Top-20 Match-Up Kicks Off 2014-15 Season

A pair of preseason top-20 teams meet in the first game of the 2014-15 campaign, as No. 10 College of Wooster welcomes No. 20 Cabrini College to Timken Gymnasium again.

The two schools have been national contenders in recent years, with Wooster finishing runner-up in the 2011 NCAA Div. III Championship and Cabrini doing the same in 2012. And in 2013, they played each other here during the Round of 16 with the Cavaliers edging the Fighting Scots 70-63.

Both teams' personnel has changed dramatically since, but two of the top players then are still among the best in the nation. In fact, Xavier Brown of Wooster and Cabrini's Aaron Walton-Moss represent two of D3hoops.com's five preseason first-team All-Americans.

They are guards and will match-up one-on-one from time to time, but the Scots will likely throw a number of defenders at Walton-Moss, the 2013-14 National Association of Basketball Coaches' Div. III Player of the Year. The physical 6-1, 220-pound Walton-Moss, who averaged 24.8 points, 10.9 boards, and 5.9 assists a season ago, was recruited by a number of Div. I programs before winding up with the Cavaliers, thanks in part to assistant coach-now turned-head coach Tim McDonald.

Giving Cabrini a dynamic duo of sorts with Walton-Moss is fellow senior guard Vinny Walls. Walls transferred to the Cavaliers last season and thrived once he adapted to his new environment. A strong outside shooter, Walls averaged 27.2 points over the last 10 games to boost his season number to 18.8.

In addition to Brown, who scored at a team-leading rate of 14.7 points last year, Wooster has the luxury of starting two other seniors around the perimeter in point guard Jalen Goodwin and wing Evan Pannell. They will likely be focused on their defensive duties tonight, but also possess the potential to fill the basket on the other end, with Goodwin having averaged as much as 5.2 points in a season previously and Pannell 7.8.

Despite starting two sophomores on the inside, the Scots may have an edge there, at least in terms of experience. Dan Fanelly showed steady improvement throughout his freshman year, finishing with 9.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per night. Ironically, the last time Alex LaLonde took the court, he played 21 minutes in the Cabrini game two seasons ago before missing all of last year to injury.

Sean Mayo appears to be the Cavaliers' lone big with collegiate experience, as the 6-5 sophomore was part of their national runner-up team and has now returned to school.