UAB Basketball: In-depth look at Blazers super-senior guard Michael Ertel
By Bryan Mauro
Why you should know Michael Ertel
Ertel, who like most stars in the mid-major ranks, did not start his career at UAB. He started his career as a Louisiana-Monroe Warhawk. The senior guard had quite the career as a Warhawk. Ertel never averaged under double digits. He was named the Freshman of the Year in the Sun-Belt.
After his junior season when he decided to transfer, he led the Warhawks in scoring at 16 points per game, three-pointers made with 59, assists per game with just under three per game. That season he also set his career-high for points with 39.
Louisiana Monroe is a long way away from making an NCAA tournament and Ertel decided to transfer for his final season to UAB. Ertel was hoping to make an impact and make an NCAA tournament. Then when the NCAA announced that all players would get the free year of eligibility it made sense for Ertel to come back and try to reach his goals this season. His last season is going to further cement his status among some of the elite scorers in all of college basketball.
The guard is well on his way to scoring 2,000 points for a career. The Blazers rely on Ertel to get the offense started as he took around 13 shots per game for them, which was the most on the team. As a result, he led the team in scoring with 13 ppg a game, and finished in the top 10 in the Conference with 383 total points scored. The Blazers are going to be good again and the guard will be a huge part of the success for the Blazers.