As ECU Men’s Basketball prepares for their season opener later tonight in Minges Coliseum, many may brush aside the Mercer Bears as an automatic “W” in the win column. Here’s everything you need to know about Southern Conference member the Mercer Bears.
A VERY EXPERIENCED GROUP
The Mercer Bears saw seven players from last year’s group return for the 2022-2023 campaign, something to celebrate in the age of the transfer portal. Mercer also has an old team compared to the Pirates with eight seniors currently sitting on their roster. To put it in numbers, the returners saw 74.9% of minutes played last year and 76.3% of their scoring is returning from the 2021-22 roster. Of those returners, senior guard Kamar Roberston and senior forward James Glisson III averaged double digits last year, Robertson 10 PTS & Glisson III 10.5 PTS.
THE BEARS WERE SMART IN RECRUITING THE PORTAL
To fill the holes of those who did graduate last year or the few who did hit the portal, Mercer grabbed talented transfers with a lot of untapped potential and experience in more prominent programs. The highlight of such is a transfer from Fordham in 6’1 senior guard Jalen Cobb. Cobb averaged 9.7 points collectively during his time with Paladins coming off a disappointing campaign that saw him take a step back from averaging 10 plus his first two years to 7.2 in his junior campaign. Other notable transfers include former USF Bull and South Carolina Gamecock, Jaylen McCreary, a 6’7 sophomore forward who averaged at least 10 minutes off the bench his first three years with both programs and averaged collectively 5.1 PTS. As well as lengthy 6’6 senior guard, Nana Akenten who after a forgettable campaign coming off the bench with Nebraska saw significant minutes in the Ohio Valley Conference with Southeast Missouri State.
STRUGGLING SQUAD IN THE SOUTHERN CONFERENCE
The Mercer Bears struggled last year in Southern Conference with a sub.500 17-18 record on the season and a seventh-place finish in the standings. The best finish Mercer has had in the Southern was back in the 2014-2015 season where they finished third in the conference and 19-16 record that year. The Bears are coming from a year that saw them average 70.5 points a game, good enough for 197th in the country, and allowed on average 70.5 points per game, 220th out of 358 teams in D1 basketball. Despite, a good amount of their scorers returning from last year they did lose their best scorer in 6’9 Chilian forward, Felipe Haase who graduated.
THE FINAL VERDICT
The Pirates with a lot of new pieces should have some growing pains, while Mercer will have to adapt and see how these holes they plugged from the transfer portal fit in with a good amount of experience coming back from last year. ECU is at a disadvantage sizewise with the average Pirate coming in at 6’4 and the average Bear being 6’8 but that shouldn’t be much of a factor as ECU should be more talented and athletic than this Bears team. Mercer does shoot the ball well, having the 83rd-best FG% last year in the country but if the defense is the basis for this Pirate team, like first-year ECU head Mike Schwartz claims, this game should decently test that, early in non-conference play.
Ben Byrum/ Producer 94.3 The Game-The Patrick Johnson Show