Men’s basketball prepare for an exciting season

By Cameron Day//

Expectations are high for the 2022-2023 men’s basketball campaign despite losing key players to graduation.

The Blazers ended last year with a 20-7 record and the title of MAC champions.

The Blazers graduated senior brothers Evan and Mason Wang who were a key component to their historic season, along with graduate student Bryce Butler. 

“We lost almost 50 points per game to graduation, so we are already being overlooked and many people expect us to have a down year because of that,” head coach Chad Dickman said.

In the MAC preseason poll, Hood was ranked fifth out of nine teams.

“Being overlooked should add some fuel to our fire…I don’t think complacency will be a problem for this team,” Dickman said. “These guys are focused and want to prove this team has what it takes to win another championship.”

Despite the loss of Butler and the Wang twins, other players appear to be stepping into the leadership role.

“We have a bunch of guys that lead in different ways. You have guys like Will Pataki and Jared Young who are outstanding vocal leaders and bring high energy and enthusiasm to the table every single day,” Dickman said. “Then you have older guys like Chris Smalls and Ryan Hollwedel who lead more by example and just do everything right.”

The team also added two promising first-year players to their roster.

“We brought in two first-year players in Jevon Yarbrough and Josh Stevens, and we have high expectations for them at Hood,” Dickman said. “Right now, they’re just getting acclimated to the college game and trying to get comfortable with all the weird stuff that we do on the court, so it’s been a learning process for them, but they are definitely making early strides.”

Along with bringing in young talent, the Blazers also picked up graduate student transfer, Mike Wallace. Wallace played four years at McDaniel College and earned all-conference honors his last year.

“He’s already had a lot of experience and success at this level, we’re expecting big things out of him,” Dickman said.

Dickman said he is excited and his team is hungry to compete this year. The MAC is a very competitive conference, but according to Dickman the Blazers are ready for the challenge.

The Blazers host Salisbury University on Wednesday, Nov. 16 for the Charlie Nicodemus Remembrance game at 7 p.m.