- Top 100 returnees: G Joey "King Handles" Haywood (14th), G Mark McLaughlin (50th), F Ikeobi Uchegbu (73rd)
- Other key returnees: G Jack Gallinaugh, F Simon Marr
- Newcomers: F Demitri Harris, F Ryan DeWinter (transfer, Dal), G Jonathon MacLanders (transfer, Dalhousie),
- Coach: Ross Quackenbush (21st season)
- Offence and defence: 99, 95 (+4)
- Last year's results: 16-14 overall, 12-8 AUS, lost 79-70 to UPEI Panthers in AUS Final 6 quarter-final, 24th in RPI
- Looking ahead: Haywood, McLaughlin and Uchegbu combined to average almost 54 points last season. It's hard to think of any team which has three prolific scorers all returning and all projected to fill the same roles (all told, Saint Mary's returns 93% of last season's scoring). McLaughlin will basically never leave the floor unless he's fouled out or has a bone sticking out.
The Big 3 will keep SMU in the mix in a conference where it's tough for any team to avoid losing more than two games, let alone go undefeated. Their rebounding (-2.0 margin per game last season, seventh in eight-team AUS) could use some work; Uchegbu cannot be expected to do it all every night on the glass, especially against a team capable of using their bigs to tag-team under the glass (think Cape Breton). It also wouldn't hurt to have someone else who's capable of picking up the slack and popping for 20 points here and there.
Saint Mary's has a rep for rising to the occasion in the playoffs under Quackenbush (see 2007 and '08, when they won the conference. Don't take your eye off them for a second!
Rob's explanations of Top 100 players by Player Efficiency Ratings (see last year's
PER) and Net Efficiency may be found in the
women's preview.
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