Men's Basketball Preview

Men and Women’s Basketball Preview

Men’s

The 2013 Marshall Men's Basketball team's ticket sales saw a drop from the 2012 season to the 2013 season.  Marshall hired a new head coach in Dan D'Antoni, and had multiple roster changes. Could the changes spark a raise in ticket sales?

According to the NCAA's Official Attendance tracker, Marshall's Basketball team had an average attendance of (6,197) a game in 2012. That number dropped to 5,893) in 2013. This ranked Marshall 100th overall among NCAA Division qualifying school; however, the ranking was a drop from the 87th ranked position the previous season.

The average attendance for an NCAA Division I game was (5,176). This ranks Marshall slightly above average. However, even though there was a decrease this past season, Director of Ticket Sales, Tyler Crockett, said that there has been a positive trend the last five years.

"Over the past 5 seasons, season ticket sales have been on the rise," Crockett said. "With a positive outlook for each upcoming season over this time period, we have acquired more season ticket holders each year. With Coach D’Antoni returning to coach our squad this season, we expect to be above and beyond last years’ number as well".

Crockett did mention that the previous seasons lack of success has an effect on ticket sales, but he also believes that bringing in D'Antoni will help sales as well.

"Success or failure in the previous season is absolutely one of these factors.  We do happen to be in an area where our fans are quite the basketball buffs, and this helps our sales tremendously," Crockett said. "In fact, some of this can be attributed to the success we had when our current head coach was a player that has lead our fan base to be avid basketball fans.  Also, bringing in a new coach, who happens to be one of Marshall’s favorite sons, has led to a lot of interest this season as well".

Another factor that effects ticket sales, according to Crockett, are the promotional events.

"When you have some folks who are on the fence, offering some sort of discounted rate or some type of single game on-court opportunity can definitely encourage folks to purchase," Crockett said.

Some fans also feel good about the attendance this season. Marshall Sophomore, Nick Simmons, went to every game last season, and he said that he expects attendance to go up as well.

"I have talked to a couple of my friends that wanted to go to some games last season," Simmons said. "They didn't want to go because Marshall was not exactly a stellar team, but this season is different. They have a new coach, who played for Marshall, and they have some interesting new players".

Marshall starts off its season with four consecutive home games. The first is against Concord on Saturday, Nov. 8. Then it plays three games in a span of five days. The games include Jacksonville State, Savannah State and West Virginia Tech.

Moeller Beat X

Friday night the Bombers of St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati held host to the Crusaders of Archbishop Moeller High School. The Crusaders, who were victorious over the Bombers 13-7, are ranked 29th in the Nation, 1st in the state of Ohio, and remain undefeated this season, according to Max Preps official ranking page.

During the season Moeller has averaged more than 30 points a game.  Though Moeller has averaged multiple touchdowns a game, there was not one offensive touchdown scored by Moeller the entire game. With 390 combined yards for both team, the offense for both teams had issues moving the ball and scoring throughout the game.

One of the reasons that could have led to this low scoring affair could be that Moeller and St. Xavier see each other so often, that there really were no surprises between the two schools. Moeller's starting quarterback, Matt Crable, son of former NFL player Bob Crable, thought that might have been the case.

"I think that's definitely part of it but I also think that these two defenses are two of the best in the state and that slowed down the scoring," Crable said.

Mitch Brauning, of the starting defensive backs for Moeller, believed that it was due to the hard work.

"I think it was because both defenses Friday night were very strong and tough, Brauning said. "Our defense has been working very well for us so far not just because of the schemes, but also because we are very aggressive".

The aggressiveness that Brauning spoke of did show. The only touchdown scored by Moeller during this contest was a defensive touchdown. Early in the first quarter Moeller's Chad Campbell had a 19 yard interception returned for a touchdown.

That proved to be Moeller's only touchdown of the game. That coupled with two field goals from kicker Matt Coghlin was enough to beat the Bombers. According to Crable this win gives Moeller the confidence it needs to play another top rival, LaSalle High School in Moeller's next game.

"It gives us a lot of confidence because we know that even if the offense doesn't have a good game we can count on the defense to pick us up," Crable said.  "There might be a game where that will be flopped, but we know that we can count on each other to make the necessary plays when needed".

Moeller's next game against the Lancers of La Salle will be held at La Salle High School in Cincinnati, Oh. La Salle, like Moeller, is undefeated this season at 5-0. It is ranked 13th in the state of Ohio and 131st in the nation.

Marshall Golf

The Thundering Herd Golf team has finished in the top five in events three or more times this season.  With its most recent event finished on Oct. 21, the Herd does not play again until Nov. 1 at the Hummingbird Intercollegiate.

The Hummingbird Intercollegiate at West Carolina.  The Herd had its most recent top five finish Oct. 19, so there have been a couple of weeks since then.

Head Coach Matt Grobe said that the team will not have an issue staying focused after the break because of the kids.

"Well, I think the real key for us is having the right kids on the team", Grobe said.

The off time is not uncommon for the Herd; however, from Oct. 7 to Oct. 19 it did not play either. The Herd finished in the top seven in the Oct. 7 event in Cincinnati, then the Oct. 19 event at Old Dominion the Herd finished in the top five for the third time this season.

Grobe said that this is usual for the team to play well out of break.

"We have a great group of guys on the team that work really hard," Grobe said. "So we actually usually come out of the off week better than we were before".

With the break for the Herd being about half way through, Saturday’s Hunningbird Intercollegiate on Nov. 1. is coming up.

Moeller Win over St. Ignatius

The Archbishop Moeller High School Crusaders rebounded Friday night from a loss against the La Salle High School Lancers with a victory over the Elder High School Panthers. With the 26-17 win, Moeller moves its record to 6-1 overall, and 2-1 in its conference. Heading into the next game against St. Ignatius in Cleveland, Ohio some of the Crusaders players said that they have regained their confidence.

Starting defensive back Mitch Brauning said that it is going to be physical.

"It is going to be a physical game. They are a great team," said Brauning. "I think that if we come out the way we did against Elder that we are going to be fine".

Brauning said that he thinks they are going to be fine, which is due to the confidence boost.

"That win against Elder helped us get our swagger back," said Brauning. "Now we have to go against another tough team and keep it going".

With the new confidence Brauning said that he feels good about the rest of the season.

"We feel very good about the rest of the season," said Brauning. "These next few weeks to end the regular season are going to be very tough and we know it. So we are staying and getting ready week by week".

With the game against St. Ignatius scheduled for Oct. 18 at Archbishop Moeller High School, the Crusaders still have a full week to get ready.

Will Evans Profile

With the Golf season for the Thundering Herd in full swing, one of the golfers, Will Evans, is excited to get going; however, there is more to Will Evans than just Will Evans the sophomore, letter-winning golfer.

So many times the media only shows the athlete. They media does not necessarily show the person. Evans had some interesting comments about his life away from the game, his opinions about his own game, and his expectations for his career.

Growing up in today's era for kids, there are many different sports. With the seasons spread out the way they are, it is common for kids to play multiple sports at a very young age. This could not have been truer for Evans.

"I played a lot of different sports growing up," Evans said. Soccer, football, and basketball were a few that Evans named. "But, I didn't even think about golfing around middle school. My dad was a professional up at a golf club. And I kind of wanted to follow in his footsteps".

Like many athletes his goals started from there. Evans claims that he works his goals for his career one step at a time.

"My goal when I was in high school was to play Division 1 NCAA golf. Now that I am here, I am working on getting better and my next goal would be to try and go professional," Evans said.

But many people realize at some point that they may or may not go play sports at the professional level. If the later is the case for Evans he does have one place that he would love to play.

"Augusta National," Evans said as his eyes lit up. "It is one of the hardest courses in the world and that would be a dream golf course for me to play.

Evans did say that he did not get into golf until mid-high school. So what does the letter-winner do in his free time? It may surprise you.

"I don't do a whole other than play golf and hangout with the team. I work out a little bit. Just a regular college thing to do," Evans explained.

So with his dad being a professional at a golf club, and Evans basically using all of his time to golf, even his free time, there does not seem to be a whole lot else to the life of Will Evans. But another person that knows Evans pretty well would be his coach. Marshall's Golf Coach Matt Grobe had some wonderful things to say about his returning letter winner.

"He spent the whole summer working his tail off and has come back to campus playing some great golf," Grobe said. "One of my favorite things about Will is that he is solid in everything that he does. He is a good student, a good golfer, and a great kid".

Things are looking bright for Evans and the Thundering Herd Golf Team this season. According to Herd Zone Evans shot 1 under 70 during the 45th Annual Joe Feaganes Invitational.