If you had told AU men’s basketball coach John Ellenwood that his team was going to finish 13-12 and miss the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament, then he would say the expectations he had for his team were not reached. 

Although, if you told him that his team would win eight of the last nine games of the season after beginning the year 5-11, Ellenwood would be pleased.

That was exactly what happened for the men’s basketball team a season ago. A rough start had the Eagles in the cellar of the GLIAC standings and injuries to key players were piling up. Only then did the Eagles go on to win every game but one to just barely miss out on the postseason tournament. 

This season, coach Ellenwood hopes to see the winning attitude that his team had late last year carry over to the beginning of this season.

“I was proud of the way we fought to the end,” said Ellenwood. “We have to move forward from there this season.”

This year’s squad will have to move forward with a mix of some veterans with playing experience and a lot of newcomers. The top scorer returning from last year is senior forward Will Evans at 9.6 points per game. 

Other players returning who had starts last season include redshirt junior guard DaWaun Thomas, sharpshooting guards Brook Turson and Cole Krizancic, and sophomore forward Paul Honigford. Thomas was named to the All-GLIAC defensive team a season ago.

Ellenwood expects this group of veteran players to lead the young guys in preparation for the GLIAC season. 

“We have a young team with a bunch of new guys that haven’t played in a GLIAC battle,” Ellenwood said. “We have some guys returning that have played and it’s up to them to make sure that their level of play will tell our younger guys ‘this is the level of play that you have to compete at every night to win in the GLIAC.’”

Five freshmen and a transfer are the new faces to this year’s team. Redshirt sophomore Michael Hundley transferred to AU from The Citadel. At Renaissance High School, the 6-foot, 9-inch Hundley led the state of Michigan two years in a row in blocked shots.

Freshman guards Kaleel Waters, Adrian Cook and Boo Osborne will see playing time in the backcourt. Forwards Wendell Davis and Jett Speelmen will be new faces backing up Evans and Honigford. 

Ellenwood knows that these freshmen will get playing time which means there might be a lot of inexperience on the floor at times, but he believes in the potential that this group has.

“I like our talent as freshmen,” Ellenwood said. “They have to learn and get the experience.”

Of the Eagles’ 26 scheduled games, 22 are GLIAC contests, so there will be a lot of quick growing up to do for this cast of young players. 

“They get thrown in the fire pretty quickly and don’t have a lot of time to get the experience they need to play in the GLIAC. But, they’ll get it soon enough. You just hope as coaches that the leaders on your team have prepared those guys to play the way they should.”

Ellenwood has a tough task in replacing a couple of valuable seniors from last year’s team, the first being Evan Yates. Yates was a First Team All-GLIAC selection for two years and was named to the All-Region First Team a season ago. He averaged 16.8 points and 9.0 rebounds per game last season.

Point guard David Harris was also a valuable asset to last year’s team. He was a floor general off the bench that may not have filled the stat sheet a whole lot but he had a coach-like presence on the floor. He is now a graduate assistant at Division I mid-major powerhouse Virginia Commonwealth Univeristy under head coach Shaka Smart. 

The idea of replacing these two players is extremely difficult for Ellenwood, so difficult that he claims that they really can’t replace them.

“You have to move forward and find new ways to win without those guys,” Ellenwood said. “Offensively, it was easy to feed [Yates] and then look to receive it back from him. We have to make that adjustment offensively and learn to move around without the All-American center down low.  I think we’ve done a good job working on that.”

It will be a battle every night for the Eagles when they take the floor. The GLIAC has proved to be one of the most competitive conferences in America. Last season, the eighth and final seed in the tournament, Lake Superior State, ended up working its way to the GLIAC championship game.

Since the conference is so tough top to bottom, Ellenwood can only hope to focus on controlling his own team and making the conference tournament. 

“It will be an fight every night. It can get overwhelming when you have that much competition and not much of a break. The only variable we’re worried about is Ashland basketball.”

Expectations for AU this season might be up in the air due to the strength of schedule and youth, but Ellenwood knows that his team’s effort will determine where they end up at the end of the season.

“My expectation of the team this year is ‘win the day.’ Every day we have to work to get a little better and focus on what we can control.”

AU has three non-conference matchups including games at home against Oberlin (Nov. 12) and Seton Hill (Nov. 26) before travelling to Grand Valley State to begin the GLIAC season Dec. 5.