Western Kentucky Basketball: The Hilltoppers curious 2018-19 campaign

Few programs have had the roller coaster ride that Western Kentucky Basketball has experienced so far this year. Is time running out on the Hilltoppers to figure it out or are they still a team to fear come March?

What a topsy-turvy year it has been for Western Kentucky. Pegged at the start of the year by prominent publications such as the Blue Ribbon Yearbook, our own Brian Rauf and the Conference USA coaches themselves, as the favorite to win the C-USA, the Rick Stanbury’s squad now finds themselves smack dab in the middle of the pack and staring down the prospects of a rather average and likely disappointing year.

After landing Auburn transfer DeSean Murray and the crown jewel commitment of Charles Bassey, paired with returning pieces such as Taveion Hollingsworth, Josh Anderson and Jared Savage from a 27-11 team the year before, things seemed like they were going to fall right into place and a tournament run was inevitable for Western Kentucky.

Then things happened. Senior leader Lamonte Bearden was ruled ineligible for the first semester, forcing him to miss a bulk of games. Days before the December 16th return of Bearden, Western Kentucky took a massive blow when the aforementioned DeSean Murray chose to see what was waiting for him in the professional ranks.

In 8 games, Murray averaged 9.5 points and 4.5 rebounds. For a team sputtering, these numbers would create an impact felt.

Essentially Bearden re-joining and Murray leaving within days of one another was a case of six of one, half a dozen of the other.

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To avoid demeaning the roster completely, the Hilltoppers are very much a talented bunch. Taveion Hollingsworth currently puts 15.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.4 steals per outing. His 36.8 minutes played per game puts him at 18th in the country in %Minutes according to KenPom.

Similarly, Bassey has shown fans across the country why he’ll be flirting with the first round of the NBA Draft. A double-double threat anytime he steps on the court, the Freshman is averaging 14.2 points on .631 shooting, showing he knows where his bread and butter lies. 9.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per outing also show how much of an asset he can be to this team.

Roster make-up aside, it just seems that WKU has yet to find their stride. At the moment of this being written Western Kentucky holds very helpful wins over West Virginia on a neutral floor, a true road win over Arkansas, and successful home defenses over Saint Mary’s and Wisconsin.

That’s four KenPom Top 85 wins, two of which are KenPom Top 35 with the Wisconsin win being against KenPom Top 15.

Impressive.

But then there were road losses to Indiana State followed by Missouri State, a home loss to Troy, and a three game C-USA slide with two losses being on the road at Marshall and then home against Florida International. All of these teams were ranked outside of the KenPom Top 120 at the time.

The argument can be made that should this team click – and it’s very possible they do – in conference play, then a run to March isn’t certainly not out of the frame. When looking at their 9 losses, seven of them were by 9 or fewer points with three being one possession losses. One could argue with a made shot here and a defensive stop there, this Hilltopper team could be sitting around 15 wins already with marquee wins and one or two bad losses. If any.

Which is why this Western Kentucky team is one every should track between now and March. Far from being a traditional power, to see them right the ship and turn it around would make for thrilling television. Between Hollingsworth, Bassey, Anderson and Savage, the Toppers have four players putting up 11+ points per game.

Currently on a two game win streak and lead by a coach like Rick Stansbury, the argument could be made that this is one of the most, if not the, most talented Mid-Majors in the country. In 2019, Mid-Major is more so used to denote the size of school and we all know it’s not a knock.

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This team can win games in March. This team can send high major fan bases home upset. And if they can figure it out and flip the switch from here on out, it’ll be a less than desirable task to try and knock them off their game.