CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Carson-Newman's men's basketball program is listed outside the top 10 and as a school poised for a possible breakthrough for the 2015-16 campaign, according to the Sporting News in its annual men's basketball preview.
The Eagles are the defending 2015 South Atlantic Conference tournament champions and return all five starters from last year's group that made its second consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.
C-N returns first team All-SAC and second team NABC all-region post player Carson Brooks (Knoxville, Tenn.) and all-freshman team and SAC tournament MVP Charles Clark both return to lead the Eagles.
Brooks was Carson-Newman's leading scorer in his junior year averaging 15.1 points per game. Brooks needs just 67 points to join Carson-Newman's 1,000-point club.
He owns the SAC statistical championship for made field goals from a year ago with 178. Brooks also clocked in at seventh in the SAC with his 57.8 field goal percentage. Brooks also registers atfirst, second and third on Carson-Newman's single game field goal percentage marks by going 12-for-12 against Barton, 11-for-12 from the field against Queens and 10-for-11 against Anderson.
He scored double figures in 24 contests this season including 16 consecutive at one point – the longest double-digit scoring stream since Ish Sanders collected 15 consecutive double-digit games his senior year.
Clark scored 23 points and snagged nine boards to send the Eagles past LMU and on to the SAC tournament title. Clark scored 74 points in the tournament, nine away from Anderson's Denzail Jones and the tournament record.
He set his career high in the semis against Newberry with 33 points on 10-for-16 shooting. Clark finished the year second on the team in scoring and second in the SAC among freshmen. He averaged 12.6 points per game coupled with 3.7 rebounds per contest.
Clarke played in 32 games and started 23, including 15 consecutive to end the season. Clark scored double digits in 16 games and 20 or more in eight.
His arguably most impressive game came when he led the Eagles to an 87-72 win at No. 1 Lincoln Memorial. That night he had 30 points on 11-for-17 shooting. He earned South Atlantic Conference player of the week honors for that performance and became the first freshman with a 30-point game for Carson-Newman since Ish Sanders set a then SAC and still school record with 51 points against Mars Hill in 2011.
Sawyer Williams (Owenton, Ky.), Josh Rogers (Bristol, United Kingdom) and Mason Bates (Cookeville, Tenn.) round out the Eagles returning starters.
Carson-Newman is listed with fellow Southeast Region school's Mount Olive and Queens as potential break out school this season. SAC rival LMU is ranked fourth in the Sporting News' preseason top 10 while in-region foe Montevallo, the team that eliminated C-N from the NCAA tournament a year ago, is ranked ninth.
The Eagles open their season Nov. 13 with a matchup at 8 p.m. with Southern Wesleyan.
Possible Breakthroughs:
Alabama-Huntsville, Arkansas-Fort Smith, Barry, Bowie State, BYU-Hawaii, Carson-Newman, Central Missouri, UC-Colorado Springs, Fairmont State, Glenville State, Indiana (Pa.), Indianapolis, Kentucky Wesleyan, Merrimack, Minnesota-Moorhead, Mount Olive, Queens (NC), St. Edward's, Union (Tenn.), Western Oregon.
All-Americans
First Team
Andy Avgi, Western Oregon
Seger Bonifant, West Liberty
Daniel Jansen, Augustana (SD)
Ryan Stephen, Colorado-Mesa
Deonta Stocks, West Georgia
Second Team
Yunio Barrueta, Barry
Dontrell Brite, Mount Olive
Casey Schilling, Augustana (SD)
Devin Schmidt, Delta State
Gelvis Solano, Merrimack
Honorable Mention
Connor Beranek, Nebraska-Kearney
Ryan Berg, California Baptist
Ethan Brozek, Nebraska-Kearney
Kameron Bundy, Drury
Luquon Choice, Lincoln Memorial
Kyle Cooper, Hillsdale
Wendell Davis, Ashland
Jordan Faison, Cal Poly Pomona
Jon Feiler, New York Tech
Tyree Gaiter, Notre Dame (OH)
Stephen Grosey, Concordia-Irvine (CA)
Ian Harward, BYU-Hawaii
Preston Herring, Alabama-Huntsville
Devin Hoehn, West Liberty
Corbin Jackson, Florida Tech
Andraz Kavas, Harding
Jack Madgen, Delta State
Michael Mallory, Southern Connecticut
Tanner McGrew, West Virginia Wesleyan
