Georgia Southern released their Men’s Basketball schedule this week. Practice has started. It’s that time of year. It’s time to look ahead to basketball.

The out-of-conference slate is headlined by Wake Forest….and well, not much else (George Mason?). It includes games against Bluefield State and Tennessee Wesleyan, among others. Not the most challenging collection of teams. Some fans hate it and want to play sexier teams. Other fans have grown accustomed to it.

It is the kind of schedule that Eagle basketball fans gotten used to under Mark Byington (and frankly Charlton Young and Jeff Price). Hanner Fieldhouse is not an easy place to draw cool out-of-conference opponents, but that’s another discussion.

I do not blame him for scheduling light, especially this year. The Sun Belt is a one-bid conference. The goal is to win the conference this year. That is priority numero uno.

Using November and December as a sort of a preseason to get the guys ready for conference play makes sense. This is perhaps the Eagles best shot at making it to the NCAA Tournament since 1992. Maybe even better than the 2014-15 team that came within 2 points of beating Georgia State in the SBC championship game. Using the early part of the season to work the kinks out is not the worst idea.

Georgia Southern brought back essentially everybody from last year and brought in a few promising additions as well. They are coming off their first postseason appearance since 2006. Sure, it was the CBI, and they got demolished by Utah Valley 74-49, but Rome wasn’t built in a day.

The schedule:

NOV 1 VS GEORGIA COLLEGE (EXH.)

STATESBORO, GA. HANNER FIELDHOUSE

NOV 10 7:30 P.M. AT WAKE FOREST

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.

NOV 13 7:30 P.M. VS CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD

STATESBORO, GA. HANNER FIELDHOUSE

GULF COAST SHOWCASE

NOV 16 VS BLUEFIELD STATE

STATESBORO, GA. HANNER FIELDHOUSE

NOV 20 VS MISSOURI STATE

ESTERO, FLA.

NOV 21 VS UMKC OR MANHATTAN

ESTERO, FLA.

NOV 22 VS THIRD ROUND

ESTERO, FLA.

NOV 25 2 P.M. AT BRADLEY

PEORIA, ILL.

DEC 2 VS TENNESSEE WESLEYAN

STATESBORO, GA. HANNER FIELDHOUSE

DEC 9 VS SAVANNAH STATE

STATESBORO, GA. HANNER FIELDHOUSE

DEC 12 AT GEORGE MASON

FAIRFAX, VA.

DEC 16 5 P.M. AT CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD

BAKERSFIELD, CALIF.

DEC 19 7 P.M. AT KENNESAW STATE

KENNESAW, GA.

DEC 22 7 P.M. AT ETSU

JOHNSON CITY, TENN.

DEC 29 AT TROY

TROY, ALA.

DEC 31 4:05 P.M. AT SOUTH ALABAMA

MOBILE, ALA.

JAN 4 7:30 P.M. VS ARKANSAS STATE

STATESBORO, GA. HANNER FIELDHOUSE

JAN 6 5 P.M. VS LITTLE ROCK

STATESBORO, GA. HANNER FIELDHOUSE

JAN 11 AT COASTAL CAROLINA

CONWAY, S.C.

JAN 13 3:30 P.M. AT APPALACHIAN STATE

BOONE, N.C.

JAN 20 AT GEORGIA STATE

ATLANTA, GA.

JAN 25 7:30 P.M. VS TEXAS STATE

STATESBORO, GA. HANNER FIELDHOUSE

JAN 27 5 P.M. VS UTA

STATESBORO, GA. HANNER FIELDHOUSE

FEB 1 8 P.M. AT LITTLE ROCK

LITTLE ROCK, ARK.

FEB 3 8 P.M. AT ARKANSAS STATE

JONESBORO, ARK.

FEB 8 7:30 P.M. VS ULM

STATESBORO, GA. HANNER FIELDHOUSE

FEB 10 5 P.M. VS LOUISIANA

STATESBORO, GA. HANNER FIELDHOUSE

FEB 16 9 P.M. VS GEORGIA STATE

STATESBORO, GA. HANNER FIELDHOUSE

TV: ESPN2

FEB 22 8 P.M. AT UTA

ARLINGTON, TEXAS

FEB 24 AT TEXAS STATE

SAN MARCOS, TEXAS

MAR 1 7:30 P.M. VS SOUTH ALABAMA

STATESBORO, GA. HANNER FIELDHOUSE

MAR 3 5 P.M. VS TROY

STATESBORO, GA. HANNER FIELDHOUSE

Naturally, the two matchups against rival Georgia State jump out first. Especially the February 16 game at Hanner Fieldhouse, which will be televised on ESPN2.

When Hanner is packed for a good game, it’s a unique atmosphere. Take it from a former Hanner Hooligan. Say what you want about Hanner’s attendance issues, but fans show up when the Panthers roll into town.

The Eagles visit Kennesaw State on December 19 and Georgia State on January 20, which are important dates for Georgia Southern’s large Atlanta-based alumni. I know those are two games I’m going to.

Aside from that, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Basketball Eagles made it to January with only one or two losses. If the Eagles were to upset Wake Forest in the regular season opener on November 10, they could enter conference play undefeated.

Conference play itself is a bit trickier. Arkansas State is expected to be good despite the departure of head coach Grant McCasland to North Texas. Coming off of a 20-12 season last year, new coach Mike Balado has several key players from last season returning, and brought in four JUCO transfers in the offseason.

Usual suspects of Georgia State, Louisiana, UT-Arlington as well as Texas State and Troy will all be in the mix in what should be a deep conference in 2017-18. Is the SBC two-bid good? I’m not so sure about that. We’ll have to see what the teams named above do out-of-conference.

The Players

2016-17 Stats:

Bold players are returning.

Ike Smith JR G 6-4 195 19.6 Pts, 5.2 Reb, 1.7 Ast Tookie Brown JR G 5-11 180 17.1 Pts, 3.4 Reb, 4.0 Ast Mike Hughes SR G 6-3 190 10.6 Pts, 3.9 Reb, 1.6 Ast Jake Allsmiller SR G 6-5 185 7.8 Pts, 1.6 Reb, 0.7 Ast B.J. Gladden SR F 6-6 214 5.5 Pts, 4.2 Reb, 0.8 Ast Montae Glenn JR F 6-8 250 5.4 Pts, 4.9 Reb, 0.2 Ast Devonte Boykins SR G 6-2 180 3.8 Pts, 1.8 Reb, 1.0 Ast Shawn O’Connell JR F 6-8 190 3.8 Pts, 2.8 Reb, 0.0 Ast Coye Simmons SR F 6-8 235 2.3 Pts, 4.4 Reb, 0.2 Ast

Key additions and other players to keep an eye on:

Tyshaun Crawford C Fr. 7-1 270

David-Lee Jones Jr. G So. 6-0 160 (TR-Santa Fe College)

Quan Jackson G R-Fr. 6-4 180 (redshirted last year)

Jared Hamilton G R-So. 6-4 190 (transfer-Jax State)

David Georgiev F So. 6-7 200 (Macedonia)

Mark Byington likes to keep a tight 8-man rotation, especially as the season wears on. As you can see above, 8 of the top 9 returning players in production are returning from 2016-17’s team. The rotation is set, although the talent on the roster might convince Coach Byington to stretch the rotation out a couple of spots.

Ike Smith and Tookie Brown are obviously the focal points of the team. Both in the top 5 in the SBC in points per game last year. Mike Hughes is not a bad third banana either, and guys like Jake Allsmiller, BJ Gladden, Montae Glenn, Shawn O’Connell, and Coye Simmons are seasoned role players at this point. There’s depth on this team.

Early in the season, you will get a chance to see prized 7-1 foot freshman Tyshaun Crawford play against the Georgia Colleges and the Savannah States on the schedule. For a team that struggles with rebounding, a kid that averaged a double-double his senior year of high school might be hard to keep on the bench.

Guard Jared Hamilton transferred in from Jacksonville State and sat out last season. He averaged 9 points a game for the Gamecocks as a freshman. He and Juco transfer David-Lee Jones could battle it out for minutes behind the backcourt three-headed hydra of Tookie, Mike, & Ike.

Two other guys with talent that probably won’t play much this year, but are still plenty talented are Quan Jackson and David Georgiev. Quan Jackson is a lengthy guard with promise that redshirted his freshman year. Georgiev is a 6-7 wing from Macedonia that has played for his country’s U18 and U20 teams at the European Championships.

The Verdict

The sky’s the limit for this team. This season certainly could be the best Eagle team we’ve seen in awhile. It has more offensive firepower than the 2014-15 squad. The schedule is a snoozer. They’re deeper and more experienced than they were last year when they won 18 games.

I have been impressed with Mark Byington’s tenure at Georgia Southern so far. He’s a North Carolina guy (played at UNCW) and is an excellent recruiter.

He was an early adherent to the “positionless basketball” philosophy that has been all the rage in basketball recently. He was doing it out of necessity most of the time (hard to find quality size), but he’s made it work somewhat.

For the 25 years, Eagles fans have been thirsting to go back to the big dance. Maybe this year is the year? Who knows. Meanwhile Mark Byington continues to build the program up, little by little.

Can't express how much of a steal 6'6 Elijah McCadden of Greenfield (NC) is for Georgia Southern. Expect a Huge Sr Year#PhenomOpenGymTour pic.twitter.com/Fdr92N1fxV — Jamie Shaw (@JamieShaw5) September 26, 2017