a first team all-state choice and district player of the year honoree after averaging 22.3 points, 14.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game as a senior.

Options Exist At Small Forward
The most interesting position for the Vikings this year is at small forward where the versatility of the Viking roster is in full force. Depending on the opponent and situation, Waters can opt to use numerous different playing combinations.

J'Nathan Bullock (6-5, 240), a second team preseason All-Horizon League choice for the second straight year, will most likely see the lion's share of playing time at the position with junior Nick Weaver (6-2, 190) being the leading candidate when Waters goes with a three-guard lineup.

Bullock, who is only the third player in school history to lead the team in scoring as both a freshman and sophomore, averaged 13.5 points and a team-best 6.5 rebounds a game last year despite playing most of the year as an undersized power forward.

Weaver, who ranked sixth nationally with a 23.1 scoring average as a sophomore at Glendale Community College. The top outside shooter on the squad, he made 47-percent of his three-point attempts a year ago.

Inside Lineup Features Size & Depth
The move of J'Nathan Bullock to small forward was made possible by the improvement in depth at both the power forward and center spots, where six players should see time, four of whom are 6-8 or taller.

Eastern Illinois transfer George Tandy (6-8, 210) is the leading candidate to start at power forward with senior Kevin Francis (6-8, 210) expected to see extensive time as well. Freshman Daitwan Eppinger (6-6, 190) may also work his way into the lineup as he gains experience.

Tandy, who was the Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year while at Eastern Illinois, will provide the Vikings with a shot-blocking and post defensive presence that has been lacking the last couple of seasons. He averaged 9.2 points and 7.1 rebounds as a sophomore in 2005-06.

Francis was one of the top players off the bench for CSU last year, averaging 6.2 points and 4.4 rebounds with 25 blocks in the first 18 games before becoming ineligible at the semester break.

Eppinger, a second-team all-state choice as a senior at Garfield Heights High, averaged 19.1 points a game as a senior.

The size is even better at center where juniors Chris Moore (6-9, 240) and Renard Fields (6-7, 220) and freshman Joe Latas (6'11", 280) will help to give CSU its biggest inside game in five years.

Moore, a product of Lakewood St. Edward High who played his first two collegiate seasons at UC Santa Barbara, has dropped over 25 pounds since joining the squad last fall. A high energy blue-collar player, he fits in well with the Waters' system and should be a mainstay in the lineup the next two seasons.

Fields, who has played in 53 games off the bench the last two years, came back to campus almost 15 pounds heavier and the improvement in size, along with considerable gains in the weight room as well, have helped him to play stronger on the court. He averaged 2.0 points and 2.9 rebounds a game last year, ranking second on the team with 23 blocks.

Latas is the big man of the future and when that future begins is all up to Latas and his ability to recover from off-season ankle surgery. He averaged 22.0 points, 14.5 rebounds a 4.6 blocks in his first nine games as a senior before being sidelined for the season with a broken ankle. When healthy, he is an efficient back-to-the-basket post player capable of dominating the post at both ends of the floor.

Schedule To Present Many Challenges
The Vikings are guaranteed to play at least 32 games in 2007-08, the most since setting a school record with 33 games in both 1985-86 and 1986-87, with at least 17 of those games coming on the road.

The season opens with a five game road swing that includes four games as part of the Glenn Wilkes Classic in Daytona Beach, Fla. The Vikings play at South Florida on Nov. 9 in an opening round matchup before heading to George Mason to face the 2005 NCAA Final Four participant on Nov. 13.

CSU returns to Florida to face Georgia Southern (Nov. 16), Florida State (Nov. 17) and Florida Atlantic (Nov. 18) in Daytona Beach.

"The early season schedule will be a big challenge to us," Waters said. "With five straight games on the road against some pretty good competition, our players will have to come together very quickly in order for us to find success. If this happens, then it will be a big sign for the rest of the year."

The Vikings open the home schedule with a three-game homestand, facing John Carroll (Nov. 24), Cal State Northridge (Dec. 28) and Geneva (Dec. 1).

Horizon League play begins in early December for the second straight year when CSU hosts Youngstown State on Dec. 8.

After a week-long break for final exams, CSU will play host to NCAA national runnerup Ohio State on Dec. 18 in the inaugural game of the McLendon Scholarship Classic, an annual game that will benefit the John & Joanna McLendon Scholarship fund at CSU.

The non-conference slate ends with back-to-back games against MAC opponents. CSU will host Central Michigan on Dec. 22 before travelling to Kent State on Dec. 29.

The 18-game League schedule continues after the first of the year with the Vikings playing home-and-home series against each of the other nine League opponents, including first-year Horizon League member Valparaiso.

The lone break in the league schedule comes on Feb. 23 when CSU hosts a game in the sixth annual O'Reilly Auto Parts ESPNU BracketBusters.

Story provided by Cleveland State Office of Sports Information