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Cleveland State Vikings

11/06/06
by Joe Dlugosz

After another failed coaching situation at Cleveland State, the Vikings found themselves looking for their third head coach in five years.  The university finally feels they made the right choice in hiring 55-year-old Gary Waters.  Waters has ten years of head coaching experience at the Division I level and has had success in his previous two stints at Kent State and Rutgers.  Over his ten years at the helm, Waters has put together four 20-win seasons and has a career winning percentage of .559.

Waters certainly has his work cut out for him as he inherits a squad that won just ten games a year ago and finished eighth in the Horizon League.  On top of that, forward Ije Nwankwo left school to pursue a pro career.  As a junior, Nwankwo was second on the team in scoring and rebounding.  His departure leaves the Vikings frontcourt thin and relatively inexperienced.

Waters has stated that the team needs to take a more disciplined approach to the game and not beat themselves with silly mistakes.  With that in mind, Waters has instituted early morning practices and strict rules for both on and off the court behavior.  Whether it pays off is anyone’s guess, but it should make the Vikings a bit more competitive as they gave up a league high 451 turnovers last season. 

Four seniors return that Waters is counting on to provide the leadership and examples the Vikings desperately need.  Raheem Moss started 22 games last season, scoring better than ten points a game.  He also led the club in three-point shooting, knocking down 56 three-pointers and finishing seventh in the league with a 37.8% mark from beyond the arc. 

Carlos English is a speedy 5’8” point guard who established himself as one of the better points in the league last season.  English was fourth in the league in assists and sixth in assist-to-turnover ratio.  English should make an argument for the league’s all-defensive team this season as well; he was second in the Horizon in steals a season ago.  Fellow backcourt mate Victor Morris can do a bit of everything and will see plenty of minutes.

The lone senior on the frontcourt is Patrick Tatham.  Finally playing a full season, Tatham led the Vikings with six rebounds a game.  He tossed in nearly eight points a contest as well.  Tatham will be counted on to anchor a Vikings frontcourt that lacks both depth and experience. 

Hoping to improve and become an impact in the Vikings frontcourt will be junior Luke Murphy.  At 6’9”, Murphy has the ability to go inside and outside.  If he adds the strength that Coach Waters demanded of his players,  he could make a more significant contribution this season. 

The Vikings do have hope for the future in star forward J’Nathan Bullock.  At 6’5” and 240 pounds, Bullock is more like a football player than basketball star but his numbers speak for themselves.  Bullock averaged a team high 11.3 points a game and 4.5 rebounds as a freshman.  His outstanding season landed him on the Horizon League’s second team this year in pre-season polling. 

In a backcourt that features three seniors it may be tough to find time.  Juco transfer, Breyohn Watson, will vie for some minutes, as will sophomore Bahaadar Russell.

Sophomore forward Tristan Crawford sat out last season as a prop-48er, but should provide an instant impact for the Vikings.  He was the Pennsylvania class AAA player of the year in high school where he poured in more than 2100 career points.  The Vikings beat out Penn State among others for his services.

Incoming freshman Joe Davis is a local player from Warrensville and is Waters' first recruit.  Davis shot nearly 50% from three-point range in high school and will be given ample opportunity to establish himself.

Juco transfer Kevin Francis will also see time in the frontcourt with his 6’8” 230 pound frame.  Francis came from the notable Vincennes junior college in Indiana where he put up better than seven points and four rebounds a game. 

Coach Waters definitely has a major rebuilding task ahead of him with the Vikings.  If his stern work ethic and commitment to weight training takes hold the Vikings may turn some heads this season.  Competing for the top half of the conference is definitely possible with a reduction in the turnovers that plagued the Vikings last season as well as a lack of discipline.  Whether Waters will succeed where others have failed remains to be seen but he has some pieces to work with and build upon.

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