2012-13 Men's Basketball Preview - Polar Bears to enter Kevin Byrne era with momentum
By Tim Glon
ADA — The Polar Bears hope a strong 2012 post-season finish will carry momentum into the 2012-13 campaign.
The Ohio Northern men's basketball team has high hopes as the Kevin Byrne era begins this year.
Nine lettermen, including three starters, return from last year's squad that finished 14-14 overall and were 8-10 in the Ohio Athletic Conference.
Northern won twice in the OAC Tournament took eventual OAC Tournament champion Capital to the wire in the semifinals before bowing out.
ONU's first-year coach is looking for that momentum to carry over to this year while at the same time wiping the slate clean and starting fresh this year.
"We want to go into preseason practice with a clean slate," Byrne said. "We want to give everyone a fair shot to prove what they can do on the basketball floor. I have watched some film, but we have no preconceived notions on who we will play.
"We will look to play at pace and take advantage of the large number of perimeter players we have on the squad. We want to be able to get up and down the floor, but also get a good shot on each possession. We need our players to step up and I am optimistic that some guys that have not seen much action in their careers will be ready to go this year."
Here is a breakdown of the 2012-13 ONU men's basketball team, by position:
Guard
Byrne has a wealth of talent and experience at the guard positions, with seven returners that have a combined 261 games and 139 career starts to their credit.
Junior Brandon Rushton is a two-time All-Conference guard that led ONU in scoring last season, averaging 13.4 ppg, and in assists with 55.
Rushton is a prototypical scorer that can get to the rim and shoot the 3-pointer well and has started all 54 games in his career.
Senior Taylor Kuhlman has started 59 games in his three seasons.
He led the team in steals last season with 29, was second in assists with 52 and was fifth in scoring at 7.1 ppg.
Junior Jared Horstman started 20 games last year and averaged 8.1 ppg.
He was also second on the team in rebounding at 4.4 rpg, showing his versatility.
Sophomore Jordan Martin came on strong in the second half of his freshman season, playing in the final 14 games with three starts.
Sophomore Isaiah Roux has a solid freshman campaign, playing in 22 games as backup point guard.
Senior Jason Faykosh has 33 games of experience to his credit and senior Kyle Wrentmore rounds out a deep and diverse group of returning perimeter players that will all battle for playing time this winter.
Add to the mix freshmen Rick Deichert and Marquis Harrison and there will be nine players all competing for playing time on the perimeter.
"Everyone has a shot at the beginning of the season," Byrne said. "No one has anything locked down at the start. With that said, we do return a two-time All-Conference player and several others that have been through the OAC wars that we can build off of."
Post
Two-time First Team All-Conference honoree Scott Schnelle has graduated, leaving a challenge for the returning Polar Bears to fill.
Junior Dominique Royal has showed signs of brilliance in his first two seasons at Ohio Northern has the potential to be an outstanding OAC player.
Last year, he was fourth on the team in scoring at 7.4 ppg and was fourth in rebounding at 3.1 rpg.
Sophomores Adam Bair and Lucas Pennington also showed promise after spending time in the rotation all year as freshmen.
Bair averaged 4.9 ppg is more of an inside presence, while Pennington averaged 4.0 ppg and can play inside or outside depending on the situation.
Incoming freshmen Cory Havens and Jonathan Stechschulte will also battle for playing time in the post.
"We hope to have great competition on the inside this season," Byrne said. "We may be a little small as far as size is concerned, but we expect that our guys will battle for rebounds, be a threat to score and play excellent defense against anyone we face."
Overview
Ohio Northern will have three fresh faces on its coaching staff, including a new head coach, in 2012-13.
But the goals of Polar Bear basketball will remain the same: win the Ohio Athletic Conference and advance to the NCAA III Tournament.
Although many challenges face the squad as the season gets underway, a commitment to excellence has been promised by everyone in the program.
"We are really excited about the upcoming season," Byrne said. "We hope to play an exciting brand of Polar Bear basketball to the ONU Sports Center this winter."
Ohio Northern won the 1993 NCAA Division III National Championship, reached the 2000 NCAA Division III Final Four and won OAC Championships in 2001, 2000, 1999, 1995, 1993, 1988, 1982, 1976.