The Ball State men’s basketball team starts its 2013-14 campaign with new direction and leadership. James Whitford starts his first season as a head coach in his career, becoming Ball State’s 19th men’s basketball head coach.
“I like our talent level,” Whitford said about the upcoming season.
Ball State is coming off of a 15-15 season where they made the Mid-American Conference tournament as a No. 8 seed. It graduated its leading scorer Jauwan Scaife, center Zach Fields and lost a letter-winning point guard in Marcus Posley.
Ball State gained four freshmen over the offseason to add to the veteran leadership of seniors Jesse Berry, Matt Kamieniecki and all-MAC big man Majok Majok.
“[Majok’s] in better shape than he’s ever been,” Whitford said. “He’s stronger than he has ever been, his vertical is going up and I tell him everyday that his goal is being the MAC Player of the Year”
Majok finished last season with a per-game average of 10.7 points and 9.8 rebounds. As a junior, Majok ranked in the top 20 nationally in rebounding, finished third in the MAC with nine double-doubles and a game-winning dunk that was a finalist for the GEICO Play of the Year.
The Cardinals added freshmen Zavier Turner, Mark Alstork, Franko House, Quinten Payne, and freshman walk-on Kaleb Mallory.
With all of the additions, there still leaves questions of filling the shoes of the now-graduate assistant Jauwan Scaife. Scaife graduated with four letters, multiple MAC honors and school records.
Scaife ended his career on a tear, scoring at least 20 points in seven of the last 10 games, which led the Cardinals to a 7-3 run going into the MAC Tournament. He also scored a career-best 34 points against Central Michigan University. Scaife was selected to the second-team All-MAC in his senior season.
He also added his name to the list of 1,000-point scorers in Ball State history, set the school record of three-point attempts made finishing at 203 and three-point attempts with 579.
Without Scaife, one of the biggest games that is on a couple players’ minds is the Dec. 17 match-up at Marquette.
“That game really stuck out to me,” Turner said about Marquette. “They already have the upper hand just because they are a proven team and they are in a better conference.”
Turner has strong aspirations to be MAC Freshman of the Year.
“We need to get as many wins as we can so we can get to the MAC championship,” Turner said.
Whitford praised the Indianapolis native.
“He is very talented and very coachable,” Whitford said. “We’ll rely on him heavily with being the point guard. He’s made incredible improvement in five weeks, expect him to have a big role.”
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