The Wheaton College men's basketball team will open its 2010-11 season looking like a different club than the team that advanced to the Second Round of the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament in 2009-10. Guard Ben Panner, who earned honorable mention All-American honors last year as a senior, is gone, as is starting forward Jake Carwell.

Thunder head coach Mike Schauer guided his 2009-10 team to the NCAA Tournament in his first season at the helm of his alma mater and his team's 19-9 record set a new school-record for most wins by a coach in his first year at Wheaton. Schauer, entering his 11th season as a collegiate head coach, notes, “It is an interesting year, in that last year the players were all returning and I was new. This year I am returning and a lot of the players are new.” He continues, “It has been several years since there has been this kind of uncertainty in the program because there are so many new faces that are going to play.” He asserts, “Here is what is certain about that uncertainty – there is plenty of talent. The talent level today is overall better than it was 12 months ago. The other thing that is certain is that we are on a steep learning curve. I don't know when we will figure that out, it's going to take time. So because of that there needs to be this unique combination of high expectations and reasonable progression.”

This year's team will be a mix of nine returning players and nine freshmen. Among the eight returnees are six upperclassmen. Schauer mentions, “Our younger players can learn a few things from our veterans. First, they can learn how to practice and the approach that you take every day to just simply compete each day in practice.” He continues “The second thing that they can learn is that 'we' are more important than 'me'. The veterans have learned that they care a whole lot about Wheaton basketball. That doesn't mean that they don't want to get playing time, but have learned and can teach that they care more about others than they care about themselves. If they just learn those two things from our veterans, combined with the ability of our younger players, you are going to get some really special players. But that is a process that takes time.”

Among the returning players is junior forward Tim McCrary, who earned All-American recognition last year in a breakout sophomore campaign. McCrary led Wheaton with a team-high 18.2 points per game and collected a CCIW-best 8.9 rebounds per game. He also distributed a team-best 4.8 assists per game as he registered nine “double-doubles” (in rebounds and points) last year and he had had one “triple-double” (in points, rebounds and assists). Schauer notes of McCrary, “Most nights we are going to have the most talented and versatile player on the floor, with very few exceptions. Tim just contributes in every facet of the game, he is a wonderful scorer, he can rebound, he is an amazing passer, he can guard multiple positions and he can handle the ball in transition. He is not the best player in the country, but there are not a lot of names between him and the top of that list.”

Schauer says of McCrary's impact on his teammates, “The real key for Tim is how much better can he make the people around him. There are only a handful of players that as a coach you have to make defensive decisions about and Tim makes opponents do that. Because the question opponents will have to decide is whether you double-team Tim or not. Tim's ability to share the ball and to give other guys the opportunity to score is really going to be a key component.” He adds, “His ability to elevate the play of some of these freshmen is going to really be crucial. It will be critical if he can relax some of these freshmen because he takes so much of the attention away from them and lets them have the looks at the basket.”

Senior guard Andrew Jahns returns for his third season as a starter, and this season will serve as a team captain. The savvy guard was third on last year's NCAA Tournament team with 10.3 points per game and he added 2.2 assists per game. Jahns shot 39% (39-100) from three-point range and was a team-best 85.9% (61-71) at the free throw line. Schauer states of his steady guard, “The wonderful thing about Andrew is that he is so good and so consistent that you don't notice him. He always plays hard and he always does what you tell him to do. He cares deeply about his teammates and he practices hard every day. He doesn't make a lot of excuses; he just goes out and competes.” He continues, “A key for Andrew will be is that there is a temptation for him to be Ben Panner, but he really just needs to be Andrew Jahns and not try to score 17 points a night. He just needs to be himself and if he does that, as he has done for three years, it will be plenty good enough.”

Guard John Shackelford played in every game last season as a junior, after playing in just 11 varsity games during his first two seasons. Shackelford averaged six points a game last year, in 17 minutes per game. Schauer notes of the senior who will serve as a captain this year, “His progression is remarkable. Over the years Wheaton basketball has been built on guys like John Shackelford. Players that are just program guys that care so much about 'us'. He is somebody you win with because he cares first and foremost about the team.” Schauer adds, “Shack is everything that is great about Wheaton College and Wheaton Athletics. That is because he is one of the most gentle, caring and compassionate young men I have known at 22 years of age. And yet at every practice, he is one of the most competitive human beings I have ever been around. He combines that ability to truly compete with a gentle spirit.”

Junior center Spencer Schultze played in every game as a sophomore for the Thunder in 2009-10, as he averaged 6.6 points a game with nearly four rebounds per game in about 17 minutes per game. Schauer says of his strong six-foot-six-inch post player, “I am probably as pleased with Spencer as I am with anybody on our team. If Spencer plays as he is practicing right now, then we have a chance to be very good. He is learning to do all the intangible defensive things that he didn't do a year ago. Which means his minutes will go up, and that means his scoring will increase because he has always been able to score.” Schauer concludes, “He is a real key guy and is clearly the guy I am most pleased with to start the season. I think he is going to have a special season.”

Jeremy Pflederer is a junior at Wheaton and sophomore in athletic eligibility in his return to the Thunder basketball program. Pflederer played in all 30 games for the Thunder in 2008-09, as a member of Wheaton team that advanced to the “Sweet 16” of the Division III Tournament. The speedy guard averaged 5.3 points per game and shot 49.5% (55-111) from the field on the year. Schauer says of him, “Jeremy has been better than I expected. He will exceed his production as a freshman very quickly. He brings a dimension to our team that we did not have before in that he is so quick with the basketball. He is going to help us right away.”

Guard Stephen Pierotti started in 22 games for the Thunder last season, averaging nearly 23 minutes per game. Schauer states of the defensive standout, “We have some freshmen who may exceed his ability, but might not exceed his productivity. Stevie is our best individual defender. He doesn't turn the ball over, he gets the ball to the right people and he doesn't miss a practice. He just gets it.”

Senior guard Josh Kvam played in 24 games last season for the Thunder. Schauer notes, “Josh is a guy that if he gets minutes he will produce and if I determine that a freshman or sophomore has passed him, it won't change his effort in practice, it won't change the way he relates to that kid and he will try to help that person improve. He is just a terrific program guy that is more valuable than people outside of the program know.”

Sophomore guard Nate Serenius has had a strong off-season following a freshman campaign that saw him appear in eight varsity games. Schauer says, “Nate is vastly improved. He has a chance to be able to contribute at this level. He is so efficient offensively. Whenever the light goes on for him defensively, he is going to be a very good player.” The Thunder mentor adds of sophomore center Chase Almen, “The thing that pleases me most about Chase is his work ethic. It is among the best on our team. He has worked extraordinarily hard. ”

Wheaton will boast a strong freshman class of nine players this season; however, a key member of the class, Michael Kvam was injured in the preseason and will sit out the 2010-11 campaign. Schauer mentions of the newcomers, “I am very pleased with the freshman class; particularly if Michael Kvam is toward the top of the class, which we won't know until a year from now. But if he is, it is an exceptional class.” He continues, “The biggest struggle for our freshmen, like every group of freshmen, is that they don't know how to play hard yet. They don't get the philosophy of what we do, which are normal freshman behaviors. But I have seen a sincere desire from most of them to try and get it and to try to compete.”

Schauer notes of a pair of freshman forwards, “A lot of our season hinges on the two freshman forwards; Nate Haynes and Mickey DeVries.” Haynes is a six-foot-six-inch and 225-pound forward, while DeVries is six-foot-seven-inches tall. Schauer says of them, “Talent is not an issue for them. Nate is a true power player. Mickey is a versatile forward who can do a lot of things well.”

Six-foot-three-inch guard Jon DeMoss is a 2009 graduate of St. Charles North High School (Ill.) who did not play collegiate basketball last season. Schauer notes, “Jon is the most prepared of our freshman. He is a very, very physical presence on our team. In my 18 years of college coaching, he is as prepared to play right away as any freshman I have ever coached. That doesn't mean he is the best freshman I have ever coached, but in terms of just being ready to play he is right there.” Tyler Peters is a six-foot-three inch guard from Medina, Ohio. The Thunder mentor states, “Tyler is a very long and agile guard. He could contribute once he figures out how to compete in practice and gets more comfortable with what we are doing philosophically.”

Schauer adds of guard Spencer McCreary, “Spencer is a very skilled guard who can shoot the ball. We just need for the light to go on about how to practice and compete.” He notes of fellow guard Tad Fisher, “Tad is our brightest player. He is a very cerebral and disciplined freshman.” Schauer says of six-foot-four-inch forward Billy Berglund, “Billy led the state of Nebraska in rebounding. He is a relentless rebounder who is going to find his way into our lineup someday just because of that.”