OVERVIEW:
Coach Brooks Bulldogs are loaded with a bunch of new faces. Starting the season with Dominic Milburn and Travis Hyman on the injured list has forced a lot of inexperience to take the court. Against the likes of Mansfield, Chowan and Johnson C. Smith, having only one senior and nine players who haven't played a lick of DII ball isn't such a bad thing. In short, the CIAA regular season can't start soon enough for Bowie State.
OFFENSE: Edge GW
With so many newcomers, the Bulldogs are still learning their roles. With no inside presence, Bowie State is forced to lean heavily on the guards to create shots. They do not rotate the ball well on the perimeter and are forced to go one-on-one too much, often settling for long-range, low-percentage shots. Wilson, Vann and Westmoreland are all talented enough to get their own shot, but the big minutes they must play exhausts their legs and the offense sputters. With the bench providing no points and turnovers still a problem, a team which leans heavily on it's ability to put up big offensive numbers is left without a back-up plan.
DEFENSE: Edge GW
In short, Bowie State is terrible on defense. With Hyman out, they have no last-line of defense and the perimeter defense is lax at best, providing huge cushions and doing nothing to close-out passing lanes. They do not communicate well because everyone is still learning each other's names.
REBOUNDING: Edge GW
Bowie State is frisky on the boards, although they tire easily. Westmoreland is left to shoulder much of the load with Clark doing an admirable job on the glass from his back-court position. They just don't have enough bodies to last 40 minutes on the boards.
FRONTCOURT: Edge GW
If Hyman were playing there'd be a lot more to say, but Westmoreland is a shooting guard forced to play small forward and Djim is a person forced to play basketball. There is no help on the bench and little height or bulk on the roster. Even with Hyman, the sheer lack of personnel will make the frontcourt a trouble-spot all-season long for the Bulldogs.
BACKCOURT: Edge GW
Vann is the most experienced player on the team and the de-facto leader this year. He's not exactly exciting on offense, but can be streaky from the outside. Milburn is their best back-court player, but he's out with an injury. Wilson does a nice job of using his height to launch '3s while Clark is extremely scrappy, if not a bit chaotic. They try very hard, but with few back-up ball-handlers and no front-court, the guards are asked to do way more than they are capable of at both ends of the court.
BENCH: Edge GW
There is no bench. Bowie State goes 7-deep, but King and Rogers do next to nothing.
PREDICTION:
There will be five Golden Corrall tweets tomorrow alone which will be more interesting than this game. GW by 15.