The 2007-8 basketball season ended with a bad loss to Michigan in the opening round of the Big 10 tournament. I haven’t commented too much this season as it is a rebuilding season and we can probably expect the same next season. This season’s team is very inexperienced, so the most we can expect is that next season is better. The team’s inexperience showed in how the team had trouble with consistency. They showed flashes of brilliance, but couldn’t seem to maintain that for a whole game. The high points of the season have to beating Michigan State and Ohio State. The low points have to be losing to Utah St and UL Monroe.
The team loses seniors Seth Gorney, Kurt Looby and Justin Johnson, all of whom were big contributors this year’s squad. Next season the team will need seniors-to-be Tony Freeman and Cyrus Tate to fill the void (though Freeman was already the biggest contributor this season) and sophomores-to-be Jarryd Cole, Jake Kelly and Jeff Peterson to continue to improve. Apart from those players, the Hawks are pretty thin. The Hawks have four letters of intent for next season and you can expect they will get a chance for significant playing time. One problem is losing Looby and Gorney leaves only one big man, David Palmer, who saw very limited playing time this season. Recruit Andrew Brommer is 6’9″ and projects as a power forward, so maybe he will get a chance to fill Looby and Gorney’s big shoes.
The Hawks have a chance to surprise some teams next season, but I don’t think anyone should plan on buying NCAA tourney tickets quite yet. The NIT is a realistic goal for the team and the next season they can set their sights on the big dance.
