Coming off the two most successful seasons in the program's history, the Case Western Reserve University men's basketball team has reloaded and will look to defend its University Athletic Association Championship as it embarks on the 2023-24 campaign.
After making the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time and reaching the round of 16 during the 2021-22 season, the Spartans went on to set a program record for wins in a season with a 22-4 record last year, while winning the team's first-ever UAA Championship and reaching the round of 32 of the NCAA Championship. While CWRU is losing its three All-UAA First Team selections from last year in guard Danny Frauenheim, forward Cole Frilling, and guard Mitch Prendergast (who also went on to earn All-America and UAA Player of the Year honors), the Spartans have supplemented a roster of talented returning players with a number of transfers who can make an immediate impact on the team.
The Spartans are featured in the D3hoops.com Preseason Top-25 for just the second time in program history, entering the season ranked 13th, the highest the team has ever been in the organization's preseason poll. CWRU was picked to finish third in the UAA Preseason Coaches Poll, finishing behind ninth-ranked NYU and 19th-ranked Emory. 22nd-ranked WashU, Brandeis, Chicago, Rochester, and Carnegie Mellon rounded out the UAA poll in that order.
The Spartans will be returning two starters from last year's squad in senior forward Ian Elam and senior guard Luke Thorburn. Elam averaged 7.4 points and 5.0 rebounds per game, while Thorburn added 7.1 points with 5.2 rebounds. Junior forward Umar Rashid is the team's top-returning scorer after averaging 12.9 points per game, while leading the UAA with 1.7 blocks per game, and junior guard Sam Trunley will be back after providing a spark off the bench with 8.5 points per game and shooting 42.5% from three-point range.
Another key returner for the Spartans will be senior forward Hunter Drenth, who missed all of the 2022-23 season to injury after coming off the bench to average 6.3 points and 2.5 rebounds per game as a sophomore, including a career-high 19 point effort against Wisconsin-Oshkosh in the second round of the tournament. Additional returners for the Spartans include junior guard Diego Echavarria, sophomore forward Aaron Rucker, and sophomore guard Anand Dharmarajan.
Transfer students are expected to play a big role on the team this year. In the backcourt, guard Anthony Mazzeo comes to CWRU after being a three-time All-OAC honoree at Baldwin Wallace and scoring 1,318 points over his career, averaging 15.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game, and guard Preston Maccoux was an All-NESCAC Second Team selection last year at Wesleyan, and averaged 10.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.6 assists with the program. Graduate student guard Richie Manigault (9.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.0 assists at Washington & Lee) and sophomore guard Caleb Chapman (14 games at Division II D'Youville last year) will also be factors in the backcourt. Transfer additions to the front court include graduate student Colin Kahl, who was a two-time All-SAA player at Sewanee while averaging 14.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game, and graduate student Jaylan Hewitt, who played the last two years at Florida A&M.
Joining the returners and transfer students is a class of five first year players who will look to make an impact, including guard Charlie Fox, forward Ethan Nowak, guard Drey Fox, guard Jake Sambuchino, and forward Elvin Stowell.
Head Coach Todd McGuinness will begin his seventh season on the Spartans' bench just two wins shy of 200 for his career with a 198-141 record, good for a .584 winning percentage. In his time at CWRU, McGuinness' teams have gone 84-69 for a .549 winning percentage, the best in program history. He is joined by assistant coaches Bryan Wickliffe and Brian Murphy, each of whom is in his second year with the program, and Jason Lewis, who joins the staff after a four-year career as a player for the Spartans.
CWRU is slated to play seven games against teams ranked in the D3hoops.com Preseason Top-25 this season. The Spartans will open their season at home on November 10 and 11 with the annual Bill Sudeck Classic, playing Pitt.-Bradford in their season opener on Friday before facing either Eastern or Waynesburg on Saturday. CWRU will then have a pair of road games at La Roche and Denison before returning home to host Capital (November 29) and Kalamazoo (December 2).
CWRU's next six games will be on the road, including the team's first-ever trip to Las Vegas for the 2023 D3hoops.com Classic, where the squad will face tests against sixth-ranked Oswego State on December 28 and Clark on December 29. The Spartans will then begin conference play on the road against Carnegie Mellon, before coming back to Horsburgh Gymnasium to host ninth-ranked NYU on January 12. Six of the Spartans' 14 UAA games will be against teams ranked in the preseason top-25, including NYU (January 12 at home and February 9 away), 19th-ranked Emory (January 19 away and February 16 at home), and 22nd-ranked WashU (January 28 on the road and February 4 at home).
CWRU will end its regular season with three-straight home games against Emory, Rochester (February 18), and Carnegie Mellon (February 24). From there, the Spartans hope to qualify for the NCAA Division III Tournament for the third-consecutive year.
