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2016-17 Preview: D-II Preseason Super 7

10/26/2016, 9:00am EDT
By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2016-17 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 11. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season, click here.)

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The area's Division II landscape is based entirely around two conferences: the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC)'s East Division, and the Central Atlantic College Conference (CACC)'s South Division, with Lincoln University (CIAA) also within the city's sphere of influence.

It looks like this could be a dominant year for the PSAC, with several programs in the CACC dealing with heavy loss due to graduation. No one’s feeling that burn more than Holy Family head coach R.C. Kehoe, who guided the Tigers to 26 wins, and the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament last year, but saw a class of nine seniors graduate and leave behind almost no college experience on the roster.

While Holy Family and several others adjust to youth and junior college transfers, there are a few programs that have a lot to be confident about heading into the season.

Here's a look at our top seven programs heading into the year; this "Super 7" will be updated biweekly as the season goes on.

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See also: Preseason All-Area Teams

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Others to Watch: Goldey-Beacom (10-18, 8-11 CACC), Holy Family (26-6, 17-2 CACC), Lock Haven (12-15, 8-14 PSAC), University of the Sciences (17-12, 12-7 CACC), Wilmington (9-19, 4-14 CACC)

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7. Chestnut Hill Griffins (13-15, 10-9 CACC)
Head Coach: Jesse Balcer, 14th season
Key Losses: Luke Dickson (17.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg), Noel Hightower (6.1 ppg, 8.3 rpg)
Key Returners: Edward McWade (Jr./F), Demetrius Isaac (Jr./PG)

Outlook: The Griffins were very close to a breakthrough last year. Nine losses came by 10 points or fewer, including four that were within three points -- just a dozen points in the other direction would have meant a 17-11 season, and it wouldn’t have taken much more to get to 20. Balcer, who took control of the Griffins’ program from its outset in 2003 and led them from D-III territory up into D-II four years later, is looking to get back to the program’s best year so far, an 18-12 record in 2011-12, and he certainly has the squad to do it. This will be McWade and Isaac’s program for two years, and they’re a powerful 1-2 punch; Isaac, a 5-10 point guard, averaged 12.5 ppg and 3.5 apg a year ago, while McWade, a 6-4 forward, averaged 13.5 ppg and 5.0 rpg. They’ll get help from grad transfer J.J. Butler (Lipscomb), but will need a strong sophomore class (especially forwards Dakpe Yiljep and Tony Toplyn) to step up to reach their potential.


Philly U will need to replace the production of Peter Alexis, a member of the 2000-point/1000-rebound club. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

6. Philadelphia University Rams (23-9, 14-5 CACC)
Head Coach: Herb Magee, 50th season
Key Losses: Peter Alexis (19.3 ppg, 9.2 rpg), T.J. Huggins (14.4 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 4.0 apg)
Key Returners: Andre Gibbs (RS-Sr./PG), Brendan Kilpatrick (RS-Sr./F), Kaison Randolph (Jr./G), Eric Long (Jr./F)

Outlook: In his five decades at Philly U, there isn’t much that Magee, a Hall of Famer in every sense of the word, hasn’t seen. That was, until last year, when one likely starter left the team to run a business, his starting point guard tore his ACL and a third senior was removed from the program, leaving Magee with a patchwork lineup that was about as thin as his typical six-man rotation anyways. Though he’ll lose the 6-11 Alexis and super-versatile 6-6 Huggins to graduation, Magee gets back Gibbs from that knee injury while Jordan DeCicco returns from entrepreneurship for his sophomore year; add in a 7-foot grad transfer in former Pitt/Fairfield big man Malcolm Gilbert, and this could easily be Magee’s 30th NCAA Tournament team. Look for a huge year out of Randolph, as the 6-3 wing averaged 17.7 ppg as basically the team’s third offensive option; the 6-7 Kilpatrick (13.9 ppg, 4.8 rpg), a Vermont transfer last year, should also see an uptick in production.

5. Bloomsburg Huskies (17-10, 15-7 PSAC)
Head Coach: John Sanow, 11th season
Key Losses: Malik Garner (9.7 ppg, 6.1 rpg), Tyriek Stewart (7.4 ppg), Charles Haigler (7.2 ppg, 3.5 rpg)
Key Returners: Christian Mortellite (R-Jr./SF), Donnell Diggs (Sr./G)

Outlook: It's pretty clear that this four-year period will be known as the Mortellite era, because not many teams in Division II relied as heavily on one player as the Huskies did on their star wing last year. The 6-5 Hammonton (N.J.) native, who averaged 14.3 ppg as a redshirt freshman, was the only Bloom player to average double figures last year, putting up 19.0 ppg, fifth-best in the PSAC and tops in the PSAC East. Shooting a nifty 44.2 percent from the floor and 41.3 percent from the 3-point arc, Mortellite is a terrific offensive threat who's got a good shot to surpass Mike Ellzy (1993-97) as the school's all-time leading scorer (1,911); as it is, he's only 129 from 1,000 to begin his junior year. To help Mortellite out, Sanow brought in a pair of impact transfers in guard Karonn Davis (Niagara) and forward Carnell McGirt (Valley Forge), while he'll also look for Diggs -- another junior college transfer, now in his second year with the program -- to increase his scoring output while also running point.


Abington grad Matt Penecale (above) was one of two extremely impressive freshmen for the Rams. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

4. West Chester Golden Rams (23-7, 17-5 PSAC)
Head Coach: Damien Blair, 9th season
Key Losses: Matt Wiseley (11.9 ppg, 11.7 rpg), Avery Brown (10.6 ppg, 4.7 rpg), Mike Wilson (9.1 ppg, 3.6 rpg)
Key Returners: Thomas White (Sr./F), Malik Jackson (Soph./G), Matt Penecale (Soph./G)

Outlook: Despite starting an all-freshman backcourt of Jackson and Penecale, the Golden Rams had the best season of Blair’s tenure, winning more games than any WCU squad had since another 23-victory season under previous head coach Dick DeLaney in 1998-99 (23-6). Penecale (10.3 ppg, 4.9 apg) and Jackson (15.7 ppg) were outstanding all year long, with Penecale hitting the buzzer-beating shot to lift the Rams into the PSAC Championship game for the third time in five years. Though Mercyhurst denied WCU its first opportunity at a league tournament title in its fifth try, the Rams still qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years; PSAC rival Kutztown ended that trip in the first round, 76-63. JUCO transfers Ryan Skovranko, Ramon Wright and Miko Jenkins -- the former a junior, the latter two sophomores -- will help fill in the gaps left by graduation, but none of them will be able to match Wiseley, a 6-6 forward who was No. 3 nationally in rebounding and a Swiss Army defender who could be counted on to do a bit of everything.

3. Shippensburg Raiders (20-9, 15-7 PSAC)
Head Coach: Chris Fite, 4th Season
Key Losses: Tony Ellis (7.2 ppg, 6.2 rpg), Jay Hardy (6.2 ppg)
Key Returners: Abraham Massaley (Sr./G), Justin McCarthur (Jr./F), Dustin Sleva (Jr./F), Antonio Kellem (Soph./G)

Outlook: Fite has seen the Raiders take leaps and bounds in his first three seasons, going from three wins in 2013-14 to 13 wins the following season and now an even 20 last year, the program’s first with that many victories since a 24-7 season in 2005-06 and just the third time in its history. And now expectations are still rising, with the top four scorers all back along with several other members of the rotation. After a solid freshman season (8.7 ppg, 4.6 rpg), Sleva exploded onto the radar last season; the 6-8 forward averaged 15.8 ppg and 11.0 rpg, shooting 39.2 percent from beyond the arc to boot. And he’s got a terrific perimeter group around him, led by former Imhotep guard Massaley (13.6 ppg, 4.8 apg), Kellem (11.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg) and McCarthur (10.3 ppg), plus super sub Clay Connor (6.2 ppg). In losing Ellis and Hardy, a pair of 6-5 wings, they’ll need contributions from freshmen Derek Ford (Cedar Cliff) and John Casiello (Mars), plus sophomore Manny Span, to fill in those cracks and get to the top of the PSAC.


Kitt Najee Walls (above) went from being thrust into the starting lineup as a freshman to leading the PSAC in assists. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

2. East Stroudsburg Warriors (21-7, 16-6 PSAC)
Head Coach: Jeff Wilson, 15th season
Key Losses: Jamal Nwaniemeka (12.4 ppg, 2.6 rpg), Will Brown (11.6 ppg, 2.4 rpg)
Key Returners: Rasheed Moore (Sr./F), Steve Harris (Sr./F), Quindell Brice (R-Sr./G), Kitt Najee Walls (Soph./G)

Outlook: Nobody’s happy about graduating a pair of 1,000-point scorers, like Wilson did with Nwaniemeka and Brown, but if there’s any program that’s proven it can handle the loss, it’s East Stroudsburg -- after all, the Warriors still won 20-plus games for the fifth time in seven years despite having to replace not one but two All-Americans (Whis Grant & Matt Tobin) from the year before. Moore (13.1 ppg, 7.1 rpg) and Harris (9.5 ppg, 8.3 rpg) will anchor the frontcourt, and there are some scary scoring options waiting to emerge on the perimeter. Last year, Brice, a 6-3 guard who spent his first two years at Harcum (Pa.) junior college, averaged 9.6 ppg, good for fourth on the team, despite playing only 14.8 mpg. Given full starters’ minutes, his numbers could be scary, especially alongside a talented sophomore point guard in Walls (7.7 ppg, 5.4 apg) and his classmate, Nick Giordano, who averaged 6.3 ppg in 11 minutes as a freshman. Look out also for the return of redshirt sophomore Jakwan Jones, who was penciled in as the team’s starting point guard last year before a preseason ACL injury cost him the season.

1. Kutztown Golden Bears (23-7, 18-4 PSAC)
Head Coach: Bernie Driscoll, 17th season
Key Losses: Anthony Selby (8.2 ppg, 4.2 rpg), Will Adams (6.6 ppg)
Key Returners: Ryan Connolly (R-Sr./F), Josh Johnson (Sr./F), Austin Biedelman (Sr./G), Ethan Ridgeway (Jr./G), Anthony Lee (R-Soph./G)

Outlook: The Golden Bears had arguably the most successful season of any Division II program in the region last year, going further in the NCAA Tournament -- making the Sweet 16 for the second time under Driscoll -- than any of the other four programs to qualify for the Big Dance, after a stumble against Shippensburg in the PSAC quarterfinals. The top five scorers all return from that squad, led by the super-versatile 6-8 senior Johnson, who averaged 14.4 ppg and 8.5 rpg a year ago and earning PSAC East Athlete of the Year honors, putting up 10 double-doubles to earn all-league honors for the second year in a row. He’s joined up front by the 6-6 Connolly (12.2 ppg), a stretch-forward who shot 67-of-160 (41.9 percent) from 3-point range a year ago; Lee (13.0 ppg, 4.8 rpg), Ridgeway (9.2 ppg, 4.3 apg) and Biedelman (8.7 ppg, 3.5 apg) form an incredibly strong perimeter group. Throw in a terrific freshman class that includes versatile 6-4 Phoenixville wing Christian Kelly and Pennridge’s 6-8 sharpshooter Max Wagner, and this could be Driscoll’s best team yet at KU.


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