2008-2009 Herd

The word is out, so I guess I can talk about it.  Marshall has a solid verbal from Marcus Goode, a 6-10 300lbs Center with nimble feet and a shooter's touch.  Other schools that wanted Goode's services were Memphis, Kansas, Georgtown, Clemson, South Carolina, Oklahoma and Nebraska.  He played with C-USA all Freshman team Tirrell Baines at the Patterson School.  Not counting the transfers, we may have the best recruiting class in C-USA.

PG - Damier Pitts.   Scoring PG ranked 24th best in the Country by ESPN

PG, SG - Shaquille Johnson.  Combo guard ranked 59th best SG in the Country by ESPN.

PF - Kore White.  6' 8" 215lbs PF that lead one of the best 5A teams in Florida

C - Marcus Goode. 6' 10" 303lbs.  As good as a PG Damier Pitts is projected to be, Marcus Goode may be even a better Center. 

Returners and Transfers that have practiced with the current team and building chemistry and learing Donnie Jone's system:

SG - Daryl Merhie (scored 20 points on 3 different occasions this season), Matt Walls (season high as freshman was 21 points, hit double figures 6 times), Chris Lutz (3pt sharp shooter transfer from Purdue), Brandon Powell ( scoring transfer from Florida),

SF - Markel Humphrey (nuf said), Octavious Spann (transfer from Georgetown who I hear is a very good scorer, inside and out)

PF - Tirrell Baines (C-USA all Freshman team), Tyler Wilkerson (played as well as any big man in the conference that last 13 games of the season)

C - Robbie Jackson (showed signs of promise, but will be more of an added depth player behind Goode and Wilkerson)

The only problem I see is getting enough playing time for all the talent and keeping everyone happy.  But with the up tempo and aggressive defense Donnie wants to play, that may not be a problem.  Next year we'll match Memphis in depth. 

As good as the Herd should be next year and as high as expectations will be by the time basketball season is here, it is important to note.  Most of C-USA is improving in leaps and bounds.  UAB has all of its starters back.  Tulsa is very young and has a couple excellent recruits (2 of the top 15 in the conference),  SMU also has a very good recruiting clase (3 of the top 15 in the conference),  Southern Miss should continue its momentum with a PG and SG coming in.  Penders will continue to do well with Houston and UTEP will contend again.  ECU who showed alot of improvement had a young team.  Memphis will still be one of the top teams in the country, but I don't beleive they'll go undefeated through the conference next year.

With most of the teams being more mature next year, they have a great opportunity to make a name for the conference and themselves early in the year.  C-USA will get 3 or 4 teams in the Tournament next year.  Marshall will be one of them!  IMO 

Robbie Jackson and Jesse Oglesby are leaving the Marshall men's basket ball program.  I had mentioned that Jackson would probably be relegated to "added depth" and failed to mention Oglesby.  The two saw limited playing time this past year and the only big man Marshall is losing is Bo Grebe who didn't see much more playing time than they did. 

I wish them the best of luck and hopefully they'll find a do well for whomever they play, and more importantly, do well in the game of life.  My guess is they simply want more playing time than they would get at Marshall and they can't be blamed for that.  That is not to say they didn't contribute to this year's success.  Young men that are part of a program, give there all in practice and in any game opportunities always contribute to a program.

Thanks to both for their contributions, and again - Good Luck!

No doubt that was probably a huge factor.  Along with Patterson teammate Tirrell Baines playing at Marshall and the style Marshall is playing under Coach Jones probably didn't hurt either.