SUNY Maritime College
Pre-Season Report
Maritime is coming off a playoff run to the semi finals last year. They are looking to build from last year’s success even though they are losing key players from there starting lineup. With that being said Maritime brings back a top 5 player in the Skyline Conference Jake Devaney who averaged 17 points. He was a dominant force on both offense and defense as a freshman.
They also bring back two key players in Evan Block and Tyler Anderson who both started the overwhelming majority of games with the Privateers last season. Evan Block averaged 7.9 rebounds last year and was a key force on the defensive side of the ball last season. Tyler Anderson returns after averaging 8 points and leading the team in assists with 2.7 per game. He is a tall guard who can command the court. In addition to the returning players, they also brought in a transfer from SUNY Old Westbury Zion Williams. Williams averaged 12.7 points and 4 rebounds per game last season. He should be able to help Maritime on both ends of the court this season helping them recover from graduating players, he is dynamic in being able to score and pass, he was a leader in assists for Old Westbury last season. Last year they had some scoring difficulties later in the season and the final playoff game and they will look too these players to help that.
They are losing a large portion of their scoring from last year after multiple seniors and graduate students graduated. They will need to find those points somewhere. We expect Jake Devaney to take a massive stride forward and also see players like Evan Block, Tyler Anderson, Zion Williams and James O’Connell stepping up this season.
Maritime is led by Coach Dmarco Barnes as he looks to add to his impressive young resume. Lat year they finished with 16-11 overall and a 11-5 Skyline Conference record. Maritime Opens up against Army on November 3rd a Division 1 vs Division 3 game.
We asked Coach Dmarco Barnes a few questions, here is what he had to say
Q- How do you feel about this season coming up?
Coach Dmarco Barnes- I’m excited about this season! We anticipating having more depth and size than we’ve had before, we’re excited to implement year 2 of our system – we’ll see what happens!
Q- How are you going to replace the scoring/rebounding and leadership from last year's graduates?
Coach Dmarco Barnes- Losing guys like Theo Noble and Jake Murphy is never going to be easy. They were all league-caliber guys, and even better people/leaders. I believe Zion will be able to help us in many ways. He can score from anywhere on the floor and has great vision. Last year we had forwards that weren’t quite ready, this year we’re looking for them to take major leap and assist in the rebounding department
Q- What is your main motivation for this upcoming season and how are you implementing it each practice?
Coach Dmarco Barnes- This group of seniors has been to the semi-finals twice; they’ve had a taste of success. We are aiming to get over the hump and do something that Maritime hasn’t done in a long time. That starts with attention to detail, I know the guys are tired of hearing me say it…but I believe it’s the difference!
Q- How did recruiting go this past off season?
Coach Dmarco Barnes- I believe recruiting went well. Like I said we were able to add Zion. We are really excited about a freshman guard – Matt O’Sullivan who is a pit-bull of a defender. Also were able to get bigger in the wing/forward spot… we accomplished our goal in that regard.
Q- What changes are you looking to make from last year to this year?
Coach Dmarco Barnes- A ton of changes. It starts with me getting better as a leader, and overall coach – but we are looking to play faster with some more tempo on both ends of the basketball. We’re excited about the optionality that we think this team can offer.
McGovern Sports and Media Prediction-
Our prediction is that Maritime will be a championship contender this season. We predict they will be a top 4 team in the Skyline Conference.
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