After suffering crushing losses in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament in back-to-back seasons, the Wilmington College men's basketball wants to erase the sour tastes from their mouths; and the only way to rid themselves of it, is with a championship trophy. (Digital Media Guide)

"I am very excited about this year's edition of Wilmington College basketball," said Wilmington head coach K.C. Hunt. "We are fortunate to have six quality seniors that are determined to win a championship. As always, the league will be loaded with talented players and fantastic coaches. Hopefully our experience and quality senior leadership will allow us to compete at a very high level."

Wilmington returns three of its top four scorers, including first team All-OAC selection Malcolm Heard II. The senior forward led the team with 16.9 points and 7.8 rebounds.

"Malcolm has been the focal point for every team that we have played in the last two years," said Hunt. "What Malcolm has done is work as hard, if not harder, than any player we have ever had in this program over the summer. The guy lives in the gym, works on his game, and it shows on the floor. His dramatic improvement each and every year is a credit to him, and I don't think we are going to see anything different this year. Malcolm is a team leader for us, and is going to have to play well for us to play well."

Senior Ben Vonderhaar will solidify WC's frontcourt after averaging 5.2 points and 1.7 rebounds a season ago.

"Ben has been awesome," said Hunt. "He is going to have a great senior year. I have complete confidence that he is going to compete at an all-league level. He has embraced his senior year and I think they guys have a ton of confidence in what he has been able to do so far. Developing depth behind Malcolm and Ben is the key to that position."

The Fightin' Quakers have plenty of frontcourt options with seniors Christian Patterson and Ben McGriff, junior transfer Jonathan Bibbs, freshman Zach Layne-Wolf and a cast of others. Patterson is the most experienced as a three-year letterwinner, while McGriff played in 21 games last season in his first year in the program.

The starting backcourt of junior Dwight Johnson and senior Klarke Ransome also returns after averaging 8.4 and 7.4 points, respectively. Johnson combined with junior Taylor Wellman to give the Fightin' Quakers a solid point guard tandem, averaging 3.4 and 3.3 assists, respectively.

"Our backcourt is definitely a strength for us," said Hunt. "They are guys that have been through OAC battles, and we have four of those guys that have started more than 20 games in their career. I like our experience. Hopefully their experience will help us close out some games and earn some wins down the stretch."

Junior R.J. Leppert also returns after missing the second half of last season. He averaged 6.1 points and 4.6 rebounds off the bench in nine games.

"R.J. is a unique player from the standpoint he can do a little bit of everything," said Hunt. "He can play point guard if we need him to, he can play the four if we need him to. His versatility is definitely a weapon for us. He plays so hard and is so passionate about the game, I think he is going to have a great year."
   
Freshmen Kyle Rader, Law Williams and John Righter will push for time in the backcourt rotation.
   
Hunt is known to want to press for the entire 40 minutes, but in order to be successful and live up to expectations Wilmington will have to develop some depth behind their veterans.
   
The Fightin' Quakers were picked to finish second in the OAC this season, but Hunt isn't worried about his team forgetting its season-long process in competing for championships.
   
"I don't think our guys are full of themselves or getting too high at this point," said Hunt. "We have been pretty business-like so far this preseason. I hope we have a chip on our shoulder to live up to those expectations. We are not afraid of expectations; we embrace it. Our only goal is to bring back a championship."
   
Wilmington kicks off its season Saturday against the College of Mount St. Joseph at the MSJ Tip-Off Tournament.