By Michael Schrader
On November 7, the Marian University Men’s Basketball team will open their season at IUPUI.
Last year the Knights ended their season 16-11 with a 7-9 record in conference play. However, the Knights did not make it to the NAIA National Tournament and lost in the first round of the Conference tournament.
“The most disappointing thing about last season, and I’m still not sure I’m over it, is we lost two home games in over time,” said Head Coach John Grimes.
“If we would have won those two games at home, we would have been able to play in the (NAIA) National Tourney.”
The Knights had a good indication on how they fared in the conference last year. They beat Grace College twice and split with Indiana Wesleyan. IWU and Grace finished one and two in the conference.
With the end to their ’10-'11 season, the team lost four seniors, one of which was leading scorer Jordan Tucker. The team also graduated Anthony Furlin, Brandon Malone, and Matt Allee. These seniors brought a defensive intensity and a physical toughness to the team, a trademark of last year.
These roles, however, will not go unfilled. The Knights are returning three seniors and several players that were significant to last year’s season.
“It’s hard to pinpoint a player,” said Grimes.
“we’ve got two or three returning players that had great years last year.”
Of those:
Last year’s MCC All Conference point guard junior Aaron Evans, will return to the court this year.
Senior Alex Sylvester, in his fourth year with the team, is expected to continue his role as a predominant scorer and amplify his defensive intensity.
Junior transfer student Jake Sullivan will take on some responsibility for the defensive intensity and inside toughness, a gap necessary to fill.
Another inside man, Curtis Clem, is out with a face injury and won’t return till late in the season.
Fifth year senior Tyler Kleinschmidt will be coming back from a redshirt year, in which he chose to take an accounting internship last year.
But with the returning experience, it does not mean the season will be easy.
“The biggest struggle is getting to the conference season and competing in the conference,” said Grimes.
Coach Grimes went on to say each year their goal is to win the conference. But if they are unable to win conference, he said, they would like to be in the top four so they can host a conference tournament game.
Grimes is also in his thirty-sixth season with Marian and says it is a rewarding experience to have stayed with the program for so long.
“To see things grow and develop into what we have now is very rewarding,” he said.
The season starts off with an away game against IUPUI on November 7, and a tournament at Bethel College on November 11 and 12. The Knights' first home game in the Dungeon will be on November 15 against IU-Kokomo at 7 p.m.
