The ETSU men’s basketball team had a strong showing last year by winning the Atlantic Sun tournament championship and earning a spot in the NCAA tournament. Although the Bucs won their tournament, they got the 16 seed and were forced to play No 1-seeded Pittsburgh.

However the Bucs played the Panthers closely, and came 10 points shy of becoming the first ever 16 seed to beat a one seed.

“What I’m hoping from that game is to just build on that,” head coach Murry Bartow said. “We can play with people, we’re not going to be fearful of anybody we play and we didn’t win the game, but I was proud of our effort.”

Senior forward Mike Smith said he was happy with his team’s play. Smith, a preseason All A-Sun team selection, is the only returning player that averaged double digits in scoring, averaging 15.3 points per game.

“Playing Pittsburgh to the wire has given our team a lot of confidence, just knowing we can play with top major programs in the country,” Smith said. “Now that we’ve been there, the guys know what it takes to get back.”

While the core of the team is still together with seven returning players, the team added three new freshman, and University of Alabama transfer Justin Tubbs. Many Buc fans may remember the junior transfer from last year’s dunk contest during the Bluenanza event. He won the contest with a 360 between the legs dunk, and fans have been anticipating seeing him in uniform ever since.

Junior forward Micah Williams said he is excited about the new additions to the team.

“The freshman bring a lot of different things to the table,” Williams said. “And I can’t wait to get on the floor with Tubbs. This will be an exciting year.”

The Bucs were chosen fourth and fifth in the Atlantic Sun preseason polls by the coaches and media.

Bartow said he was not surprised by the ranking.

“We certainly don’t agree with it,” Bartow said. “When you lose Kevin Tiggs and Courtney Pigram, people think you’re going to drop off, but we don’t think that will happen.”

In losing Tiggs and Pigram, the team lost almost half of their offensive output – Tiggs and Pigram accounted for 35 of ETSU’s 78.1 points per game – but the Bucs hope to make up for that loss as a team.

“We have a lot of guys that potentially can step up,” coach Bartow said. “We may not have a lot of guys that are capable of scoring 20, but I think we’ve got a lot of guys that can get eight to 10 a game, and hopefully that will get us to 75 points a game.”

Last season, when ETSU scored more than 70 points, its record was 20-4.

Scoring will be important, but the Bucs said their main key will be defense.

The Bucs spend an hour in practice every day focusing on defense, Smith said. Defense is also something that sophomore forward Isiah Brown stressed.

“Different people are going to score this year,” Brown said, “but our main focus will be our defense, and to defend well and then get into our transition game.”

The Bucs have a tough schedule this year, playing two nationally ranked teams in No. 11 Tennessee and No. 23 Louisville.

The Bucs also play Arkansas, College of Charleston and Chattanooga, who represented the Southern Conference last year in the NCAA Tournament.

And that is only the first month of the season. Despite the schedule, the team is excited about their chances to play nationally ranked teams and hope to knock some of them off.

“I’m very excited about our schedule,” Tubbs said. “I want to have some upsets and make people real shocked and surprised.”

“This is a very tough and very challenging schedule,” Bartow said, “but it is a good schedule for us because it will test us. It will be a very challenging first three weeks of the season.”

ETSU will get its season underway on Tuesday, hosting Milligan in an exhibition game inside Memorial Center at 7 p.m.

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