City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of CoBL's 2015-16 College Season Preview, which will run from October 2-November 13, the first day of games. For the complete rundown, click here)
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At this time last year, DeSales coach Scott Coval was in the process of hitting the reset button on his program.

The Bulldogs had graduated seven seniors from a title team and there were new faces all over the court. This fall, Coval and those faces are turning the tide from finding out how to be a team to how to be a championship team.

DeSales, returning its top five scorers from last year, is the preseason favorite in the MAC Freedom conference. After graduating just one senior, there’s a welcomed change in familiarity heading into 2015-16.

“Last year was completely different because we basically had to start over,” Coval said. “Guys were in our program, but in much different roles than they were two years ago. This year, a lot of those guys return and they’re basically in the same roles as last year. I think that’s a pretty big plus.”

The Bulldogs, who finished 17-10 last season, are led by all-conference player Cody Deal. A stocky and crafty backcourt player who Coval said is “built like an offensive guard in football,” Deal averaged a team-best 16.3 points per game last season, shooting 43.8 percent from the field and 90.4 percent from the foul line.

DeSales, a guard-heavy team, also returns Brian Laird (11.3 ppg, 42.5 3-point percentage), Upper Darby’s Kuity Slanger (8.3 points, team-best 4.4 apg) and Cheltenham’s Aaron Burton (10.4 ppg, 5.9 rpg) to its backcourt. Down low, 6-foot-8 junior Brian Callahan should get a fair amount of minutes after averaging 8.4 points per game last year.

Where will the added experience and a year of playing together pay off the most for this team? Deal thinks it will be in ball control, as the team averaged 14.1 turnovers per game last year.

“We have a lot of core guys back, and our chemistry is better, that was something we struggled with last year,” Deal said. “We had a lot of turnovers, we didn’t take care of the ball. But we’re much more used to play with each other.”

Deal added that the first few weeks of this season’s practice “have been some of the best since he got to DeSales” and said the offense has been running much smoother so far this season.

The Bulldogs did add a piece in freshman Luke Connaghan out of Archbishop Wood. A 6-5 forward, Connaghan had a strong career at Wood and seems like he’ll be able to contribute to what DeSales is trying to do this season.

“He’s a very good athlete. He’s very tough, he goes about his business every day,” Coval said. “We expect him to have a really good season this year and a really good career at DeSales.”

DeSales received five of the eight first-place votes in the preseason MAC Freedom coaches’ poll – the other three were split between defending champion King’s, Delaware Valley and Eastern. The expectations are now inside and outside the locker room, and Slanger said it's something he doesn't put too much stock into, but does know about.

“I can’t not like it,” Slanger said about being picked first. “I don’t think it has an effect on how we’re really going to play. It’s nice that people think that, but I don’t take too much from it. I think we’ll use it as motivation to show people we are the best team in the league.”

With most contributors back and the expectations high, Coval said he is more concerned about the team’s goal rather than the destination. The destination would be the NCAA Tournament or a win total. The goal, for Coval, is to be playing well and playing together.

If that happens, he says, the rest will pan out well for DeSales.

“A good dynamic takes time to build and you have to build that trust,” Coval said. “You need to have that to make a run at the championship and to be a player in the region and the league. They care about each other, they care about the tradition we built at DeSales and they want to be the best they can be. They come and they play hard every day, so that’s a step in the right direction.”