2009-10 Men's Basketball Season Preview

10.29.2009

After the worst season of his 30-year tenure, head coach Paul Patterson has scoured the state of Indiana to attract the state's best young talent. Replacing four players from last season's 11-20 squad with five fresh faces, the Trojans hope to return to their roots of championship teams with championship people.

The 2009-10 team will rely heavily on the contributions of underclassmen including three of Hoosier Basketball Magazine's Top 60 Showcase participants. The core of incoming freshmen averaged a combined 59.5 points per game in their last season of competition, 1.3 points more than the 2008-09 Trojans combined.

Keeping with Taylor basketball tradition, Patterson will mold the offensive-minded group into a tough defensive unit joining a history of Trojans to be ranked among the best defensive teams in the NAIA. The three-man corps that will protect the basket and anchor the defense averages greater than six-feet-eight-inches in height.

The nucleus of young talent includes five freshmen and two sophomores on the 12-man roster while just two returning upperclassmen will contribute experience from significant playing time in the past two seasons.

The Backcourt

Junior Drew Tower has seen action in all but two games of his college career and returns the most experience to a youthful Trojan backcourt. Last season Tower led the team with a sweltering 47% shooting clip from the 3-point line and will look to add leadership to the Trojans' defensive unit that held teams to 59 points per game last season, the second best average in NAIA Division II.

Sophomore Kyle Hanaway played in all but one game as a freshman and will contribute to the point guard role again this season. Hanaway is expected to build on his 2.27 assist per game average from last season with the addition of sharpshooting freshmen Tommy Peller and Casey Coons.

Peller hails from Chesterton, Ind., where he averaged 17 points and 4.5 assists as a senior at Chesterton High School while shooting 44% from the 3-point line.

An Indianapolis, Ind., native, Coons averaged 12 points, 5 assists, and 3 rebounds per game and shot a torrid 47% from behind the arc as a senior at Franklin Central High School.

Both Peller and Coons participated in the Indiana High School Athletic Association's Top 100 Showcase after their efforts last season and should provide offensive firepower to a squad that averaged just 58 points per game last season.

Austin Thoms returns for his senior season after appearing in 24 games as a junior. In his second season as a Trojan, Thoms came to Taylor by way of Concordia College (Neb.) and is originally from Fort Wayne, Ind.

Freshman Jake Hoffman will add depth to the Trojan backcourt. The Tipton High School graduate helped his team to back-to-back sectional championships as a junior and senior.

The Frontcourt

Sophomore Jake Burkholder will lead an even younger Trojan frontcourt joined by one senior, one junior, and two freshmen. Burkholder was arguably the most improved player on the 2008-09 Trojans appearing in all 31 games, becoming a starter for the final four contests. In those four games, the 6-9 Crown Point, Ind., native averaged 10.5 points including a career high 19 points at Indiana Wesleyan.

Six-foot-nine-inch Nate Kasper joins the Trojans after a year in the U.S. Naval Academy and a season at Western Reserve Academy prep school in Ohio. The Valparaiso native averaged 13.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2 blocks at WRA while shooting 60% from the field. Prior to joining the Academy, Kasper played at Wheeler High School where he averaged 24.5 points per game and participated in the North-South All-Star game. The freshman transfer has four years of eligibility remaining and is expected to make an immediate impact on both ends of the court.

Markle, Ind., native Brock Woodward joined Peller and Coons on the Hoosier Basketball Magazine Top 60 list and may be the most versatile of the newcomers. The 6-7 freshman could see time at three different positions contributing to the Trojans' frontcourt and backcourt. Woodward nearly averaged a double-double as a senior at Bluffton High School posting 17 points and 9 rebounds per outing with a 67% success rate from the floor.

Senior Justin Goeglein holds the most on-court experience in a Trojan uniform of any player on the roster this season, appearing in 90 games in three years. Goeglein started in 23 games as a junior and averaged 5.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game.

Showing improvement in his shooting and ball handling skills, the Trojans could utilize junior Scott Gill's superior athleticism in the frontcourt. Gill won the NAIA long-jump national championship last spring, a trait that could translate to being an asset on defense and an explosive first step on offense.

The Schedule

The 2009-10 schedule features exhibition games against two NCAA Division I opponents in Ohio University and Butler University and a trip to NCAA DII Gannon University during the holiday break.

The Trojans open their preseason against Ohio University on October 30. The Bobcats are led by Taylor graduates John Groce (head coach) and Chris Holtmann (assistant coach). The two were teammates on Patterson's 1994 team that was ranked No. 1 in the country and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NAIA National Tournament. Both have also served on Patterson's staff as an assistant coach at one point in their careers.

One week later the Trojans travel to historic Hinkle Fieldhouse to take on the Butler Bulldogs. The 2008 Horizon League regular season champions are coming off a 26-6 season in which they were ranked in the AP and ESPN/USA Today Top 25 polls for 12 consecutive weeks, reaching as high as No. 11. Butler opens the 2009-10 season as the nation's No. 10-ranked team in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll.

Patterson acknowledges the daunting task of playing two NCAA D-I schools and a potential preseason top 15 team but is looking forward to the long-term benefits. "We know these games will demand a lot from our players," he said. "We feel like the pace and intensity of the games and the experience will go a long way in helping our young guys adjust to college basketball."

Taylor will see three conference opponents during the first semester when they travel to the University of Saint Francis (Nov. 24) and Spring Arbor University (Dec. 5) and play host to Huntington University (Dec. 1).

On December 22 Coach Patterson will command the sidelines at Cincinnati Christian for his 1,000th game at the helm of the Trojans.

The 26th annual Ivanhoe's Classic is slated for the weekend of December 11-12 with the traditional Silent Night contest being played on Friday night at 6 p.m.

Before turning the calendar and striking up the bulk of conference action, the Trojans will travel to NCAA Division II Gannon University for a two-day holiday classic on December 29-30.

On two occasions during the second semester the Trojans will face three 2009 national tournament qualifiers in a matter of four games, including back-to-back games against 2009 co-conference champions Bethel College and Indiana Wesleyan University.

The season hits full stride on Nov. 3 when Taylor plays host to Miami-Hamilton at 7 p.m. A live stats feed will be available for each home contest this season at www.taylor.edu/athletics.