2014-15 ESU MBB Quick Facts l NABC DII preseason poll (No. 4)

Lincoln CIAA/PSAC Challenge
Friday, 8pm - ESU at Lincoln (Live Stats l Live Video)
Saturday, 4pm - ESU vs. Bowie State (Live Stats l Live Video)

East Stroudsburg University, coming off a historic 30-2 season, PSAC championship and runner-up finish in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region, tips off the 2014-15 men's basketball season this weekend at the CIAA/PSAC Challenge at Lincoln University.

The Warriors are ranked in the top five in all four national preseason polls - No. 4 by the NABC (National Association of Basketball Coaches), the Basketball Times and The Sporting News and No. 5 by the DII Bulletin - after finishing No. 2 in the final NABC poll of the regular season last March.

Four starters, including three All-PSAC East selections, return under 13th-year head coach Jeff Wilson, who was named the Basketball Times and CollegeInsider.com national Coach of the Year after guiding the Warriors to the fourth 30-win season in PSAC history.

Senior guard Whis Grant, a two-time All-America selection, is on two preseason All-America teams and senior point guard Matt Tobin is a returning All-PSAC East first team selection.

They are joined in the starting lineup by sophomore forward Rasheed Moore, the PSAC East Freshman of the Year, a second team All-PSAC East pick and DII Bulletin All-Freshman selection, and junior guard Jamal Nwaniemeka, the PSAC Tournament MVP.

Zechariah Runkle, ESU's second-leading rebounder and emotional leader last winter, is the only key contributor who doesn't return for the 2014-15 season.

The Warriors will once again face a challenging PSAC schedule - playing eight PSAC East schools twice, and six of the nine members of the PSAC West, including NCAA Tournament teams Gannon and IUP.

Wilson has upgraded the non-conference schedule as well, beginning this weekend. Lincoln (20-9 in 2014) is picked second in the CIAA Northern Division and hosts ESU on Friday night at 8 p.m. The Warriors face Bowie State (14-14), the CIAA North preseason favorite, on Saturday.

In two weeks, ESU hosts NCAA Tournament qualifier New Haven (20-9) on Sunday, November 30. In February, the Warriors travel to Elite Eight qualifier and NCAA DII East Region champion Southern Connecticut State (30-3), ranked No. 2 in every national preseason poll.

ESU is 72-21 in the last three years with three straight 20-win seasons, two PSAC championships (2012, 2014), five straight PSAC Final Four appearances and four NCAA Tournament appearances in five years (2010, 2012, 2013, 2014).

In the midst of undoubtedly the best sustained stretch in program history, ESU has won two straight PSAC East regular season championships and three of the last five. The Warriors can become the first PSAC East school to claim three straight divisional crowns since Millersville in 1985-87.

The Warriors will attack their 27-game regular season schedule with a veteran club that includes five seniors - Grant, Tobin, forward Lamont Tillery and fifth-year senior guards Will Brown and Muhamadou Kaba.

A full-court, 94-foot style has been the hallmark of Wilson's teams since he came back to his alma mater prior to the 2002-03 season. An assistant under Sal Mentesana for nine years, including on the 1990 PSAC championship and NCAA regional finalist team, Wilson brought the press back to Koehler Fieldhouse and last year's squad might have executed it better than any team before.

ESU earned a national statistical championship in turnover margin ( 6.97) and ranked third in steals (10.59 per game) to fuel its 30-2 record, generating extra possessions and easy baskets in transition while posting a scoring margin ( 16.2) that was the school's best since 1943.

Wilson expects to play at least 10 players a night with capable backups at every position. Just five players have averaged 30 minutes per game over the last five years, including Tobin (30.5 mpg) in 2014.

Wilson enters the year with a career record of 213-129 (.623), two wins from ESU's all-time record of 215 held by Ken Sisson (19 seasons spanning 1963-78, 79-83). He and assistant coach Justin Potts have built a program that had just 26 wins in the four seasons immediately preceding their arrival, into one that set a school record with 30 wins in 2014.


THE BACKCOURT

Tobin and Grant form one of the top backcourt tandems in Division II basketball. Grant ranks third among active DII players with 1,487 career points and Tobin was 10th in DII in assists per game (6.4) last year and also led the PSAC in steals (2.2 per game) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.5).

Grant has led ESU in scoring three straight years, posting 17.6 points per game in each of the last two seasons after pacing the 2012 PSAC championship team with 13.9 per game as a freshman.

He was a Basketball Times All-America third team and DII Bulletin honorable mention selection in 2014, and a Daktronics and DII Bulletin All-America honorable mention member in 2013 to earn consecutive All-America honors.

Grant is named to preseason All-America teams by the Basketball Times and The Sporting News this season, and will already go down as one of the most decorated players in program history.

He was the PSAC East Athlete of the Year as a sophomore in 2013 and is a two-time All-PSAC East first team selection.

A scoring threat from anywhere on the floor, Grant set a school record with 88 three-pointers last season and has 210 in his career, less than 30 from ESU's career record of 236 held by Andy Heimbach. He is a career 40.0 percent three-point shooter and has gotten to the foul line an average of 147 times per season, shooting 79.0 percent at the stripe.

His 1,487 career points are fourth-most in school history after scoring 562 points in 2014.

Tobin's play at point guard was one of the biggest factors in ESU's success last season. Now entering his third season as a starter at the point after a prolific career as a high school scorer (2,350 points), he is just 99 assists from ESU's career record of 467 (Mike DelGrosso) after handing out 205 assists in 2014, second-most in school history.

Tobin averaged 9.3 points per game, fourth on the team, and posted 8.8 points and 8.2 assists in six postseason games - three each in the PSAC and NCAA Tournaments - while playing 211 of a possible 240 minutes.

He was named the Lehigh Valley Small College Basketball Organization "Pete Nevins Player of the Year" following the regular season, and has guided ESU to a 52-9 record in his two seasons as a starter.

This is the eighth straight year the Warriors have had a Tobin on the roster, with Matt (2011-15) following his brother Mike (2007-11), an All-PSAC East forward in 2011 and starter on the 2010 NCAA Tournament team that held a school record with 24 wins, which was broken last year.

Freshman Jakwan Jones will back up Tobin and see significant time at point guard. A two-year starter at state power Imhotep Charter (Philadelphia), Jones played on three PIAA championship teams, two Philadelphia Public League championships and one city championship.

Nwaniemeka, a transfer from Division I Rider, is in his second season as a starter for the Warriors and was the third-leading scorer last year with 12.6 points per game.

He had a career-high 27 points, with 22 coming in the second half, of a 92-80 win over West Chester in the PSAC championship game to earn Tournament MVP honors. He made 49 three-pointers and also ranked third on the team in steals (41) and blocks (21) at the defensive end while playing 25 minutes per game.

Two veterans - Brown and Kaba - will provide important minutes as backups behind Grant and Nwaniemeka.

Brown is in his fifth year in the program but just third on the floor, missing the 2012 and 2013 seasons due to injury. ESU's top bench scorer as a freshman in 2011 (8.8 ppg) and redshirt junior in 2014 (9.1 ppg), Brown is a significant threat from the three-point line. He has made 109 three's in two years, including 61 last season, at a 40.4-percent rate. He buried seven three's and scored a career-high 25 points in a 74-71 win over West Chester in the final game of the regular season.

Kaba has seen his minutes increase every season, playing 8.2 minutes per game in all 32 games last year. A strong defender and offensive rebounder, his energy has been key in earning and keeping a spot in the Warriors' backcourt rotation.

Redshirt sophomore Marquis Marshall (Reading, Pa./Berks Catholic), a transfer from Division I Towson, and redshirt freshman Steve Stoney (Harrisburg, Pa./Harrisburg) could also earn time in the rotation at the "three" spot in the ESU lineup.

Junior Wes Cherry has played in 33 games in his first two seasons and can play either the three or four for the Warriors.


THE FRONTCOURT

Moore, just a sophomore, and senior Lamont Tillery are the veterans of a young group at the "four" and "five" spots.

Moore (6-5, 225) saw almost all his time at the "five" as a freshman, starting 31 of 32 games and averaging almost 28 minutes per night. He is expected to split time between the two frontcourt spots this season with three players - junior Dajon Todmann (6-8, 225) and sophomores Steve Harris (6-7, 235) and Sultan Aminu (6-6, 230) - gaining more substantial roles.

Moore was the second-leading scorer (13.6 ppg) and top rebounder (6.3 rpg) as a freshman on ESU's PSAC championship team last season.

He scored in double figures in the first nine games of his career, having his breakout games with consecutive double-doubles against Lock Haven (20 points, 16 rebounds) and Millersville (13 points, 10 rebounds) and scoring 24 points at Slippery Rock. In January, he had 24 points in a big comeback win at West Chester, then scored 19 points against West Chester in the PSAC championship game and 18 against Livingstone in ESU's 99-98 win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Moore turned in three double-doubles, scored 10 points in 25 of 32 games and shot 50.8 percent from the field and 45.8 percent (11-for-24) from the three-point line.

Tillery (6-4, 225) enters his fourth year in the system with just five career starts under his belt, but has been one of ESU's key role players as a rebounder, defender and three-point shooter. He played 17 minutes per game last year behind Runkle, posting 6.7 points and 4.2 rebounds per game - and combined with Runkle to average almost 13 points and 10 rebounds per night out of the "four" spot.

He has averaged 15 minutes per night over 93 career games, scoring 490 points.

Two newcomers could also join Moore and Tillery at the "four" in freshman Chris Bing and redshirt freshman Vadjikiba Dasso (Saint-Denis, France). Bing was the Philadelphia Public League Player of the Year at Central High School and was a third team All-State selection.

Harris enters the season as the starter at the "five", coming off a freshman season in which he averaged just under five minutes per game in 25 games in a backup role. He had 51 points and 37 rebounds (19 offensive) while shooting 64.7 percent (22-for-34).

Todmann is in his third season at ESU, playing in 55 games, including 31 of 32 last year. He averaged 8.2 minutes per game and posted 85 points and 64 rebounds, with a key contribution (6 points, 5 rebounds) in the PSAC championship game.

Aminu played in 17 games, recording 55 points, 25 rebounds and shooting 55.8 percent (24-for-43). He had 18 points and five rebounds in 11 minutes of action in a win at Mansfield in late January.


THE SCHEDULE

After this weekend's tip-off tournament against Lincoln and Bowie State, the Warriors head to Lock Haven for their PSAC East opener on Wednesday, Nov. 19 - the site of their only regular season loss (82-80) on February 6 last season.

The PSAC crossover schedule, which counts in the PSAC standings, includes a trip to PSAC West favorite Gannon (December 16) and a home game with perennial PSAC and Atlantic Region contender IUP (January 3).

Match-ups with West Chester, the PSAC runner-up in two of the last three years, are January 17 (home) and February 18 (away).

ESU is home for just three of its seven games in February, which includes a February 11 trip to Southern Connecticut State for a Wednesday night game in a meeting between two of the seven 30-win teams in DII in 2014.