Iowa Basketball: Get to Know Kennesaw State Owls
Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports
A look at Iowa’s first opponent, the Kennesaw State Owls
Iowa basketball officially starts their season on Friday against the Kennesaw State Owls. The Hawkeyes won their exhibition game over Regis last Friday, 95-73, and should have an easy win to start the regular season.
Peter Jok, Tyler Cook, Nicholas Baer and others shined in the exhibition game a week ago. Also, it looks like Iowa will be starting Christian Williams at point guard to begin the season. Simply put, Iowa answered some major questions, yet there still remains some for a relatively young and inexperienced team.
We should get some more answers on Friday, despite the Kennesaw State Owls not being nationally well-known. Their basketball program has had very little success in their 11-year history, therefore no one is quite sure of what to expect from them and players they should know.
With the basketball season starting this week, here’s a look at the Kennesaw State Owls history, current roster and expectations for this season. The Iowa Hawkeyes and Owls tip-off at 8:35 p.m. on Friday night.
Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports
Program History
Kennesaw State joined the Atlantic Sun conference for the 2005-06 season but weren’t considered a major school until 2009-10. Being considered a major school didn’t add success, though.
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The Owls own a miserable all-time record of 96-242, amounting to a .284 winning percentage. To put in perspective their rough start, only the U.S. International Gulls (1982-1991) and Sewanee Tigers (1923-1941) own a worst winning percentage for basketball programs with at least five years of experience.
The program is slowly on the rise, though. After winning a program-high 13 wins in 2009-10, the Owls failed to win double-digit games for the next four seasons. In fact, Kennesaw State combined to go 6-55 from 2011-13.
However, under new head coach Al Skinner, the Owls went 11-20 a season ago and finished with a winning percentage above .350 for the first time since 2009-10. Kennesaw State is still not landing great recruits, but the improvement they showed under Skinner last year is promising. Plus, more success will help shine a brighter light on the program and attract better recruits.
It’s no surprise that they have never been ranked and are still looking to make their first NCAA Tournament. Also, Kennesaw State’s only conference tournament win came in 2009-10 when they upset top-seeded Lipscomb 72-69 in the first round before losing to East Tennessee State.
Kennesaw State is playing more Power-Five schools and ranked teams every year, as they still search for their signature win.
Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports
2016-17 Roster
Very few people have actually heard of anyone on their roster, but Kennesaw State does have a couple of solid players. Despite losing Yonel Brown, who averaged 18.6 points and 1.1 steals per game last season, the Owls do return their leading scorer from a year ago in Kendrick Ray.
After not finding his footing with Quinnipiac, he found his footing last year by averaging 18.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game. He finished in the top-10 in the Atlantic Sun in all three categories and will be relied on more with Brown gone. Ray is the only player on this year’s roster who played more than 25 minutes per game last season.
Al Skinner has to replace more than Brown, though. Kennesaw State lost three of seven players who played at least 19 minutes per game in 23-plus games last season. Considering six of those seven players played in all 31 games, the Owls biggest task in the early season might be rebuilding chemistry with new rotational players.
One player who needs to step up is Aubrey Williams, who is arguably the biggest playmaker on Kennesaw State outside of Kendrick Ray. The redshirt senior forward will need to take on a bigger role in the offense after finishing third on the team with 8.3 points per game last season.
Although, he did lead the team with 6.3 rebounds per game and was their only player who shot above 50 percent from the field — 53.8 percent. He will have his hands full with Tyler Cook on Friday, who will be looking to start his Iowa career with a big game.
The Owls don’t have any notable recruits, transfers or NBA prospects, which led to Skinner using a somewhat deep rotation in 2015-16. The same will likely happen this season, with Ray and Williams leading the way. Expect Skinner to experiment with a lot of lineups on Friday during both team’s first regular season game of the season.
Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports
2016-17 Expectations
Al Skinner exceeded expectations a season ago, but it will be harder with almost half of his rotation from last year gone. That being said, Kennesaw State has had back-to-back seasons with double-digit wins, and their 6-25 season in 2013-14 seems like ancient history. Plus, they have a solid group of veteran players leading them.
It’s unlikely that the Owls upset Iowa or Michigan, their other Power-Five conference opponent, but that’s not what their goal should be. It should be to continue to improve the program and exceed the 11 wins they had last year.
Last season, Kennesaw State finished .500 (7-7) in conference play for the first time since 2006-07, which instills confidence that even better days are ahead. Realistic expectations for a team with a solid power forward and arguably the best player in the Atlantic Sun is for them to set a program record for wins in a single season.
It seems like lofty expectations at first glance for a team who might experience a transition period and is coming off an 11-20 season, but remember that their program record is 13 wins in one season.
With Kendrick Ray and Aubrey Williams both seniors, the next couple of years could be reminiscent of their three win seasons a couple of years ago. Skinner needs to trust his upperclassmen to lead the team, and it should result in a respectable conference record.
The key is for Williams to step up and become a reliable second option, while also having their bench from a season ago take another step in their development. Don’t look for Kennesaw State in the NCAA Tournament, but they shouldn’t be a laughing-stock either.
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