2015-16 Men's Basketball Preview

DEFIANCE, OHIO  –  As the calendar year flips over to 2015-16, the Defiance College men's basketball team will look to carry over its success of a year ago this winter, but will have to do so with new players and new leadership.

The 2015-16 Yellow Jackets will welcome back seven players from last year's team that finished 22-7 overall and 14-4 in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference.  DC finished as the conference regular-season and tournament champions and advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament for the fifth time in program history.  Defiance also recorded the first NCAA postseason win with a victory against 2013-14 National Champion Wisconsin-Whitewater.

In addition to having seven new faces on this season's roster, the Yellow Jackets will be under the guidance of first-year head coach Scott Cutter.  Cutter is no stranger to DC as he served as an assistant coach at HCAC-rival Hanover (Ind.) College for the past six seasons (2009-15) and he began his coaching career with the Yellow Jackets as an assistant for four years (2003-07).

"I'm stepping into a program that has had a great deal of success in recent years, including back to back HCAC Championships," said Cutter.  "There have been tremendous coaches and players that have helped make Defiance a program that the school and community take lot of pride in. It's our job to work hard and continue that tradition of success."

This season, DC was picked to finish sixth in the HCAC Preseason Coaches Poll.  The Yellow Jackets received 45 points to place sixth overall and had one first-place vote.  Mount St. Joseph University was picked as the favorite with 97 points and seven first-place votes.  Rose-Hulman (Ind.) Institute of Technology was second with 90 points and two first-place votes and Hanover (Ind.) College rounded out the top-three with 73 points.

GUARDS

Defiance will return several players at the guard positions led by the junior duo of Michael Parker (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North) and Chris Holmes (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North).  Both saw the most playing time amongst the returners with Parker playing in all 29 games and making four starts, while Holmes played in 26 games coming off the bench.  Parker averaged 5.8 points per game and was amongst the team leaders in three-point shooting making 43-of-109 attempts for a 39.4 shot percentage.  He also averaged 2.5 rebounds per game to go along with 23 assists, five blocked shots and 11 steals.  Holmes averaged 1.9 ppg. while shooting 37.0 percent (17-of-46) from the field, including 78.6 percent (11-of-14) at the free-throw line.  Holmes also grabbed 1.3 rpg. last season in addition to one blocked shot and six steals.

In addition to Parker and Holmes, fellow junior Devin Mangas (Leipsic) returns following a season that saw him play in 19 games and score 37 points (1.9 ppg.) while shooting 43.3 percent (13-of-30) from the field.  He grabbed 13 rebounds, had three assists and five steals during his sophomore campaign.

Providing depth at the guard position will be senior Clay Walker (Wadsworth/Barberton) and sophomores Jonathan Ragland (Wilmette, Ill./Loyola Academy) and Kyle Williams (Van Wert/Lincolnview).  Ragland was a member of the junior varsity team last season, while Walker and Williams played in a combined six varsity games coming off the bench.  Walker ended the season with three points with his only basket coming on a three-point attempt, and Williams had one rebound and an assist.

FORWARDS

The Yellow Jackets will have the most new faces at the forward position, but will return a key member of last year's team in senior Wade Wooley (Wauseon).

In 2014-15, Wooley started all 29 games and led the team in rebounding with 202 total boards (66 offensive and 136 defensive) for a 7.0 rpg. average.  His 7.0 rpg. ranked fourth most in the HCAC.  Wooley also led the team in blocked shots with 36 which were second highest in the conference and third most in a single season in program history.  Wooley shot an impressive 68.7 percent (68-of-99) from the field and had eight assists and five steals.  Following the season, he was selected to the HCAC All-Sportsmanship Team.

The remaining roster spots at the forward position will be filled by first-year players.

SCHEDULE

Defiance will begin the 2015-16 season at the Wheaton (Ill.) College Lee Pfund Classic on Friday-Saturday, Nov. 20-21 in Wheaton, Ill.  The Yellow Jackets will take on Wabash (Ind.) College in the season opener on Friday with tip-off scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

The Jackets will play their first home game on Tuesday, Nov. 24 when DC hosts Ohio Northern University at the Karl H. Weaner Center at 7:30 p.m. 

DC will also host the annual Purple & Gold Tournament during the semester break on Tuesday-Wednesday, Dec. 29-30.  The Yellow Jackets will welcome Baldwin Wallace University, Albion (Mich.) College and North (Ill.) Park University to make up the four-team field.  The tournament will begin with a matchup between BW and North Park on Tuesday at 5 p.m., followed by Defiance against Albion at 7 p.m.

"I'm excited to be taking over a program that has had a great deal of recent success, and a long tradition of winning," added Cutter.  We graduated a tremendous senior class last year, but I feel like we are also returning a strong core of talented players as well as some newcomers that have a chance to make an instant impact. It is a great opportunity for those players to have prominent roles, and I feel like they are ready to step up to the challenge. Our goal is to compete extremely hard, and fight to win each and every game we play!"