Wittenberg, which ranks 22nd in the D3Hoops.com preseason poll, opens the 2021-22 season at 3 p.m. Friday against Hendrix College (Ark.) at the Great Lakes Invitational at Marietta College. The Tigers play La Roche University (Pa.) in the same event at 3 p.m. Saturday.
This will be Wittenberg’s first true season in two years. It finished 28-2 in the 2019-20 season, reaching the Sweet 16 before the NCAA tournament was cancelled because of the pandemic. It then played an abbreviated spring schedule earlier this year against a select group of fellow North Coast Athletic Conference teams and finished 1-7.
Two of Wittenberg’s seniors — Landon Martin and Rashaad Ali-Shakir — withdrew from school after the first semester and didn’t play in the spring so they could return this season. Another player, Brice Hill, who’s a junior this season, also did not play in the spring but took virtual classes from home.
“The NCAA made the rule that everybody can have that year back,” Croci said, “but at our level, you’ve got to pay for it. It’s not as simple as just saying you can have a fifth year. Those guys stepped away to save some money.”
Wittenberg’s top returning senior is James Johnson, a 6-foot-6 forward from Cincinnati Roger Bacon High School, who averaged 14.8 points as a junior in 2019-20 and 9.8 points in the eight-game spring season. He has 1,121 points in his career. That total ranks 25th in Wittenberg history. If he matches his points total from two years ago, he’ll climb into the top 10.
“James is clearly our go-to guy,” Croci said. “We run a lot of stuff through him. It was a tough, tough go last year with everything that we had to go through, but he’s back in great shape and ready to finish things off the right way. I definitely think he’s one of the best players in our conference for sure.”
Johnson has started 72 games in his career. Martin, a 6-3 guard from Columbus Africentric, has played a key role in each of his three seasons and has 678 career points. He moved into the starting lineup as a junior and averaged 9.7 points.
“Landon is a do-it-all, very versatile scorer,” Croci said. “He has become a pretty good defender and has just been a terrific leader for our younger guys. He’s going to play a major part in things.”
Ali-Shakir, a 6-2 guard from Cincinnati Purcell Marian, averaged double-figure minutes off the bench in his first three seasons and 7.9 points as a junior.
“I think he’s one of the best defensive players in our conference,” Croci said. “He’s a tremendous vocal leader.”
Wittenberg’s starting point guard will be the 6-1 Ridge Young, a graduate student from Laurel Elm High School near Circleville. He came off the bench two years ago as senior Jake Bertemes led the offense.
“He has really been good at steadying the ship and getting our offense and defense started,” Croci said. “You can tell he’s a fifth-year guy who has played a lot of games. He’s going to quarterback our offense and defense.”
Hill, a 6-5 forward from Cincinnati Seven Hills, also will have a bigger role this season after averaging 10.8 minutes as a freshman during the Sweet 16 season.
“Brice will be a major part of of what we do this year,” Croci said. “He’s been really one of our best guys so far in the preseason.”
Two other key returners are Levi Boettcher, a 6-5 guard from Urbana, and Harrison Gough, a 6-8 forward from Lima Bath.
“This is their normal senior year,” Croci said. “Both had really good spring, summers and falls. Levi’s really really shooting the ball well. You can tell he’s a senior now. Things are starting to click. He’s stepping up from a leadership standpoint. Harrison does it all. He’s a rebounder, defender and screener and can score a little bit for us inside. He really has come a long way in his four years. He did not get to play a ton his first couple years. He played a little bit junior year. We’re looking forward for for big things from him this last time around.”
Two other players who should see playing time are Justin Shipman-Curtis, a 6-4 sophomore guard from Columbus East High School, and Daniel Asher, a 6-7 sophomore forward from Indianapolis Roncalli.
After playing two games this weekend, Wittenberg stays on the road for its third game, at Hanover on Tuesday. It plays its home opener at 8 p.m. Nov. 30, against Wilmington at Pam Evans Smith Arena. It will be the first home game without any restrictions on attendance since Wittenberg beat Susquehanna in the second round of the NCAA tournament on March 7, 2020.
“We’re very excited to just have some normalcy with the guys,” Croci said, “and for them to be able to be in the locker room together and to go through practices and to travel in a normal way. That’s what a lot of teams didn’t get a chance to do last year. To have them have that normal experience is amazing.”
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