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

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SAN DIEGO, CA – MARCH 18: The Marshall Thundering Herd bench cheers as they take on the West Virginia Mountaineers in the first half during the second round of the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Viejas Arena on March 18, 2018 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

What to expect from Marshall

Conference USA is likely to be hotly contested again this season with an improved Western Kentucky team, always solid squads like Old Dominion and Texas-San Antonio, and even a North Texas team that could sneak up on people all trying to take down the Herd.

But with perhaps the conference’s best player in Elmore and three other starters returning to an offensive juggernaut that averaged nearly 84 points per game, the Thundering Herd has the firepower to be up to the task.

If D’Antoni can see continued improvement out of Williams to compliment the three dynamic guards and find a suitable replacement for Penava (Bennett got the start in the team’s first exhibition game), the Herd could be even better offensively than last year’s team, which would be scary news for the rest of C-USA.

dark. Next. Best team in every state for 2018-19

If guys like Bennett and Sustic can help improve the rebounding numbers at all and allow the team to get out and run even more, that is a team nobody would want to see in their bracket in March and one that would be capable of surpassing last year’s accomplishments. There will be a herd of teams hunting down the Herd, the question is, will they be able to take them down?