Bowling Green’s men’s basketball team surprised many last season, winning the Mid-American Conference
East title while earning the No. 1 seed for the MAC tournament.
The Falcons also competed in the National Invitation Tournament for the first time in seven years.
The current edition of the Falcons open the season Saturday against Wayne State at 1 p.m. in Anderson
Arena.
Gone from last year’s team are three seniors, including first-team All-MAC selection Nate Miller, and
Chris Knight who left the program with two years of eligibility remaining. The Falcons finished 19-14
overall and 11-5 in the MAC.
Seven players return this season, including seniors Otis Polk, Erik Marschall, Marc Larson and Matt
Karaffa, and junior Joe Jakubowski, from Rossford. Also on the team are two sophomores, a junior
transfer, a redshirt freshman, and five true freshmen.
"Our chemistry wasn’t as good last year," BG head coach Louis Orr said. "We have less
distractions off the court this year and our young guys have really picked up the concepts on offense
well … In practice, the quality has been good."
Polk can be a force on the floor at 6-foot-9, 275 pounds. Having already become the program’s career
blocked shot leader, he averaged 6.1 points per game and improving his free-throw shooting to 67
percent.
"He is a physical presence who opponents have got to deal with," Orr said. "He’s gotten in
better shape, his stamina’s better and his endurance is better. He’s got a little more dimension to his
game now. He could be one of the more dominant big guys in our league."
Marschall returned to the court a year ago after missing the entire 2007-08 season with a knee injury. He
played more in the latter stages of the season and had 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the team’s MAC
tournament quarterfinal victory over Ohio.
"Erik is probably the most skilled big guy we have," Orr said. "He’s an inside-outside
guy, but if he doesn’t settle for playing on the perimeter and goes inside, he can have a big year. He’s
got excellent offensive skills with his back to the basket, but I he has to trust it more."
Larson is another interior post player and he’ll be returning from an injury that forced him to miss the
final 15 games of the 2008-09 season. He blocked 17 shots a year ago, while averaging 3.5 points and 2.9
rebounds per game.
"He has a really good understanding of how to play, especially on the defensive end," Orr said
about Larson. "He understands rotations and he has a really good feel for how to help. We trust him
because we know he’s going to be in the right place at the right time and he’s going to give us good
effort."
Karaffa is the final senior on the team. Although he has played in just 13 games over the past two
seasons combined, he’s an invaluable piece of the puzzle.
"He makes our team better every day in practice," Orr said. "He’s undersized, but he’s so
fundamental and he’s tough. Whether it’s against a big guy or a small guy, he just knows how to play.
He’s a coach on the floor sometimes and he’s added some really good insight to our young guys."
BG has just one returning junior in Jakubowski, the starting point guard, who has made 55 career starts.
Last season, he averaged 7.7 points, led the team with 115 assists, and shot over 40 percent from
three-point range.
"It’s his time," Orr said. "Physically, mentally, emotionally, maturity-wise, in all ways,
it’s his time to step up and take charge of the team. I like the poise that he’s been playing with in
practice. He’s playing with a certain level of confidence and maturity that I haven’t seen before.
(Freshman) Jordon Crawford is making him a better player because he plays against him every day. Jordon
puts constant pressure on him and Joe’s at a point where he can handle it and still make plays and run
our offense."
Two sophomores return this season and both Scott Thomas and Dee Brown played in at least 30 games during
their freshmen campaigns. Darion Goins is a junior transfer who will add experience to the Falcons.
After playing two seasons at San Jose State, he sat out last year due to NCAA transfer rules. Redshirt
freshman A’uston Calhoun also has a year in the BG system.
The five freshmen are Crawford, Danny McElroy, Luke Kraus, James Erger, and DaVon Haynes have potential
to be a strong recruiting class.
Last year’s team thrived with a Syracuse zone defense that Orr learned so well as a college player with
the Orange. BG played as much zone defense as anybody in the MAC and that could be a big weapon again in
2009-10.
"We have made it a point of emphasis to work on guarding the ball," Orr said. "We want our
team defense to be really good. Otis (Polk) was a guy we were trying to protect some, especially when
Marc (Larson) went down and Chris (Knight) wasn’t able to play, and the zone helped to a degree. This
year, we have more depth up front so hopefully we can play a little bit more man. I hope our man-to-man
is better so we don’t have to rely on the zone as much but we’ll go with whatever works."
