Well, the students at ISU and IWU are back on campus, it's getting dark much earlier, and it was about 69 degrees in Bloomington today. Looks like summer is clearly on the way out the door, and fall is just around the corner. While there is no bigger fan of the period from about mid-May through September than yours truly, every year about this time I start to realize that we're getting close to another season of Titan basketball and that is always exciting.
I'm really looking forward to the 2007-08 season. The young and inexperienced Titans are going to go through some growing pains, and to say they'll miss 1st Team All-American Zach Freeman would be a tremendous understatement, but this team has a lot of talent. The freshmen class is stocked with accomplished high school players at every position and there are plenty of returning players with nice upsides.
"Who's your starting 5?" That's the biggest IWU basketball-related question I get when I run into a Titan fan at work or around town. My answer is a very sincere, "I have no idea." I believe we can pencil two players in:
G
Travis Rosenkranz (5-11 FR)
G
F
F
Darius Gant (6-4 SR)
C
I think Rosenkranz will be a 4-year starter and a great player at Illinois Wesleyan. At the power forward spot, I have heard very encouraging things all summer about Darius Gant (9.8 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 55.1% FG). The returning starter has worked very hard in the off-season and is playing well in open gyms.
Ron Rose needs to get three key players healthy and in basketball shape. Sophomore point-guard
Sean Dwyer (broken foot) is still not close...sounds like it could be about Dec. 1 before he is ready to play in a game. Junior combo guard
Andrew Gilmore (patellar tendonectomy) is coming along well, but still not quite there. Hopefully he is ready to go when pracice starts in October -- if healthy, I think Gilmore is a lock to start at the 2.
Brian Nussbaum (shoulder) seems to be feeling great and ready to go. It'd be nice to see Nuss get in the mix this year.
Practice starts in mid-October...we are getting very close. Go Titans!
Former Titan skipper Scott Trost is recovering from surgery on August 9 to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). The Lewis University head coach suffered the injury August 2 playing softball. Turning a double into a triple, you ask? Legging out an infield single? No - Trost was on the mound pitching.
