Last year the ETSU Buccaneers men’s basketball team finished with 24 wins, a regular season A-Sun championship, and an appearance in the postseason NIT tournament. This year the expectations are an NCAA tournament appearance and another A-Sun championship.
The Buccaneers return an experienced lineup with key junior transfers and a core that has a level of athleticism that is unrivalled in the A-Sun. Though the Bucs lack size they are one of the fastest teams in the nation and should play some exciting, fun-to-watch basketball. Here is a position-by-position look at this year’s ETSU men’s basketball team.
Point Guard: The Bucs have experience at the point with the sophomore Dequan Twilley getting the starting nod at the beginning of this year and junior transfer student Jacolby Davis getting the most minutes at the position. Twilley averaged 27 minutes last year and 4.0 assists a game. Twilley possesses good court vision and experience running head coach Murray Bartow’s offense.
Twilley is a pass-first point guard but he can still create opportunities for himself off the dribble. Jacolby Davis is a fast guard that makes things happen on defense; he was one of the nation’s best in steals during his junior college days. Redshirt freshman Micah Williams and Courtney Pigram could see time at the point this year.
Shooting Guard: Pigram, a junior, returns as the starting shooting guard. He is the reigning A-Sun player of the year and can shoot the ball from beyond the arc with the nation’s best. He was named honorable mention All-American last year by the Associated Press.
Last year Courtney led the Bucs in scoring 18.1 points a game last year thanks in large part to his ability to get open at the arc and take advantage of his quick release. Travis Strong returns as one of the best shooters in the conference before sitting out the 06-07 season with a knee injury. When watching Strong its impossible to not notice his out of this world shooting range, but it will be interesting to see if he can run the floor and defend like he did before the injury. Micah Williams will be a reserve at this position as well.
Small Forward: Sophomore Mike Smith will start the three spot on the floor and was an all A-Sun freshman selection last year. Smith is a tough scrappy player who shoots with accuracy. As a former high school football star Smith loves to bang around under the basket and he consistently plays bigger than his 6’6″ frame suggests.
He and Kevin Tiggs will both start, but Tiggs looks and plays more like a small forward than a true post player. With all of the ETSU forwards skill sets its not inconceivable to see them all playing the three, four and five spots on the floor since the Bucs do not have a traditional center this year. Travis Strong is also an option at the three if the Bucs go with a small lineup.
Power Forward: Tiggs joins the Bucs and will start at the four spot, but he plays more like a three. This works in the Bucs’ pressure defense system where Tiggs has the potential to score a lot of points in transition because he will be faster than a lot of players that have the task of defending him. Last year in junior college Tiggs was the national player of the year.
He is fast, possesses good scoring ability, and rebounds well. Backing him up is sophomore lefty Blake Mishler who is developing into a capable post player. It will be important for Mishler to continue to develop because he provides depth at his size (6’8″) that the Bucs need. Senior Kenyona Swader will also see time here but will sub in for Reed more than Tiggs.
Center: The five spot is where the Bucs height is exploited. Senior Andrew Reed will get the starting nod as he is the best big man defender on the team; however he is a natural power forward. Reed’s play will none the less dazzle fans because he is an outstanding leaper and exciting dunker. Last year Reed was on the receiving end of many alley-oops that changed the momentum of games.
Reed will be backed up primarily by Swader. Swader plays with astounding range for a big man but has trouble getting pushed around on the defensive end. At 6’9″ Swader is the tallest player for the Bucs, but his skill set fits the four position more than the five. He can catch an opponent off guard with his impressive range; he is not afraid to shoot from beyond the arc and he finds himself open there often. Mishler, Greg Hamlin and Isiah Brown will all be reserves at the four and five spots. Brown is a 6’8″ freshman already being compared to Reed.
The Bucs will be fun to watch. Their size and athleticism leads to high scoring games with highlight worthy dunks. Bartow loves to press on defense and these Bucs will be good at it.

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