Busting Brackets
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Marshall Basketball: 2018-19 season preview for the Thundering Herd

By Jason Burgess

SAN DIEGO, CA - MARCH 18: Jon Elmore
SAN DIEGO, CA - MARCH 18: Jon Elmore /
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SAN DIEGO, CA – MARCH 16: Jon Elmore #33 of the Marshall Thundering Herd shoots against Markis McDuffie #32 of the Wichita State Shockers in the first half during the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Viejas Arena on March 16, 2018 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CA – MARCH 16: Jon Elmore #33 of the Marshall Thundering Herd shoots against Markis McDuffie #32 of the Wichita State Shockers in the first half during the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Viejas Arena on March 16, 2018 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

The starting five

The Herd returns four starters from last season’s wild ride, with hopes that the ride lasts a little longer this time around. The top returner is senior guard Jon Elmore. The 6-3 sharpshooter from Charleston, WV is destroying the Marshall record books and last season he averaged 22.7 points and 6.8 assists, both numbers were the 9th best in the country, he also pulled down 5.8 rebounds per contest, he also led the country with two triple-doubles last season and has recorded double-figure points in 71 straight games. Joining Elmore in the backcourt are another pair of West Virginia natives, senior C.J. Burks and sophomore Jarrod West. The 6-4 Burks was the team’s second-leading scorer at 20.1 points per game, he was also 2nd on the team in field goal attempts (551) and three-point attempts (236), while being the top returner in field-goal percentage (36.4%) and free-throw percentage (88.9%).

West started 35 of 36 games as a freshman, averaging 7.8 points and a team-high 1.6 steals. The 5’11 guard played over 32 minutes per game last season. He was predominantly a three-point shooter, with 153 of his 216 field-goal attempts coming from behind the arc, where he shot a team-high 41%.

The lone returning starter in the frontcourt is 6-9 sophomore Jannson Williams. Even though Williams averaged just 5.4 points in 16.7 minutes per game, he stepped up his game in the postseason averaging 10.6 points over the five-game stretch that included the Conference USA tournament and the team’s two games in the NCAA tournament. He would only play eight minutes in the season-ending loss against West Virginia after suffering an injury. The one spot that needs to be filled is the spot created when Adjin Penava left early to turn pro. One option to fill the spot would be sophomore Darius George. The 6-7 forward averaged 4.6 points and 3.1 rebounds per game, but over the last eight games that point number bumped up to 7.7.