Last Season: 11-14, 7-7 5th place
win that made you raise an eyebrow: North Central 61-60 or @ Calvin 64-59
loss that made you raise an eyebrow: @ North Park 66-71 or @ Adrian 48-76
Seniors: Sean Hendon, Luke Walker, Bob Wernet
Jodi May's 4th season in charge at Albion was a tough one, it started bad before it even began when they lost starter Chris Hutton to an injury over the summer. Early on there were warning signs things would be tough when just 7 games into the season the Britons were 4-3 with 3 of those wins by 1, 1 and 6 and all come from behind. The 4th win was over Franciscan possibly one of the worst teams in the division.
By the MIAA portion of the schedule Albion had lost 4 games in a row and PG Anthony Wash for the season to an injury. But the Britons started out just fine winning over Olivet and surprising Calvin in Grand Rapids before an expected loss to Hope in Holland. By the halfway point though Albion had just lost to Alma at home in OT, and took a humiliating loss at Adrian 76-48 where they trailed 35-5 three minutes before halftime. Various other injuries and suspensions left Albion's roster very depleted and after back-to-back competitive losses to Calvin and Hope the Britons had to run the table in their last 4 games to have any chance at qualifying for the MIAA semi-final tournament. They nearly pulled of the unthinkable but a harsh 71-55 loss to Adrian put an end to Albion's season.
2012-2013
Key Returnees: Kolin Kazen, Anthony Wash, Lawrence Ridgell, Alex Harville, Carter Elliot, Mike Smith(?), Zack Hurth, Leon Wernette-Leff, Chris Hutton(?), Adam Zavadil
If Anthony Wash and Chris Hutton can return to near their old selves the Britons starting 5 should at least be better on paper. Kolin Kazen has made himself one of the top 10 players in the league and 2012 allowed May to play some young guys he probably wasn't counting on having to play. Overall experience and depth shouldn't be too much of a problem, but a lack of overall team height could be. A couple question marks could be Hutton and Smith, Hutton's injury was to his hand and those seem important to basketball players. Smith disappeared from the roster mid-MIAA season, this is usually not a good sign a player will return.
Albion has proven they'll continue to play tough hard nosed basketball and they'll be in most games on most nights regardless of the opponent. It seems their 2012 schedule was filled with more wins against teams they shouldn't have beaten rather than more losses against teams they shouldn't have lost to, regardless of injuries and any other personnel problems its a red flag. I think 2013 will be a lot of same kind of results, close games that could go either way and at the end the wins and losses probably wash-out. Until they do otherwise, Albion is looking a lot like the program of the early 90's when they were right around a .500 team every year and nothing more than an occasional thorn in the side of the leagues best teams.
Range of finish: 4th if things go really well, 5th if not, 6th if things go well for Alma
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