Two veteran coaches will debut at new stops when Maryland Eastern Shore visits Vanderbilt on Monday night in Nashville, Tenn.
Mark Byington takes over at Vanderbilt after a 9-23 campaign cost Jerry Stackhouse his job after five seasons.
Byington left James Madison one day after a second-round loss to Duke in the NCAA Tournament, ending a 32-4 season that included JMU’s first NCAA win since 1983.
Maryland Eastern Shore dismissed James Crafton after a 9-20 season — his fourth at the school — and hired Cleo Hill Jr. Hill spent the past six years at Division II Winston-Salem State, where he went 19-9 last season.
Both Vanderbilt and Maryland Eastern Shore have significant rebuilds ahead. The Commodores were picked to finish last of the 16 teams in the Southeastern Conference preseason media poll, while the Hawks were pegged seventh in the eight-team Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
Byington’s energy and style of play should be a refreshing change of pace from Stackhouse, who went 70-92 and extended an NCAA Tournament drought that stretches to 2017.
Byington will emphasize “position-less basketball” with a roster that lacks height. The Commodores’ tallest player is 6-foot-9 Southern California transfer Kijani Wright, who’s expected to miss much of the season with an undisclosed, non-basketball-related health issue.
That leaves JaQualon Roberts and JMU transfer Jaylen Carey — both listed at 6-8 — as the Commodores’ tallest players.
The transfer-heavy team — Byington was left with just one scholarship player when he arrived — will need to work hard to be competitive in the SEC
“We’re going to figure out how to compete against good teams,” Byington said. “We don’t have the option of going against bad teams or cupcakes, whatever you want to say it, like every team is going to be good.”
The offense should mostly run through Michigan State transfer A.J. Hoggard (10.7 points, 5.2 assists per game last season) and North Texas transfer Jason Edwards (19.1 points, 1.4 assists). Edwards (84 3-pointers last season) and Virginia Tech transfer Tyler Nickel (59) will have the freedom to shoot from distance.
Thirteen players from last year’s UMES team hit the transfer portal.
Hill brings one element of familiarity in 6-foot-5 Ketron “KC” Shaw (10.8 points, 4.8 rebounds per game) — whom he regarded as his top defender at Winston-Salem State — into a situation otherwise riddled with uncertainty.
It’s a roster short on Division I experience. Transfers Evan Johnson (3.8 points per game at UNC-Asheville) and Jalen Ware (3.9 points, 2.4 rebounds at Austin Peay) are the top candidates to help.
“I think we’ll take a year to kind of assess the program and assess the league and see what fits, see what works, see whatever shortcomings we have, and try to capitalize on that,” Hill told Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook over the summer.
–Field Level Media
