November 9 Emerald Coast Classic Notebook

***Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry***

NOTE: MEDIA covering the Emerald Coast Classic please make sure to apply for credentials before November 15.

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE

(All times listed are central)

Wednesday, Nov. 10 Games

William & Mary at Wake Forest, 6 p.m., ACC Network

Youngstown State at Penn State, 7:30 p.m., Big 10 Network

Thursday, Nov. 11 Games

Spring Hill at Samford, 7 p.m. ESPN+

Friday, Nov. 12 Games

Western Carolina at Wake Forest, 6:30 p.m. ACC Network

Oregon State at Iowa State, 7 p.m., ESPN3

Texas State at LSU, 7 p.m., SEC Network

McNeese at TCU, 7 p.m., ESPN +

Saturday, Nov. 13 Games

St. Thomas (Minn.) at St. Francis Brooklyn, 1 p.m., NEC Front Row

North Carolina A&T at Jacksonville, 1 p.m.

Monday, Nov. 15 Games

Penn State at UMass, 6 p.m.

North Carolina A&T at South Florida, 6 p.m. ESPN+

Liberty at LSU, 6 p.m., ESPNU

Champion Christian at McNeese, 6:30 p.m.

Oregon State at Tulsa, 8 p.m., ESPNU

Samford at San Francisco, 8 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 17 Games

Charleston Southern at Wake Forest, 6 p.m., ACC Network

Thursday, Nov. 18 Games

Greensboro at North Carolina A&T, 5 p.m.

St. Francis Brooklyn at Penn State, 6 p.m. Big 10 +

McNeese at LSU, 7 p.m., SEC Network

Samford at Oregon State, 8 p.m., PAC-12 Network

PRESEASON ALL-LEAGUE TEAMS: Several players participating in the Emerald Coast Classic have been named to preseason all-conference teams.

LSU senior forward Darius Days and guard Xavier Pinson were named to the preseason All-SEC teams as selected by the 14 league coaches. Days was named to the first team, while Pinson was selected on the second team.

Oregon State senior forward Warith Alatishe was selected to the preseason All-Pac-12 first team, while junior guard Jarod Lucas was named to the preseason All-Pac-12 second team.

Guard Cameron Hildreth of Wake Forestreceived one vote among top contenders for the ACC Preseason Freshman of the Year.

Days who returned for his senior year after testing the NBA waters during the summer, played and started 28 games last season, averaging 11.6 points, 7.8 rebounds and just over one steals a game. The native of Raleigh, Florida was the heart and soul of the LSU team as LSU was 19-1 when he scored in double figures.

He shot over 50 percent last year making 123-of-237 field goals (51.9%) with 52 three-pointers. He has 44 games in double figures over three seasons and his 16 double doubles for his career is the most for any active player in the SEC.

Pinson, who came to LSU after three seasons at Missouri, started 26 games for Mizzou during the 2020-21 season, averaging 13.6 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. He had 18 games scoring in double figures and scored a career high 36 points in a game against TCU, hitting 10-of-14 field goal attempts, including 8-of-13 from the arc.

Alatishe was selected the 2021 Pac-12 Tournament Most Outstanding Player, becoming the first Oregon State player to receive the award. Lucas set two Oregon State records last season — single-season free throw percentage in all games (.896) and single-season free throw percentage in conference games (.905).

PRESEASON POLLS: Oregon State was picked to finish in a tie for fourth place in the Pac-12, according to a poll of media members who cover the conference. It marked the highest the Beavers have been picked to finish since 1992-93 when they were predicted to place third.

LSU was projected to finish sixth in the preseason SEC Media poll. Kentucky was favored to win the regular season title followed by Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Auburn, LSU, Florida, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt and Georgia.

Wake Forest was slated to finish 13^thin the ACC preseason media poll.

Duke received 47 of the 81 first-place votes and finished with 1,132 points. Florida State, the 2019 Emerald Coast Classic champion, racked up 14 first-place votes and 1,034 total points. North Carolina tallied five first-place votes and 1,001 points, while Virginia recorded nine first-place votes and 949 points. Virginia Tech earned five first-place votes, while Louisville earned the other first-place vote.

Louisville, Syracuse, Notre Dame, NC State and reigning ACC champion Georgia Tech were voted sixth through 10th, respectively. Clemson, Miami, Wake Forest, Pitt and Boston College rounded out the poll.

LSU HAS NEW LOOK, NEW STYLE: The clocks have switched back, the weather is cooling down, and it is officially college basketball season at LSU.

LSU men’s basketball enters the season with plenty of excitement after coming up just two points short of its first SEC Tournament Championship in 40 years. The Tigers enter the 2021-2022 with a rebuilt roster, but still plenty of talent. Bringing in the second-best recruiting class in the SEC alongside multiple big name transfers, Head Coach Will Wade has done a great job of rebuilding a roster that lost a lot after last season.

After being a team that consistently scored in the 80’s and played with a sense of flair and flash the last few years, this team will be much grittier, one that prides itself on defense and hustle. Despite the change in style, this doesn’t necessarily mean that this team will be any less successful — Some argue that this team can go even further than teams of the last few years.

LSU was picked to finish sixth in the SEC preseason poll, but there is plenty of belief that the ceiling is much higher than that. It is never easy to make long-term season predictions in November, but this team is fixated on its goals of winning the SEC and making a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. While these things are never easy to do, with the pieces that are in place, this team is talented enough to reach those heights.

ESTABLISHING A CULTURE: The first few weeks of Micah Shrewsberry’s tenure as men’s basketball head coach at Penn State this past March were a whirlwind of press conferences, public appearances and interviews. It would stand to reason that several months later just prior to the start of the 2021-22 season, things have settled into the normal preseason routine.

Not so much.

“It’s actually still hectic,” Shrewsberry laughed. “I don’t know. It’s slowed down some, but we’re still moving a million miles an hour it seems like.”

These are the realities of taking the helm of a Big Ten basketball program. Upon his arrival, Shrewsberry moved to State College, hired a staff, recruited new players and re-recruited the players who were already on the Nittany Lion roster. He and his staff are also focused on the future with potential recruits to the Classes of 2022 and 2023, all while moving closer and closer to the start of this season.

Shrewsberry, of course, would like the controlled chaos of a first-year program trying to find its bearings to transition into some normalcy, but all the work being done is worth it to be a head coach in the Big Ten.

BASKETBALL RUNS DEEP FOR TINKLE: College basketball runs deep for Wayne Tinkle and his family.

Tinkle, who coached Oregon State to an Elite Eight appearance in the Division I men’s basketball tournament in March and will chair the Division I Men’s Basketball Ethics Coalition for the next year, was a standout at Montana during his playing days in the 1980s.

He was a three-time all-Big Sky Conference player and ranks fourth in school history in career rebounds and 10th in scoring. His wife, Lisa, was a standout on the Grizzlies women’s basketball team and was inducted into the university’s sports hall of fame in 2011.

Daughters Joslyn and Elle and son Tres followed in their parents’ footsteps to become Division I players. Joslyn, now a women’s basketball assistant coach at Montana, played in three Women’s Final Fours during her time at Stanford, while Elle helped Gonzaga reach the Sweet 16 in 2015.

Tres played for his father at Oregon State and departed the school after his senior season in 2020 as the program’s all-time leading scorer with 2,233 points.

“We didn’t shove playing basketball at them,” Tinkle said. “We made sure they played baseball, soccer, volleyball and track. We let them all blaze their own trail and were there to love them and support them. That allowed them to enjoy it, and there wasn’t a burnout factor.”

YEAR TWO OPTIMISM FOR FORBES: Following a shortened and unique first year at the helm of Wake Forest men’s basketball, Head Coach Steve Forbes is looking to make strides toward returning Demon Deacons basketball to relevance. In year two — thanks to new transfer rules and strong recruiting — Forbes has brought in more of his own personnel to create a culture and roster to fit his style.

Some talent left the roster, but none of those departures really came as a surprise. Ian Dubose is playing overseas in Germany, Ismael Massoud now plays at Kansas State and Ody Oguama moved on to Cincinnati. Guards Jahcobi Neath and Quadry Adams transferred to Wisconsin and St. Bonaventure, respectively. Other departures include Jonah Antonio, Isaiah Wilkins, Emmanuel Okpomo, Jalen Johnson, Sunday Okeke and Blake Buchanan.

Yes, that’s a lot of names, but the core of last year’s team is back, and a strong group of transfers and recruits have arrived.

Wake Forest fans have reasons to be optimistic about what this young roster could become under a hungry, energetic coach, who for the first time, had a full summer to prepare for the season.

Forbes spoke on the turnover, saying, “I love our roster. We have 13 ACC players on our team. I did not have that last year. There’s not one player on our team that cannot play in the ACC.”

MORE HONORS FOR DAYS: LSU senior forward Darius Days has been named by The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Thursday to the 20 watch list members for the 2022 Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award.

Named after Class of 2010 Hall of Famer and two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Karl Malone, the annual honor in its eighth year recognizes the top power forwards in Division I men’s college basketball. A national committee of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates.

Karl Malone attended Louisiana Tech University due to its close proximity to his hometown of Summerfield, Louisiana. He led the Bulldogs to a Sweet 16 appearance and earned All-Southland honors in his three seasons while averaging 18.7 points and 9.3 rebounds. Malone was a 14-time NBA All-Star (1988-98, 2000-02), 11-time All-NBA First Team player (1989-99) and a member of the NBA’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Team. He also won two Olympic gold medals (1992, 1996).

Days averaged 11.6 points per game last season for the Tigers with 7.8 rebounds and just over one steal a game. He averaged 27 minutes a game and was the heart and soul of the Tigers as LSU was 19-1 when he scored in double figures last season.

NEW PLAYERS ACCEPTING LARGER ROLES: With the hours ticking down until Penn State men’s basketball begins its 2021-2022 campaign, Micah Shrewsberry is preparing to put the finishing touches on his ever first lineup as head coach of the Nittany Lions.

Just weeks ago, though, the starting lineup and depth chart likely looked much clearer to Shrewsberry than they do right now, specifically in terms of the big men surrounding senior John Harrar — the only player Shrewsberry has confirmed will start in Wednesday’s matchup against Youngstown State.

On Monday, Shrewsberry announced that two forwards, Greg Lee and Jevonnie Scott, will be out for Wednesday’s night’s season tipoff and could miss more significant time.

Weeks ago, Shrewsberry disclosed that Scott, a transfer from South Plains College, was out of practice.

“[Scott] is working through some kind of transfer issues, so he’s not with us,” Shrewsberry said in October.

These eligibility “issues,” which have not been specified, are set to continue into the blue and white’s season.

MORE PRESEASON POLLS: North Carolina A&T was projected to place third in the North Division of the Big South Conference, according to the league’s head coaches and media. The Aggies received 92 points, including three first-place votes.

The league’s head coaches and media panel selected Campbell as the North Division favorite and Winthrop as the overall favorite to win the conference.

North Carolina A&T guard Kameron Langley was named to the preseason All-Big South second team. Already the school’s all-time leader in assists (757), he is poised to become just the 33rd player ever to eclipse the 800-assist mark and the first since Cassius Winston (Michigan State, 2017). A three-time all-conference player in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), Langley is looking to become the first player in school history with 1,000 career points, 800 career assists and 500 career rebounds. He sits 21 points shy of 1,000 points and 18 rebounds short of 500. He averaged career highs in points per game (10.6) and rebounds per game (5.0) last year and led the Aggies to their first regular-season conference title in more than 30 years.

In the Southland Conference preseason coaches and sports information directors poll McNeese State was picked to finish fifth in the eight-team league. Nicholls State was voted to repeat as regular season conference champions, tallying eight first-place votes and 91 total points. New Orleans, earning seven-first place votes, was second with 90 points followed by Southeastern Louisiana and Northwestern State.

St. Francis Brooklyn was picked to finish seven in the Northeast Conference preseason conference coaches poll. Conference coaches selected Wagner as the preseason favorite followed by Bryant and Mount St. Mary’s.

BACK TO NORMAL AT SAMFORD: This is Bucky McMillan’s second season in charge of the Samford program. With his first season being interrupted several times due to COVID-19, McMillan said heading into this season it feels more like a normal basketball season.

“It just feels like it’s a lot more back to normal,” McMillan said. “It just feels good to practice and you see momentum building, that’s fun. Not, two practices and then you’re off for two weeks or these four guys are hurt, or these guys are hurt. We’ve dealt with injury here recently, but before that we put together a good string of some practices that were good.”

AGGIES ENTRY INTO BIG SOUTH IS REUNION FOR COACH: North Carolina A&T head men’s basketball coach Will Jones got to see some old faces and make some new connections as well during the recent Big South Conference Media Day.

Jones previously spent time in the Big South as an assistant at Charleston Southern from 2009 to 2011.

“We’ve been on zoom and talking to coaches remotely and to be able to see somebody and have that personal feel is good, and what you realize is that when I was in this league, a lot of these head coaches were assistant coaches in this league with me,” said Jones. “Coach (Tubby) Smith is a guy at High Point that helped me get my start in college basketball. Barclay Radebaugh at Charleston Southern is a guy who gave me an opportunity to start my career as a Division I assistant coach in the Big South.

“It was good to shake hands and have conversations with a lot of these guys here, and I have unbelievable respect for the coaches in this league, and I know it’s going to be a competition every night out.”