By Cameron Day\/\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Expectations are high for the 2022-2023 men\u2019s basketball campaign despite losing key players to graduation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Blazers ended last year with a 20-7 record and the title of MAC champions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Blazers graduated senior brothers Evan and Mason Wang who were a key component to their historic season, along with graduate student Bryce Butler. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe 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,\u201d head coach Chad Dickman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the MAC preseason poll, Hood was ranked fifth out of nine teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeing overlooked should add some fuel to our fire\u2026I don\u2019t think complacency will be a problem for this team,\u201d Dickman said. \u201cThese guys are focused and want to prove this team has what it takes to win another championship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the loss of Butler and the Wang twins, other players appear to be stepping into the leadership role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe 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,\u201d Dickman said. \u201cThen you have older guys like Chris Smalls and Ryan Hollwedel who lead more by example and just do everything right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The team also added two promising first-year players to their roster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe brought in two first-year players in Jevon Yarbrough and Josh Stevens, and we have high expectations for them at Hood,\u201d Dickman said. \u201cRight now, they\u2019re 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\u2019s been a learning process for them, but they are definitely making early strides.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe\u2019s already had a lot of experience and success at this level, we\u2019re expecting big things out of him,\u201d Dickman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Blazers host Salisbury University on Wednesday, Nov. 16 for the Charlie Nicodemus Remembrance game at 7 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"