The 2009-10 Men’s Basketball Team is filled with experience, returning 11 players from last years varsity squad. Courtney Smith (Ypsilanti, Mi/Ypsilanti/Kellogg CC) and Corey Umfress (Monroe, Mi/Monroe) are team captains this year. They are the vocal leaders of the team. Smith, a forward, returns for his senior season after posting respectable numbers last year, shooting 56 percent from the field, averaging 6.7 points a game. He also led the team in rebounding with 200 boards. Umfress, a senior guard, looks to improve on his game as he will be a leader of this team. Forwards Chris Shiels (Adrian, Mi/Adrian) and Jake DeRoeck (Adrian, Mi/Adrian), along with guard Sean Nowaczyk (Brighton, Mi/Brighton) are three other returning seniors that will lead the Saints this season.
Coach Sandifer has eight returning juniors, Demetrius Andrews (Detroit, Mi/Northwestern), Logan Matthews (Coldwater, Mi/Coldwater), Mark Snipes (Detroit, Mi/Central), Derek Owens (Detroit, Mi/West Bloomfield), Darrell Boswell (Detroit, Mi/Mackenzie), Brent Reynolds (Waterford, Mi/), and Jake Schirmer (Romeo, Mi/Romeo). Sandifer believes that these guys, along with Kellogg Community College transfer Jon Jones (), will give this team a depth of on court experience. Sophomores Chris Lemm (Clinton Township, Mi/Chippewa Valley), Chase Mann (Adrian, Mi/Madison), Peter Sarnacki (Grand Rapids, Mi/Catholic Central), and Donell Jones (Grand Rapids, MI/Central) will be tweeners; starters on JV, dressing for varsity games.
After gaining valuable playing time as a freshman, sophomore Corey Lehman (Toledo, Oh/Central Catholic) will miss the season due to an injury. Sophomore Nick Kosovich will also miss the year. Both should be ready for next season. Although Lehman didn’t start any games last year, he did play in 26, averaging less than 15 minutes a game. Even though he was limited in his games, his presence will be missed as he was the sixth leading scorer on the team and their best free throw shooter, going 24-28 from the line, in limited action. Injuries have taken a toll on this team, and the difficult schedule they play, does not help them.
In the preseason WHAC poll, the Saints are picked fifth behind Cornerstone, Davenport, Aquinas, and Indiana Tech. The WHAC conference will be very competitive this season, with Cornerstone being ranked 16th and Davenport ranked 20th in the preseason NAIA Div II Coaches Poll. Aquinas and Indiana Tech both garnered honorable mention points. Outside the conference games, Coach Al Sandifer has set a schedule that pits them against Northwestern Ohio (Hon. Mention), Embry Riddle (14th), Indiana Wesleyan (9th), St. Francis (T23rd), Notre Dame College (Hon. Mention), and Spring Arbor (Hon. Mention). A tough road ahead, but Sandifer and his team have the experience to handle these high pressure matchups.
Last year, the team struggled, losing ten games by five points or less. Three of those losses came on last second shots. “We had three games on the road that we lost at the buzzer on a 25 footer or more; at Spring Arbor, lost by three at the buzzer, at Madonna, lost by a three at the buzzer, at Indiana Tech by a three at the buzzer, I don’t remember that happening in the last 20 some on odd years, I don’t remember it happening once or twice much less three times in one season.” Sandifer continued, “What did us in was our free throw shooting. We were a real weak free throw shooting team and that’s an area that will have to get better at. And that’s something we’ve put a real emphasis on in practice. Work extremely hard on putting our guys in pressure situations where they have to make free throws.”
As the team looks forward to this season, Coach Sandifer reminds us, “If were 9-2 instead of 2-9 in those games were 22-8 and were in the tournament and that’s how close we were to being a nationally ranked team, but that’s basketball.” The little things that cost them games last year will be the bigger things that they work on this year to improve the road record, their WHAC record, and their overall record.
The Saints start the season with the St. Francis Tournament and play in three more tournaments; the Nissan Mitsubishi Shootout hosted by Embry Riddle, the Midwest Catholic Tournament in Chicago, and the Notre Dame Tournament in Cleveland. The Shootout will be in Daytona Beach, Fla. A beautiful destination, but this is all business Coach Sandifer explains, “We’re not there to put on the suntan lotion and lay out the blankets; we’re there to work.” They open up the WHAC season at Madonna on January 6th.
The team will rely on its experience to get them through the season, having 4,241 minutes returning from last season, the Saints have a lot depth. Sandifer will see who steps up this season to lead them in scoring, as they lost 818 points from last year. Snipes, Nowaczyk, and Smith are the three top returning scorers with only 658 points between them. Someone will need to step up in order for them to be contenders this season and get themselves back in the WHAC title hunt.