Non-conference opponent capsule: Chattanooga Mocs

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Chattanooga Mocs
2013-14 Record: 18-15
Previous Year Ratings: Pomeroy (274), Sagarin (277), RPI (252)
How last year ended: L 66-79 to East Tennessee State in 1st Round of the CIT

Who they lose: Athanee Doyle – 6’1, 180 lbs FR G averaging 2.1 ppg (Transferred to Wingate)
Gee McGhee – 6’4, 205 lbs SO G averaging 10.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.7 apg, 1.2 spg (Transferred to Murray State)
T.J. Williams – 6’8, 240 lbs FR F averaging 1.5 ppg, 1.6 rpg
Z Mason – 6’6, 235 lbs F averaging 18.1 ppg, 9.7 rpg, 3 bpg
Andrew Houts – 5’11, 180 lbs JR G averaging 1.8 ppg

Who they gain: K.J. Bates – 6’1, 175 lbs G from Arlington HS in Memphis, TN (NR per ESPN, Rivals, Scout)
Brandon Maxwell – 6’1, 167 lbs G from Orlando Christian Prep in Orlando, FL (NR per ESPN, Rivals, Scout)
Shaq Preston – 6’3, 190 lbs G from East Jefferson HS in New Orleans, LA (NR per ESPN, Rivals, Scout)
Chuck Ester – 6’7, 220 lbs JR F from East Mississippi CC in Biloxi, MS (NR per ESPN, Rivals, Scout)
Duke Ethridge – 6’6, 225 lbs JR F from South Georgia Technical College in Americus, GA (NR per ESPN, Rivals, Scout)
Jacolby Mobley – 5’11, 169 lbs JR G from East Mississippi CC in Biloxi, MS (NR per ESPN, Rivals, Scout)
Justin Tuoyo – 6’10, 220 lbs SO F averaging 1.2 ppg, 1.4 rpg (in 2012-2013 at VCU)

Key Returnees: Casey Jones – 6’5, 200 lbs JR G averaging 12.2 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.8 apg, 1.2 spg, 1 bpg
Ronrico White – 6’3, 170 lbs SR G averaging 10.8 ppg, 2.4 apg, 2.1 rpg
Martynas Bareika – 6’5, 215 lbs SR G averaging 9.4 ppg, 2.8 rpg
Greg Pryor – 6’1, 195 lbs SO G averaging 5.5 ppg, 2 apg, 1.8 rpg, 1 spg
Eric Robertson – 6’4, 200 lbs JR G averaging 4.9 ppg, 2 rpg, 1.1 apg
Lance Stokes – 6’7, 225 lbs SR F averaging 3.9 ppg, 3.7 rpg

Preview: The Chattanooga Mocs are in a similar position that the Butler Bulldogs find themselves in terms of roster turnover from the last year’s squad. In terms of the overall optimism surrounding the programs within their respective conferences though, the Mocs appear to be in a much stronger position as their second year Head Coach Will Wade retools his roster to implement a system he learned while an Assistant Coach at VCU. In his first year, Wade was able to lead Chattanooga to its first winning season since the 2008-2009 season and a 12-4 record in the Southern Conference, but the Mocs were upset by Georgia Southern and wound up in the CollegeInsider.com tournament, their first postseason action since that NCAA tourney season.

The Mocs biggest challenge this season will be replacing their do everything forward Z Mason, who even at just 6’6, led the conference in rebounds and blocks, and took up the largest percentage of the team’s possessions and shots while also taking home the Southern Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year award. The most likely candidate to do that is their other all-conference player from last season in Casey Jones, who wasn’t quite the shooter or rebounder that Mason was, but is still a dangerous scorer even without an outside shot and is a better distributor than Mason, so he’ll definitely be a focus of Coach Miller’s scouting report. The Moc’s point guard and floor general Greg Pryor who started every game for Chattanooga is also coming back, but will likely need to provide the team with a little more of a scoring punch this year. Lance Stokes and Martynas Bareika also started about half the games for the Mocs last season, and while Stokes didn’t get much in the way of opportunities last year with Mason eating up a big chunk of possessions, he was efficient when he did get his chances, hitting over 50% of his interior looks. Bareika will have to be someone Butler follows closely on the perimeter as he took nearly two-thirds of his shots from deep. Coming off the bench for the Mocs to provide a scoring punch from deep are Ronrico White and Eric Robertson, who like Bareika will need to be tracked, as they were the two best 3 point shooters on the team last season, hitting at 38% and 40% respectively.

While most of the guys coming in for Chattanooga aren’t particularly highly touted, with Wade’s “Chaos” system in place, most of them are likely to see some action as the Mocs rolled 9 deep with guys getting more than 10 minutes per contest. With Stokes being the only real size coming back for them though, I would imagine that along with VCU transfer Justin Tuoyo, (who will likely make a big impact for the Mocs this year with his size and athleticism) Jucos Chuck Ester and Duke Ethridge will be prime candidates to get some minutes, and reports from their individual workouts have stated that Ester is doing quite well. All in all, it should be a great test for Butler as Chattanooga will try to really push the pace and that should challenge Butler’s ball handling, which has been suspect at times against higher paced teams.

Photo Credit: GoMocs.com

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