2014-15 Season Outlook: No. 10 Ranked Scots’ Ability to Reload Will Be Tested

Having won nine of the last 10 North Coast Athletic Conference championships and owning the highest win percentage of any NCAA men's basketball team in the 2000s (.849; 387-69), The College of Wooster has a history of reloading rather than rebuilding. That will be put to the test this season, as the Fighting Scots are forced to replace three starters due to graduation, two of whom were all-conference selections last year, including Doug Thorpe, the NCAC Player of the Year and a first-team All-American.

"Those are big shoes to fill. Three players who were very instrumental in our success," said Steve Moore, who carries a remarkable 732-209 record (.778) into his 34th season as a head coach. "Obviously, Doug had an excellent career and an outstanding senior year, but Kenny (DeBoer) and Scott (Purcell) both had excellent seasons as seniors. They contributed in a lot of different ways."

Wooster also has a three-member senior class this season – Xavier Brown, a returning All-American and three-time member of the All-NCAC First Team, and Jalen Goodwin and Evan Pannell, both of whom have also played critical roles in the team's success the last three years. All three are perimeter-oriented players, with Brown a combo guard, Goodwin a natural point guard, and Pannell a wing type.

"They have all played a lot for us and had good careers to date," added Moore. "We're looking for them to step forward and be leaders, and hopefully each one will have the best year of their career."

Brown finished as the team's top scorer a season ago at 14.7 points per game, while also contributing 3.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists, and serving as the top perimeter defender (40 steals). The latter may be his most important asset to the Scots.

Goodwin, who has averaged 17.5 minutes of playing time since stepping on campus as a freshman, will likely take on his most prominent role yet. He will look for an uptick in scoring (3.5 career average) and assists (1.0), in addition to continuing to be a defensive stopper himself.

Pannell is expected to return to a starting role at small forward, a position he held down as a sophomore, then unselfishly yielded it to Purcell for his senior year. Coming off the bench, Pannell's numbers improved across the board with 7.8 points as a junior (7.3 as a sophomore), 3.6 rebounds (3.0), and 0.9 steals (0.6).

Joining Brown as the other "returning" starter is 6-6 sophomore forward Dan Fanelly, who had a solid first year with averages of 9.1 points and 4.9 rebounds. He possesses the ability to become more valuable as a multi-faceted scorer, top rebounder, and strong defender with continued improvement.

Fanelly is complemented by Josh Kipfer, a 6-6 junior center, and Alex LaLonde, who also stands 6-6 and returns after missing last season due to injury. Kipfer has the potential to serve as a vital cog in the team's success, as he looks to build on his 5.0 scoring and 3.8 rebounding averages. LaLonde, a transfer during the 2012-13 academic year, has only played one semester for the Scots thus far, displaying potential with 3.5 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 0.8 blocks over 18 games.

Those six players have all proven themselves in big-game situations, but several others are pushing to step up and join them in the regular rotation, including returning letterwinners Milt Davis and Chris Logsdon, both guards, as well as other veterans and freshmen.

With Brown, Goodwin, and Pannell around the perimeter, Wooster could have one of the finest defensive teams its ever put on the floor, as it looks to improve on 62.5 points allowed per game – 21st last year in NCAA Div. III – on a .410 field-goal percentage.

"We have the potential to be a very good defensive team, but it's not going to happen automatically," offered Moore. "Players have to make it happen with a lot of determination on the defensive end."

An area where the team hopes for significant improvement is rebounding. While the Scots ended up with a positive margin (+1.7 per game), that was not near their usual standard.

"We definitely want to improve in that area. We improved as the season went along," Moore said. "We'll continue to emphasize the team approach with the guards contributing, and the big guys will be better with experience."

Offensively, the Scots, using a philosophy in which they look to score in transition whenever the opportunity is available or an efficient half-court game predicated on ball movement, have led the league in scoring seven of the last 10 seasons, including last year with a 75.3 average.

"We've been emphasizing an up-tempo approach. We want to take advantage of our team speed. We believe we have excellent team speed, even at the power positions," explained Moore. "Of course, we know a lot of games end up being decided in the half court, so we've been working hard on that as well."

Wooster's goals, as always, are to win the conference, something it has achieved a league-leading 16 times, including 13 of the last 17 seasons, and to be part of "March Madness." The Scots have been in 19 of the previous 20 NCAA Div. III Championship fields and 23 overall, with three runs to the national semifinals (2003, 2007, 2011).

A more detailed look at each position and a preview of the Scots' 2014-15 schedule follows:

BACKCOURT

Brown has piled up 1,236 points, 178 assists, and 107 steals as well as a number of honors – a spot on the 2013-14 D3hoops.com All-America Third Team being the most notable – entering his senior year. His team-leading 14.7 points last season came thanks to much improved shooting percentages, making 45.0 percent from the field, 44.8 from 3-point range, and 84.2 at the free throw line, and after another good off-season, according to Moore, he could be even more efficient on both ends of the floor.

Goodwin will play an important role again, possibly as the starting point guard. While instinctive at that position, he is also versatile enough to move to the other perimeter spots, possessing the length and quickness to effectively guard taller players. On the offensive side, Goodwin may seek out more scoring opportunities with his driving and 3-point ability (36.8 percent over the last two seasons).

Pannell, a shooting guard/small forward, has worked to translate his outstanding athleticism into being a standout both offensively and defensively. He put his energies into being a lock-down defender early in his career and has evolved into a scoring threat as well as force on the boards, averaging 7.5 points, including some highlight-reel dunks, and 3.3 rebounds the last two years.

Davis, who showed flashes during 14 appearances as a freshman (2.5 ppg), raised some eyebrows with a 10.0 scoring average during the team's fall break trip to Spain, and Logsdon, who earned a varsity letter last season, add experience to the backcourt.

Others pressing for varsity action include sophomore Nick Nossaman and freshmen Ari Stern and Spencer Williams.

FRONTCOURT

Fanelly's improvement, especially on the defensive end, was "one of the big reasons why (Wooster) won the 2014 conference tourney," according to Moore, and now he is attempting to take his game up another level. Statistically, he finished last year averaging 13.6 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.0 blocked shots, and 1.0 steals over the final seven games, five of which came during the postseason.

Kipfer took some strides, grabbing hold of a spot in the regular rotation during the 2013-14 campaign, and the coaching staff is counting on the 6-6, 230-pound center to utilize his competitiveness, experience, and size to produce again. One of seven players on the team to average at least 5.0 points, he was also active on the defensive end with 25 blocks and 21 steals.

LaLonde initially enrolled at the Air Force Academy, transferred to his hometown school of Wooster during the 2012-13 academic year, and missed all of last season due to a shoulder injury. Now healthy, the Scots are hoping he can contribute in a number of ways at the power forward position, as they're looking for him to be a versatile scorer and guard a number of different players defensively.

With the team looking to build its depth in the frontcourt, Alex Belinsky and Derek Schwarz are attempting to dent the rotation as freshmen.

SCHEDULE

Moore always looks to present the team with a challenging schedule, and he may have outdone himself this season, which begins with a home game against No. 20 ranked Cabrini College Nov. 15. The Philadelphia area school has been a factor on the national scene the last few years, including eliminating the Scots from the 2013 NCAA Div. III Championship in the third round.

Wooster's 21st annual Al Van Wie/Rotary Classic will have a different feel to it this season – a round-robin event among three teams, instead of a traditional four-team tourney. Nonetheless, joining the Scots are NCAA tourney contenders University of Mount Union and St. Vincent College. In fact, the St. Vincent-Wooster game marks a rematch of last season's NCAA first-round game, which the Scots won 76-67, and Mount Union is the defending regular season champions in the Ohio Athletic Conference.

A challenging road game to Hanover College follows, as the Panthers went 19-9 last year, and then NCAC play begins with three games against opponents who are expected to place among the top half in the standings – DePauw University, which is in the others receiving votes category of the top-25, Ohio Wesleyan University, and Wabash College.

After a trip to the University of Pitt.-Bradford, Wooster will host its other long-time running event – the "Mose" Hole/Kiwanis Tournament – between Christmas and New Year's. This year's field is made up of Hope College, a traditional Div. III powerhouse from Michigan, the University of Wis.-La Crosse, which handed last year's national champions (Wis.-Whitewater) one of its four losses last season, and Spalding University, coming off a 19-8 record.

From then on, it will be all conference games, highlighted by Wittenberg-Wooster, one of the nation's best small-college basketball rivalries. With the Scots having swept three meetings from the Tigers each of the last two years, the all-time series is now dead even at 54-54. Wooster will welcome them to Timken Gymnasium on Jan. 17, then travel to Springfield, Ohio, Feb. 14.

While fans may mark those dates on the calendar, Moore always excels at getting his players to focus on one game at a time as there are several excellent teams within the NCAC. "It's going to be tougher than ever to win (the conference). DePauw has an All-American-caliber big man among its talented roster, Wittenberg had very good young talent last season that has developed, Wabash will really be a factor, Ohio Wesleyan has established a winning program, and the list goes on and on."