2017–18 Utah Valley Wolverines men's basketball team explained

Mode:Basketball
Year:2017–18
Team:Utah Valley Wolverines
Conference:Western Athletic Conference
Short Conf:WAC
Record:23–11
Conf Record:10–4
Hc Year:3rd
Asst Coach3:Eric Daniels
Bowl Result:Quarterfinals

The 2017–18 Utah Valley Wolverines men's basketball team represented Utah Valley University in the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Wolverines, led by third-year head coach Mark Pope, played their home games at the UCCU Center in Orem, Utah as members of the Western Athletic Conference. They finished the season 23–11, 10–4 in WAC play to finish in second place. They defeated Cal State Bakersfield in the quarterfinals of the WAC tournament before losing in the semifinals to Grand Canyon. They were invited to the College Basketball Invitational where they defeated Eastern Washington in the first round before losing in the quarterfinals to San Francisco.

Previous season

The Wolverines finished the 2016–17 season 17–17, 6–8 in WAC play to finish in fifth place. They defeated Seattle in the quarterfinals of the WAC tournament[1] before losing in the semifinals to Cal State Bakersfield.[2] They received an invitation to the College Basketball Invitational where they defeated Georgia Southern[3] and Rice[4] before losing in the semifinals to Wyoming.[5]

Offseason

Departures

Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Reason for departure
Telly Davenport 3 G 6'4" 195 Sophomore Transferred to College of Southern Idaho
Jordan Poydras 10 G 6'3" 185 Senior Graduated
Ivory Young 13 G 6'3" 185 Senior Graduated
Jared Stutzman 24 G 6'6" 205 Freshman Transferred to Idaho State
Andrew Bastien 42 F 6'9" 235 Senior Graduated

Incoming transfers

Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Previous School
Ben Nakwaasah 10 G 6'2" 175 Junior Junior college transferred from Jacksonville College
Jerrelle DeBerry 15 G 6'5" 205 Senior Transferred from Kent State. Under NCAA transfer rules, DeBerry will have to sit out for the 2017–18 season. Will have one year of remaining eligibility.
Baylee Steele 44 F/C 6'11" 235 Junior Transferred from Eastern Michigan. Under NCAA transfer rules, Harris will have to sit out for the 2017–18 season. Will have two years of remaining eligibility.

Recruiting class of 2017

Schedule and results

The Wolverines notably promoted their first two regular-season games as the "Toughest 24 Hours in College Basketball History", complete with a Twitter hashtag of #Toughest24, which involved the Wolverines visiting Pope's alma mater of Kentucky on November 10, followed the next day by a visit to Duke.[6] With Duke ranked No. 1 in the preseason AP Poll and Kentucky ranked No. 5, this marked the first time in the AP Poll era (1948–49 to present) that a team opened its season with road games against two top-5 opponents.[7] |-!colspan=12 style=| Exhibition|-!colspan=12 style=| Non-conference regular season|-!colspan=12 style=| WAC regular season|-!colspan=12 style=|WAC tournament|-!colspan=12 style=|CBI

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Seattle vs. Utah Valley – Game Recap – March 9, 2017 – ESPN. ESPN.com. 2017-10-05.
  2. Web site: Utah Valley vs. CSU Bakersfield – Game Recap – March 10, 2017 – ESPN. ESPN.com. 2017-10-05.
  3. News: Utah Valley buries lethargic Georgia Southern in CBI. savannahnow.com. 2017-10-05. en.
  4. News: Rice falls to Utah Valley in CBI quarterfinals. Houston Chronicle. 2017-10-05.
  5. News: LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) Justin James scored 16 points and Wyoming scored the last six points of the game to defeat Utah Valley 74–68 on Wednesday night in the semifinals of the College Basketball Invitational.. SI.com. 2017-10-05.
  6. Web site: Meet Utah Valley, team facing Kentucky and Duke on consecutive days to open the season . Mike . Lopresti . . October 10, 2017 . October 19, 2017.
  7. Web site: Inside Utah Valley's preparation for 24 hours of Kentucky and Duke . Sam . Strong . . November 10, 2017 . November 10, 2017.