Detroit Mercy Basketball: 2017-2018 season preview
By Bryan Mauro
How will the Detroit Mercy Titans fare in the 2017-18 college basketball season?
The Horizon League preseason rankings were released last week. The Detroit Mercy Titans were picked to finish fourth in the conference. If all comes to fruition and the Titans do end up finishing fourth in the conference, it would be a very distant fourth. The top three teams in this conference are all superior in talent to Detroit Mercy and seem to have some more quality depth.
One thing that could help the Titans going into the year is the returning experience they have currently on the roster. The Titans have four of their five starters returning from a year ago. Three of those four players are the top three scorers for Detroit Mercy a year ago. If Detroit Mercy does finish fourth in this conference this year, they will need a vast improvement from a team that only won eight games last year.
On the defensive end of the floor, the Titans were dreadful. They allowed 85 points a game, and teams shot right at 50% from the floor against them last year. It is understood that the Titans must play better defense to be successful. The Titans were okay on offense last year as well. The Titans averaged 77 points a game, shooting at just over 44% from the field last year. Their offensive numbers are good enough to win more than eight games.
Former Titan player and new Titan head man Bacari Alexander has his work cut out for him in year two. The Titans will have some returning talent back for 2017-2018. A season ago, Alexander scheduled tough playing five NCAA Tournament teams in non-conference play. The Titans should be better in year two under Alexander but after only winning eight games there is only one way to go — up.