Titans Preview, Remember?

The Detroit Titans will make their way Tuesday into the Stroh Center.  They are riding as high as they have since the days that Dickie V was on the sidelines, and this will be a difficult challenge for the Falcons.

Last year, the Titans were 22-14 and won the Horizon Tournament.  They appeared in the NCAA Tourney, were a #15 and fell to Kansas in the first round.

From that team they lost big Eli Holman (11.7/7), Chase Simon (13 ppg) and shot blocker (#21 in D1) LaMarcus Lowe.  Right there you got 2 guys who are over 6'10" leaving and Simon was a 6'6" long guard.

Despite this, hopes are high for the Titans this year.  In their pre-season poll they were picked to finish #2 in the league and College Basketball Prospectus made the same call.

There are good reasons for this, and they start with Ray McCallum Jr., who is the pre-season pick to be the league's POY.  He was good for 15 points and 4 assists per game last year and is averaging over 19 so far this season.  He also brings back Jason Calliste, the team's top 3-point shooter, and 6'6" Sr. F Doug Anderson who had 9/4 last year.

They have a number of newcomers.  They have 3 JUCO players coming in, as well as Juwan Howard Jr., who, I am sure you recall, started his career in Kalamazoo.  F Nick Minnirath is also back after a medical red shirt last year, but he was scoring 12 when he went down.  Finally, they have a 6'5" G named Anton Wilson who was a top-150 recruit though he is seeing only a few minutes a game.

BG and Detroit played at the Stroh last year as part of the  "CBE Tournament."  BG beat a short-handed Titan team 67-61, holding McCallum to 11 points.  For BG, Calhoun had 14 and Scott Thomas had 11 in the game.

 The Titans are 2-2, which is about what you would expect given their schedule.  They have wins over Northern Michigan (non D1) and then a win over Drake at Calihan Hall.  Their losses were @St. John's and @Miami (F).  The loss to the Red Storm was only by 3 with a missed 3FG at the buzzer keeping the game out of overtime.

In addition to McCallum's 19 and 4 assists per game (and shooting 48% from the field), Doug Anderson is scoring 16 and getting 8.8 boards.  Calliste and Minnerath are both scoring 12.5 PPG.

For all that, statistically they appear to be pretty even with BG, not accounting for schedule strength.  The Titans are scoring 1.03 per possession against .95 on defense, with BG at .99 and 1.01.

NCAA Basketball

This is big challenge for BG in their first D1 game at the Stroh this year.  If you are looking for a key to the game, BG is going to have to play really good team defense to compete with Detroit, and much of it will have to be in transition.  To help there, BG needs to defend well, but also making baskets here and there could help slow that down as well.  The inside matchups on Anderson and Minnerath will be critical as well as a good test for Black and Holmes in the paint.