The Wheaton College Men's Basketball team heads into the 2013-14 season off of a NCAA Tournament appearance in 2012-13. Last season the Thunder earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the tournament's second round, posting a 21-7 record on the year. Additionally, the Thunder enjoyed added experience and team-building during a two-week
sports ministry trip to India in May. All five starters return this year from last year's squad and several of the key reserves come back; as well as senior
Jon DeMoss who sat out last season with a knee injury.
Head coach
Mike Schauer says of the upcoming season, "Obviously the expectations for this season are high. I don't think there is any way to articulate it other than the fact that we expect to be good." He continues, "We really return the top eight guys from last year and with
Jon DeMoss appearing to be healthy, our top ten is pretty solid."
Schauer says of his team's strengths this season, "I think our amount of experience is rare. I don't' remember too many times that we have had a team with this many minutes played returning from the previous season" He adds, "The second strength of this team is that the cohesiveness of this group is closer than we were a year ago because of the India trip. As funny as it sounds, last year's team had some tension in varying forms and I think the India trip helped with some of that." Schauer concludes, "I think the third strength of this team is our perimeter play. I don't know that there are too many teams at this level that will have players like
Tyler Peters (PICTURED LEFT),
Brayden Teuscher (PICTURED RIGHT), Mike Kvam and
Jon DeMoss on the perimeter. They are a very talented, big and physical group of guards."
"We have got to stay healthy at forward. I love the guys we have and the four guys that will get playing time at forward are very, very talented and versatile," states the Thunder head coach. Schauer continues, "But if one of them gets hurt for any period of time, the depth of that position is an acknowledged weakness. However, we have very big and versatile guards so we can cover more of that depth than people think."
Even with an experienced roster Wheaton will face a challenging schedule that includes a difficult slate of games in the nationally competitive CCIW. "I think that the most talented team in the country [Illinois Wesleyan] is in our league and I think we play one of the hardest schedules in the country, so the bar is higher. We have to be better than we were last year to have the success that we desire," states Schauer. In addition to the conference schedule, Wheaton has a non-conference schedule that includes nationally-competitive foes like Washington University-St. Louis, Calvin and Hope College, in addition to the tournament at Wooster College. Schauer says of the schedule, "You can go into a season like this and protect it by scheduling teams that you know you can beat, but then you don't really find out where you are in the process. To get to our goals we eventually have to beat the Illinois Wesleyan's, the Wooster's and the Wash U's. You have to beat teams like that at some point, so our thinking is to put them on the schedule and see where we are right away."
Wheaton features a strong backcourt that is led by First Team All-CCIW honoree
Tyler Peters. Peters led the Thunder and the CCIW in scoring last season with 18.5 points per game, to go with his trademark stingy defense. He shot 54.8% (177-328) from the field, with 4.6 rebounds per game and 4.6 assists per game. Schauer says of Peters, "I thought Tyler should have been an All-American at the end of last year. There aren't 15 players in the country that are better than Tyler and in my book he is as talented a player as there is. He creates matchup problems for the word go. As our ball-handler if you put a true point guard on him he posts those guys up, if you put a forward on him he'll go past most of those guys. He is a tremendous talent at our level."
Peters will be joined in the backcourt by junior
Brayden Teuscher. Teuscher joined the Thunder program in 2012-13 after transferring from Washington University-St. Louis. He had a strong debut season with 13.6 points per game and shooting 46.2% (24-52) from three-point range."Brayden is a guy that is big and strong." says Schauer. The Thunder mentor continues, "Brayden creates contact and finishes unlike any player I have ever coached. The shots that Brayden takes under duress are shots I wouldn't let any other player take and he makes so many of them. He actually shoots the ball better when making contact. The exciting thing is that guys improve, particularly defensive, so much in their second year in the program. His comfort level with me and his teammates have gone up. He is an emerging star who can create offense and is a big-shot maker. He wants to take big shots and expects to make them.
Senior
Nate Haynes (PICTURED LEFT) leads the Thunder frontcourt this season. Haynes stepped into his role as a starter last season, averaging a 'double-double' with 10.6 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. The athletic post player continued to develop his offensive game, shooting 57% (114-200) from the floor. Schauer says of him, "Nate is an excellent player. He practices hard every day and I love that about him. He never lost his workman-like approach when he was a role player behind Tim McCrary and Spencer Schultze. He is a true lunch pail star. He is valuable to our team in ways that the average fan doesn't recognize. He is a great interior defender; he is as an outstanding rebounder and he is developing enough offensive game to be a true threat."
Junior
Peter Smith (PICTURED RIGHT) joins Haynes in the front court after averaging 7.2 points and 4.6 rebounds per game last season. Schauer says of Smith, "Petey was probably the most important player to our team last year in terms of when he reached his ability we didn't lose very often. I think he will have a similar impact this year in that way. He is very athletic, can shoot the basketball and guard multiple positions. Pete was the only guy on the team that guarded every position on the other team last year and his role will continue to be very important this year."
Sophomore forward
Michael Berg (PICTURED LEFT) played in every game as a Thunder freshman in 2012-13. He averaged 4.1 points and nearly three rebounds per game. He had a breakout game in Wheaton's last-second win against Washington University, scoring 15 points. Schauer says of him, "Berg was clearly the freshman I was hardest on last year and I kept telling him that he was going to love being a sophomore. His confidence has increased, his comfort level has gone up and therefore his productivity has gone up. If he can make a jump similar to the one that
Peter Smith made from his freshman to sophomore year then we have a chance to be very good."
Guard
Michael Kvam (PICTURED RIGHT) appeared in every game last season, with a team-high 69 three-pointers, ranking in the top-25 in Division in three-pointers per game with an average of nearly three treys per game. Kvam averaged 10.5 points per game and shot 41.8% (69-165) from behind the three-point arc. Schauer says of him, "Michael is as good a shooter as there is at our level. His ability to make shots is hard to match. We need to have his play in some other areas improve. He needs to work on his defense and take care of the ball better. But no matter what he is doing I have to keep him in the game because if he gets on one of those runs he can change the complexion of the game."
Jon DeMoss (PICTURED LEFT) has battled through injuries throughout his career. He served as a starter on a NCAA-Tournament team for the Thunder in 2010-12, averaging eight points per game, shooting 44.2% (53-120) from the field. Schauer says of the returning starter, "Going into the season, both Jon and I were uncertain if he could play this year, given the number of injuries he has had. However, so far to this point into our practices, everything he has done has been at an extraordinarily high level. The biggest positive of our practice so far has been Jon."
Guard
Tad Fisher (PICTURED BELOW AT RIGHT) played in every game for Wheaton in 2012-13, serving as a key reserve. He averaged 10.5 minutes per game for the season. Schauer says of him, "Tad is a glue guy. He doesn't make very many mistakes, practices hard every day and has the highest basketball IQ on our team." He adds of
Caleb DeMoss, "Caleb has been great. So far in our early practice he has been our most improved player. It is my hope that Caleb's minutes will go up; and they will if he continues to play anywhere close to the way he is playing right now." DeMoss played in 16 games last season.
Joel Smith saw playing time in every game for the Thunder as a freshman last season, averaging nearly 12 minutes per game. Schauer states of Smith, "He has a very high basketball IQ. Joel can shoot it, he understands the game and he is in the right spots defensively. If he can make the typical leap that most guys make from their freshman to sophomore years that would be big for us." He adds of sophomore guard
Luis Miller, "In our practices and preparation for India and early in this season it has become clear that Luis is going to compete for playing time. He is a big, strong perimeter player and is very athletic. The key for Luis is last year he didn't know how to compete and that has changed. When he competes and plays to his maximum effort he is a really good player."
Seniors
Spencer McCreary and
Kyle Krogh return for the Thunder in 2013-14 as do sophomores
Jonathan Berntsen and Riley Tesucher. "Spencer, Jonathan, Kyle and Riley are four veteran guys that have played well," says Schauer. He continues, "They are experienced players who practice hard every day and have bought into the program. The contributions of Kyle and Spencer have been off the charts and they have continued in a long tradition of veteran players who serve others before themselves. Riley and Jonathan are guys that are going to get minutes someday, it's just that they find themselves in a situation where the upperclassmen guards are so good and we have
Jon DeMoss returning."Â
