Central Michigan University Athletics
Stepping Into The Fold
10/20/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - True, the Central Michigan men's basketball team enters the 2017-18 season with two major holes to fill with the departures of Braylon Rayson and Marcus Keene.
Shawn Roundtree and Gavin Peppers, both junior-college transfers, could go a long way toward filling the void.
Roundtree, who is listed at 6 foot and 185 pounds, played last season at Mineral Area (Mo.) College after two years at Missouri State; Peppers is 6-2, 194, and CMU is his fourth collegiate stop.
He began his career at Olympic (Wash.) College in 2014-15, then spent his sophomore year at Laramie County (Wyo.) Community College. Last year, he was enrolled at Cleveland State, but sat out the entire season with an injury. He left that program when the coaching staff was let go following the 2016-17 season.
"I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and I'm glad I'm here," said Peppers, who averaged 15.6 points per game at Olympic and 18.7 at Laramie County CC. "There's a big chip on my shoulder. I've been through a lot and I've had a lot of teammates who wish they were here, that would want to have this opportunity, so I don't take it for granted.
"Every day I just try to give it my all because I know there's a lot of guys who want to be in my shoes right now."
Roundtree appeared in 30 games, two of them starts, at Missouri State in 2014-15, then missed all but three games because of an injury the following season. Last year, he led Mineral Area to a 28-3 finish while averaging 10.9 points and 3.1 assists.
Davis said Roundtree compares favorably to former Chippewa guard Chris Fowler, the linchpin of Davis' program during the coach's first four years at CMU and the man around whom the program was built.
To compare any player to Fowler, be it on the court or off, is heady praise.
"I don't want to set expectations too high for players," Davis said. "We really saw a lot in Shawn that resembled what Chris Fowler brought. Great young man, extremely talented and hardworking, and he brings a leadership quality to that point guard position that helps make everybody around him better.
"We don't have to teach him out to make the right decisions on the floor. He does that naturally."
Senior forward Luke Meyer, who has started every game in his first three years in the program, said the Fowler comparison is legitimate.
"I see a lot, especially when (Roundtree) gets it into his mind to attack, attack, attack," Meyer said. "And I love when I see Chris in anyone."
Peppers, Davis said, is a diverse talent who doesn't necessarily fit the mold of any Chippewa of recent vintage.
"Peppers is unique," Davis said. "He's a scoring guard, but he can do just about everything: defend, rebound, and he can make things happen. He can't be pigeon-holed into one position. He can do a lot."
It might be a stretch to expect that the Peppers-Roundtree combo is a straight up pound-for-pound trade for Rayson and Keene on the offensive side of things after the latter duo combined to average 51-plus points per game a year ago when the Chippewas ranked third in the country in scoring at 88.3 points per game.
But, clearly, both of the newcomers are more than capable and, when teaming with the returnees - the likes of Josh Kozinski and David DiLeo at the top of the list - the Chippewas should, in Davis' eyes, once again be able to put the ball in the basket at a very high rate.
"They're such great team players," Davis said of Peppers and Roundtree. "Those guys could put up big points if we needed them to. We can put them in and ask anything of them and that, added with their talent and their experience … They're pretty sharp young men on and off the court."
Which is in line with the Davis recruiting profile.
"I'm a person who prides himself on ethics and morals, come from a great family, keeping God first," Roundtree said. "I think it comes down to that. Wherever you go you're representing your name and your school. You have to keep that in mind."
