WKU Basketball: Bold Predictions For The 2017/18 Season

The Hilltoppers tip off their most anticipated season in years on Friday against Missouri State, a great starting barometer team as the…

The Hilltoppers tip off their most anticipated season in years on Friday against Missouri State, a great starting barometer team as the Bears are projected to win the Missouri Valley Conference this season.

With each new season comes new questions and predictions. While no questions will be found here, each member of the writing staff will take turns dishing their boldest prediction for WKU basketball is for the coming year.

Fletcher Keel | Jake Ohmer will play his way onto an All-Conference USA team

I’m officially all in on Jake Ohmer. His performances inside Diddle have convinced me that Stansbury didn’t take it on good faith that he’d be able to produce and a record-breaking rate, but that Ohmer is just a producer and a scorer. If he can get his three-point shooting percentage up just a tad, then Ohmer will be the Tops’ most lethal scoring option. He already draws contact anytime he drives into the lane and can hit his free throws, so if he does what I think he’ll do (which, as Jared will touch on later, will be lead the team in scoring) than he’s going to jump onto the conference’s spotlight stage and in a big, big way.

Ross Shircliffe | Rick Stansbury will add another player before the second semester starts

Even if WKU gets Anderson and Diagne eligible (and I have major doubts with Diagne), WKU is still very thin with only nine scholarship players and a walk on eligible to play this year. Only three of those players are big men (Johnson, Coleby and Diagne) and lack of depth will hurt the Tops when foul trouble or injuries inevitably occur. At some point, WKU might even be dangerously close to playing with just four players on court considering right now Stansbury only has 2–3 players available to come off the bench.

In the past, Stansbury has brought players in at the last possible second (see Pancake Thomas) and unfortunately the Mitchell Robinson saga and other unforeseen attrition left him woefully thin without any time to find a replacement. I think Stansbury will at least add a walk on, maybe from the football team (like Kawaun Jakes did) or maybe has a player lined up to join between the end of the fall semester on December 12th and beginning of spring classes on January 22nd. That player at the very least will provide a warm body and five fouls and I wouldn’t be surprised if actually brings on someone that contributes at an unexpected time during WKU’s crucial conference home stretch.

Jaed Rosdeutscher | WKU will be led in scoring by a freshman

My prediction for this year is that WKU will have a freshman lead the team in scoring. WKU hasn’t had a freshman lead the team in scoring since Derrick Gordon and George Fant both did in the 2011–2012 season but I see Taveion Hollingsworth leading the Tops with scoring this year. And even if he doesn’t, it’s possible Ohmer could. And if Anderson is ever ruled eligible, he could. WKU has a lot of great young talent this year and it will pay dividends now and in the long run.

Hunter Peay | WKU will return to the NCAA Tournament

My bold prediction for the 2017–2018 season is that WKU will return to the NCAA Tournament in men’s hoops. It has been many a season since the Toppers lost their first round game against eventual national champion UKY way back in 2013. Since then, WKU men’s hoops has struggled to make their way back. This is the season that changes. Why you ask? The shear talent level. With (maybe) the exception of last year, WKU has fielded teams the past few years that could have won a conference tournament. This year, I think the Tops will definitely be good enough to win the C-USA Tournament. Maybe not the regular season title, but a tournament title? You bet! And that will send the Hilltoppers dancing once again.

Matt McCay | Tops will finish the year among the nation’s best scoring offenses

WKU is yet to score less than 78 in any preseason game. The Tops have scored 92 or more in five of their six games and they’re is averaging 100 points in their exhibition games this season. They have given up 68.5 points per game defensively. By the end of 2017–18, WKU will be no less than tenth in the country in scoring offense and scoring margin. In addition, when we look back at stats at the end of the year, WKU will not have lost more than two games when scoring at least their average for the year.

Your turn! What is your biggest, boldest prediction for WKU basketball this year is? Let us know in a comment below, via Twitter at @TheTowelRackWKU or on our Facebook page.