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I'll be away from my computer starting on Thursday until early Monday morning, so wanted to share this sooner rather than Monday morning.
I was going to drop this later this week, but it's been done for a few days and I figure today is the perfect day to focus and look ahead to the upcoming season. Enjoy!
Undersized Scoring Guard - Oakland Fort 5’10 170 sophomore
Versatile Two-Way Glue Guy Guard - Liam Lloyd 6’5 190 senior
Shooter w/ Length - Trent McLaughlin 6’6 200 senior
Facilitating Power Forward - Carson Towt 6’8 235 senior
Traditional Big Man - Carson Basham 6’10 240 junior
Once former Graduate Assistant Tim Russo was hired by NAU for his first Assistant Head Coach position, the gears were in place for UConn to set up their first non-conference game of the season against NAU.
Throughout head coach Shane Burcar’s first four seasons at NAU, they’ve yet to become a consistent contender and are faced with arguably their toughest season of his tenure after Jalen Cone — a former Virginia Tech guard – graduated and transferred to Cal after two seasons as the Lumberjacks’ leading scorer. In addition to Cone, NAU’s three leading scorers have departed.
Last year, however, NAU surprised in the Big Sky tournament by beating top-seed Eastern Washington on a buzzer beater and then four-seed Montana to reach the Big Sky championship. Finishing with a 12-23 record, twelve of those losses were by two points or less.
Carson Towt is the team’s best returner and might shift from the small-ball 5 to the power forward position as he looks to continue his role on the offense as the top distributor and one of their more counted on scorers. This dangerous combination sometimes forces defenses to focus more helpside support and opening up more space for guards and incoming Pepperdine transfer big Carson Basham.
Basham led the WCC last season in block rate, was second on the team in offensive efficiency and was third in assist rate, providing the Lumberjacks with two capable distributing forwards.
In addition to Basham’s shot blocking, his defensive presence will look to help the Lumberjacks’ interior D, which ranked amongst the fifteen worst in defensive 2P% last season.
NAU’s frontcourt looks the most stable while their backcourt is looking for Oakland Fort, Liam Lloyd and Ternton McLaughlin to step up in the void left behind by Cone and Xavier Fuller (13 ppg).
Sophomore guard Oakland Fort is a lot like Cone: a dynamic, smaller guard who can score in a variety of ways. Last season, Cone was often a late-possession bail out weapon and had plays drawn up for him scoring off dribble-handoff actions, so it’s feasible that Fort will inherit many of these plays as the team’s score-first small guard. Fort’s microwave scoring ability was showcased late last season when he scored 44 points in 54 minutes over the final four games, highlighted by a long-distance, buzzer beater three to defeat top-seed Eastern Washington in the Big Sky Quarterfinals.
With a career 39.4 3P%, Trenton McLaughlin will be NAU’s shooter with good size. He started his career at CCSU and has been a part-time starter throughout his first two seasons.
A three-star prospect out of the venerable Gonzaga Prep, Liam Lloyd played sparingly throughout his first two seasons at GCU, but blossomed as a two-way glue guy in his first season at NAU. Lloyd and Fort make up a strong defensive duo, however Fort’s lack of length will be a challenge against UConn’s bigger guards.
I was going to drop this later this week, but it's been done for a few days and I figure today is the perfect day to focus and look ahead to the upcoming season. Enjoy!
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP:
Undersized Scoring Guard - Oakland Fort 5’10 170 sophomore
- 5.2p, 1.6a, 37.1 FG%, 37.9 3P%, 14.5 mpg, ⅓ FGAs from 3
Versatile Two-Way Glue Guy Guard - Liam Lloyd 6’5 190 senior
- 6.0p, 2.2a, 0.8s, 34.3 FG%, 29.7 3P%, 21.5 mpg, ~60% FGAs from 3
Shooter w/ Length - Trent McLaughlin 6’6 200 senior
- 4.9p, 2.4r, 38.9 3P%, 20.2 mpg, ⅔ FGAs from 3
Facilitating Power Forward - Carson Towt 6’8 235 senior
- 10.1p, 7.8r, 3.0a, 53.2 FG%, 0 3PA, 28.3 mpg
Traditional Big Man - Carson Basham 6’10 240 junior
- 7.5p, 4.1r, 1.2a, 1.2b, 18.4 mpg, 0 3PA
Once former Graduate Assistant Tim Russo was hired by NAU for his first Assistant Head Coach position, the gears were in place for UConn to set up their first non-conference game of the season against NAU.
Throughout head coach Shane Burcar’s first four seasons at NAU, they’ve yet to become a consistent contender and are faced with arguably their toughest season of his tenure after Jalen Cone — a former Virginia Tech guard – graduated and transferred to Cal after two seasons as the Lumberjacks’ leading scorer. In addition to Cone, NAU’s three leading scorers have departed.
Last year, however, NAU surprised in the Big Sky tournament by beating top-seed Eastern Washington on a buzzer beater and then four-seed Montana to reach the Big Sky championship. Finishing with a 12-23 record, twelve of those losses were by two points or less.
Carson Towt is the team’s best returner and might shift from the small-ball 5 to the power forward position as he looks to continue his role on the offense as the top distributor and one of their more counted on scorers. This dangerous combination sometimes forces defenses to focus more helpside support and opening up more space for guards and incoming Pepperdine transfer big Carson Basham.
Basham led the WCC last season in block rate, was second on the team in offensive efficiency and was third in assist rate, providing the Lumberjacks with two capable distributing forwards.
In addition to Basham’s shot blocking, his defensive presence will look to help the Lumberjacks’ interior D, which ranked amongst the fifteen worst in defensive 2P% last season.
NAU’s frontcourt looks the most stable while their backcourt is looking for Oakland Fort, Liam Lloyd and Ternton McLaughlin to step up in the void left behind by Cone and Xavier Fuller (13 ppg).
Sophomore guard Oakland Fort is a lot like Cone: a dynamic, smaller guard who can score in a variety of ways. Last season, Cone was often a late-possession bail out weapon and had plays drawn up for him scoring off dribble-handoff actions, so it’s feasible that Fort will inherit many of these plays as the team’s score-first small guard. Fort’s microwave scoring ability was showcased late last season when he scored 44 points in 54 minutes over the final four games, highlighted by a long-distance, buzzer beater three to defeat top-seed Eastern Washington in the Big Sky Quarterfinals.
With a career 39.4 3P%, Trenton McLaughlin will be NAU’s shooter with good size. He started his career at CCSU and has been a part-time starter throughout his first two seasons.
A three-star prospect out of the venerable Gonzaga Prep, Liam Lloyd played sparingly throughout his first two seasons at GCU, but blossomed as a two-way glue guy in his first season at NAU. Lloyd and Fort make up a strong defensive duo, however Fort’s lack of length will be a challenge against UConn’s bigger guards.
