Fort Wayne Mastodons
Summit League (24-9, 12-4)
Fort Wayne has quietly made the postseason for the third straight season. But after landing a Summit League regular season title, this time the Mastodons have done a bit better than the CIT. Last season, during the first under Coach Jon Coffman, Fort Wayne fell to Evansville in the first round of the CIT. The year before, they did manage to beat Akron in the CIT, but postseason success has not come easy for this program and that story will remain the same.
Big Wins: 1/16 at Omaha (106-101), 1/28 at Oral Roberts (68-63), 2/18 South Dakota State (91-79)
Bad Losses: 11/29 vs Navy (53-75), 1/23 IUPUI (82-84), 2/6 at North Dakota State (46-62)
Coach: Jon Coffman
Why They Can Surprise:
Fort Wayne has found success because of their outside shooting. Max Landis has had some huge games and has connected on 45.7 percent of his 265 three-point attempts on the season. A majority of Landis’ shots will come from long range and he is the most dynamic scorer, but he is almost always effective and productive and averages 19.5 points per game. The other top shooters are Michael Calder and reserve DeAngelo Stewart. Freshman Jon Konchar, a 6-5 guard, can knock down a few long balls too, but he does so much more than that. On the year he has averaged 13.1 points. 8.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.0 steals. He does it all and is a huge reason why this team can be competitive on the glass against seemingly tougher opponents.
Why They Can Disappoint:
The Mastadons lost their big man from last year and have had some trouble replacing him. Joe Reed is a decent scorer and Brent Calhoun has the size and some of the shot blocking ability, but the frontcourt has certainly taken a step back this year. If it was not for Konchar and his ability to hit the glass, the Fort Wayne frontcourt would be much more exposed, especially on the glass. The other problem the Mastadons have is at the point guard spot where Mo Evans was leading the way until he was deemed ineligible after 18 games. Fort Wayne has done surprisingly fine without him, but this team lost a great scorer and playmaker and now has less depth to work with.
Probable Starters:
Max Landis, Senior, Guard, 19.5 ppg, 3.8 apg
Michael Calder, Senior, Guard, 10.3 ppg, 2.5 apg, 3.9 rpg
John Konchar, Freshman, Guard, 13.1 ppg, 2.7 apg, 8.9 rpg
Joe Reed, Senior, Forward, 10.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg
Brent Calhoun, Junior, Center, 4.2 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.1 bpg
Key Roleplayers:
Charles Ruise, Freshman, Guard, 2.8 ppg
DeAngelo Stewart, Junior, Guard, 8.3 ppg, 3.6 rpg
Racine Talla, Sophomore, Forward, 1.7 ppg, 2.0 rpg
By the Numbers:
Scoring Offense: 80.6 (24th in nation, 2nd in conference)
Scoring Defense: 76.2 (279, 6)
Field-Goal Percentage: 46.9 (41, 3)
Field-Goal Defense: 45.7 (289, 7)
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 10.4 (6, 1)
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 41.5 (6, 1)
Free-Throw Percentage: 72.2 (85, 5)
Rebound Margin: 2.2 (113, 2)
Assists Per Game: 15.3 (59, 2)
Turnovers Per Game: 12.2 (122, 5)
Recent Postseason Appearances:
2015 CIT First Round loss to Evansville
2014 CIT First Round win over Akron
2014 CIT Second Round loss to VMI
*all team stats through 3/6
