Mid-major Basketball: Early 2020-21 preview for Bowling Green Basketball

2020-21 outlook for Bowling Green 

Rotation

PG- Caleb Fields | Josiah Fulcher | Kaden Metheny

SG- Justin Turner | Davin Zeigler

SF- Daeqwon Plowden | Trey Diggs | Cam Young

F- Matiss Kulackovskis | Chandler Turner

C- Dylan Swingle | Joniya Gadson

If the Falcons can’t find the right fit at the point guard position, it’s possible you see Turner with the ball in his hands a little bit more early in the season for stability purposes. He is the best passer of any of the returnees, but the hope would be that either Fulcher, Fields or Zeigler could eventually fill point guard duties so Turner can play where he is at his best, off the basketball.

It’s also possible that Bowling Green goes smaller and inserts Fulcher or Diggs into the starting lineup with Swingle coming out. That way, without a sure thing point guard situation you have more guys on the floor that can handle the ball, taking pressure off a true freshman or less experienced guard at running the offense.

Predictions

The MAC is a solid conference and there are a lot of teams that will compete, but when talking the Big Dance in 2020-21, it’s all about Bowling Green, Akron, and Buffalo.

The Zips return the conference player of the year in Loren Christian Jackson (19.8 Pts, 2.7 Reb, 4.5 Ast) but lose its next three best players from last seasons’ MAC championship team. Despite those losses John Groce brings in two of the best newcomers in the conference (3-star recruit Garvin Clarke and Wake Forest transfer Michael Wynn) along with some useful role players and will have them competing at the top of the league with Bowling Green.

For Buffalo, the return of Jayvon Graves (19.8 Pts, 2.7 Reb, 4.5 Ast) and Jeenathan Williams (11.6 Pts, 4.7 Reb, 1.2 Ast) will have the Bulls right there as well. Head Coach Jim Whitesell had his team ranked in the top 20 in the country in scoring in 2019-20 and they will be a handful as they return a majority of that high-octane attack.

The real story of the 2020-21 MAC is Justin Turner. He came back to accomplish a lot of things: League POY, compete for an elusive conference championship, and to play with his brother again, to name a few.

But cumulatively, an opportunity to take Bowling Green to their first NCAA tournament since 1968 is the goal, and he’s going to lead a team with a really good chance to do it, too. If Turner can get them there, he will forever be in the Falcon history books as the blue-chip transfer who spurned major D1 offers and took Bowling Green to the promised land.

I think he will and that the Falcons will be your MAC champs. But that might not be all. If he can be Huger’s coach on the floor, partner with his backcourt mate Plowden and take this Bowling Green team on a run through March like they are capable of, to a Sweet 16, maybe… Wow, what a story that would be.