2006-07 Season Outlook

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Gregg Hill

The Wittenberg Tiger men's basketball program came up a tantalizing two seconds short of the ultimate goal in the 2005-06 season, losing in the national championship game on a last-second three-pointer. Despite the loss of three senior starters from that team, the cupboard is far from bare with the return of six letterwinners in 2006-07 and the goals remain at the highest levels for the program with the most wins and highest winning percentage in NCAA Division III history.

Any conversation about Wittenberg's 2006-07 men's basketball season begins with fifth-year senior post Dane Borchers (Russia, Ohio/Russia), a two-time second-team All-North Coast Athletic Conference honoree. Borchers has emerged as one of the finest post players in the country while often deferring to two-time All-American Daniel Russ on the other low block the last three years. Working in tandem, Borchers and Russ presented a double-barrel post presence that few teams in the country could match up with, leading to a 55-8 record and back-to-back NCAC Tournament championships the last two years.

Borchers now figures to be the focus of a revamped offensive attack after Russ, who is now playing professionally in The Netherlands, and wing Kenny Brady graduated in May. After leading the Tigers in scoring and rebounding in 2004-05, Borchers posted averages of 12.9 points and 7.6 rebounds per outing in 2005-06, including a career-high 29-point effort in a tight road win over Allegheny in the regular season and a 22-point, 14-rebound performance in the NCAC Tournament final at Wooster. He was named NCAC Tournament MVP after the latter performance.

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Jack Hemenway

The only other starter back in the lineup in 2006-07 is senior point guard Pat Denbow (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier), who averaged 3.0 points and 2.4 assists per game in his first year as a starter. His running mate in 2005-06, Phil Steffes, graduated in May after averaging 3.7 points and regularly drawing the toughest defensive match-ups.

Denbow isn't the only experienced player in the backcourt rotation, however. Senior Billy Bowen (Arcadia, Ind./Hamilton Heights) is a three-year letterwinner who provides a hard-nosed defensive mentality and outstanding three-point range off the bench. Sophomore Gregg Hill (Redford, Mich./Union) overcame a slow start to emerge over the final month of the 2005-06 season as the Tigers' most consistent perimeter threat. In 31 games off the bench, Hill averaged 5.8 points.

In the frontcourt, senior Jack Hemenway (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) is penciled into the starting lineup as the first of several players who will be have the tall task at filling the created by Russ' graduation. Hemenway saved his best basketball for last in 2005-06, wreaking havoc off the bench in the Final Four with his athleticism and intensity. He averaged 3.9 points and 3.0 rebounds per game in 12.9 minutes per game for the season. Senior post Mark Huelsman (Urbana, Ohio/Urbana) is another experienced frontcourt player after he appeared in 27 games off the bench in 2005-06 to earn his second collegiate varsity letter.

Sophomores Kevin Murray (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) and Mark Caraway (Jamestown, Ohio/Greeneview), a pair of sharp-shooting wing players, spent last season watching and learning, but with Steffes and Brady gone, their time may have come. In addition, Head Coach Bill Brown, who tied the Wittenberg record for career victories at 305 last year, has high hopes for the members of an outstanding recruiting class.