Central Michigan University Athletics
Zeigler Era Begins with Exhibition Game on Thursday
10/29/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Year one of the Ernie Zeigler era begins on Thursday night, Nov. 2, as the
Zeigler and the Chippewas began official practice on Saturday, Oct. 14, and the first-year head coach has been pushing his squad since.
“I’ve been pleased with our overall effort,” Zeigler said. “Our guys have been trying to put forth their very best to grasp all of the different things the coaching staff has thrown at them.
“My concerns right now are depth at the point and our ability to fully grasp the defensive philosophy we are implementing. We have to be hard nosed every play. We’ve shown great effort, but we have to have the ability to focus every play on the small things. We haven’t been consistent in that area.”
CMU returns nine letterwinners and all five starters from last year’s team that went 4-24 overall, 1-17 in the Mid-American Conference. The returning starters include preseason All-MAC West Division selection Giordan Watson (5-10/Jr.), Eddie Spencer (6-6/Sr.), Chris Kellermann (6-8/So.), Sefton Barrett (6-6/Sr.) and Justin Blevins (6-7/Jr.).
Watson led the Chippewas with 13.8 points and 4.4 assist per game while Barrett averaged 13.6 points and a team-high 6.5 rebounds per game.
While the entire core of CMU’s rotation returns, a couple of newcomers have stood out to CMU’s rookie coach -- redshirt freshman forward Andre Smyth (6-7) and true freshman walk-on guard Robbie Harman (5-9).
“Both Smyth and Harman have been hard nosed and have shown improvement,” Zeigler said. “They are learning how we want to defend and are doing things with a tough, winning mindset.”
While the team has been facing itself daily in practice, the coach and the players are looking forward to facing another colored jersey on Thursday.
“We’re looking forward to facing someone else, so we can see how we execute offensively and defensively,” Zeigler said. “We have to be able to demonstrate that we can take care of the ball and have great defensive pressure.
“The offense is ahead of the defense right now and that’s a problem. We have a good understanding of when we want to push the ball and when to slow down and execute set players.”
Zeigler’s focus for much of the preseason has been on the defensive side of the ball.
“The defense has got to come around,” he said. “If we are going to have the opportunity to be successful, it’s going to start at the defensive end.”
CMU will be the first Mid-American Conference team to hit the floor for a game this season when the Chippewas travel to
NOTES:
* CMU is hosting its annual media day on Monday, Oct. 30, beginning at 9:30 a.m. in Rose Arena. Live video will be available beginning at 9:30 a.m., exclusively on cmuchippewas.com. Click on the CMU Sports Zone link on the front page to view the feed.
* CMU’s media guide is available online in PDF format. The complete 116-page publication features season outlook information, coach and player bios, 2005-06 statistics, the Chippewa record book and much more. 2006-07 CMU Men's Basketball Media Guide
* Former Chippewa Chris Kaman signed a multi-year contract extension with the Los Angeles Clippers. The deal begins in the 2007-08 season. Although terms of the contract were not announced by the organization, ESPN.com is reporting it to be a five-year, $52.5 million deal.
