65 College Basketball Teams In 65 Days: Marshall Thundering Herd

This is a little something I like to call preview season, which by my watch starts on September 1. From that date until the start of the season we have 65 days. In those 65 days I’ll give a team preview each day. There’s going to be no rhyme or reason for the order we go in these 65 days. It will just be 65 teams I think are worthy of a detailed preview. We’ll have other previews throughout the time leading up to the season as well – conference breakdowns, player rankings, team rankings, etc. But, these will just be team previews. 

Marshall Thundering Herd

2017-18 Record: 25-11, 12-6 in C-USA, 4th in C-USA, Lost to West Virginia in Round of 32
Top Returning Scorers: Jon Elmore (22.7), C.J. Burks (20.1), Jarrod West (7.8)
Notable Losses: Ajdin Penava (Declared for NBA), Dani Koljanin (transfer to Little Rock), Milan Mijovic (graduation)
Newcomers: Ante Susic (JuCo transfer), Jeremy Dillon, Cameron Brooks-Harris
Head Coach: Dan D’Antoni, 5th season, 73-63

2018-19 Outlook

One of the most entertaining teams in the country thanks to the backcourt, Marshall made a name for itself after beating Wichita State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last year. Here’s the good news. Marshall returns Jon Elmore and C.J. Burks this year.

That’s where you have to start with this team. The two guards averaged over 20 per game in Dan D’Antoni’s uptempo offense. Elmore is the better of the two as he’s one of the best returning players in college basketball – not just at the mid-major level. Elmore was second in the country in percentage of minutes played last year. That’s not going to change. D’Antoni knows he can put Elmore out there and he’ll stay out there. He’s a triple-double threat too. The guard averaged over 22 points per game and nearly 7 assists and 6 rebounds per game. He can do it all.

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We watched Elmore against Wichita State when casual fans were drawn in to his game. He’s been a damn good player before that game, but that was his break out party to America. Elmore’s game is predicated on being able to keep defenders guessing. he has range out to 30 feet. He has a stepback jumper. He’s a catch-and-shoot threat. He has a handle that can take guys off the dribble and then create havoc because the defense has to scramble to help but forget about his ability to pass.

It’s also credit to Dan D’Antoni – yes Mike’s brother. He’s brought the same style of play that Mike has in the NBA to the collegiate level. Marshall was 3rd in the country in average possession length on offense last year. They were 29th in 3PA/FGA. Simply put, they want to run and they want to shoot the ball. They want to keep 5 spread, high PnR and not clog the paint with post ups. That said, they’ll still attack the rim and score in the paint, they just do it in the non-traditional sense. Speaking of non-traditional, Marshall has the best dressed coach in the land with D’Antoni in his Marshall t-shirts on the sidelines plus top notch press conferences:

When you see Marshall, you expect that it doesn’t play defense either. That wasn’t necessarily the case last year. The Herd graded out as just above average defensively. They protect the rim and they want to force turnovers. Now, they are a terrible rebounding team (ranked 312th last year) but they aren’t a terrible defensive team at all.

Marshall will need to replace one of the key pieces from last year in Ajdin Penava. The 6’9″ big guy was a rim protector – 13th in the country in block percentage and a key part of what Marshall does offensively. He was third on the team with over 15 ppg and shot 34% from three. More importantly, he was the reason that the lane was left open. You could bring him out to the perimeter, let him pick and pop and draw opposing bigs away from the rim.

Despite having to replace Penava, Marshall returns a bunch of key pieces. They return the backcourt. They return Rondale Watson, who was the 6th man last year after transferring from Wake Forest. They have Jannson Williams, a a 6’9″ sophomore to fill Penava’s role. He shot 37% from three last year and also showed the ability to protect the rim. If he can step in and be about 70% of what Penava was last year, Marshall is in great shape.

All in all, this is a team that should be the favorite in C-USA. Keep an eye on Elmore as he can be an All-American when it’s all said and done. They were a 13 seed last year despite finishing 4th in C-USA and not really having a great non-conference win. This year they get Maryland, Virginia, Ohio and Texas A&M. Don’t be surprised to see this team turn into Middle Tennessee from a couple years ago when it won back-to-back 1st round NCAA Tournament games.