#HLMBB Preview: Detroit Mercy
Joey Yashinsky
Detroit Mercy Titans
Last year: 8-23 overall, 6-12 Horizon League
Coach: Bacari Alexander (2nd year)
Team Preview
By Joey Yashinsky, Horizon League Contributor
Spend even a few minutes around perpetually sunny Detroit Mercy coach Bacari Alexander and you’re likely to hear numerous references to things like “Titan Territory,” or, “The Boys from Livernois.” The second-year head man is trying to instill a sense of togetherness, or more to the point, of family.
And the 2017-18 Titans aren’t using that term metaphorically. They really ARE family.
Two of the most exciting new players to the Horizon League, Kameron Chatman and Jermaine Jackson Jr., will be found wearing Detroit Mercy jerseys this winter. And wouldn’t you know it, both of them will have their fathers just a couple of seats over on the bench, as Titans’ assistant coaches, experiencing this college hoops journey side by side. But don’t think for a single second that these sons are receiving playing time because of their last names.
These boys can play.
Chatman is a 6-foot-9, 225-pound forward with the skill set of a guard. He comes to Detroit Mercy by way of Michigan, where he appeared in 60 games over two years. He’s played against elite competition and proven himself capable of hanging with the top athletes in the country. That’s no surprise; Chatman himself was a Top-25 recruit coming out of high school. His father, Detroit Mercy assistant coach Canaan Chatman, is a former college star at the University of Portland.
Jackson Jr. was a major get for Alexander’s staff this summer. Schools like Colorado and Virginia Tech, from the Pac-12 and ACC respectively, were fighting hard for the point guard’s services. But the dynamic 5-foot-10 Jackson Jr. decided to stay close to home and play for his old man. The elder Jackson was the Horizon League Player of the Year in 1999 and went on to play parts of five NBA seasons. If Papa Jackson can figure out a way to get Junior acclimated to the college game quickly, Detroit Mercy could see their point guard position transformed, from a point of weakness last year to one of their strongest assets this season.
There are other major pieces coming back for Coach Alexander, namely his pair of preseason second team All-Horizon selections in Jaleel Hogan and Corey Allen.
Hogan is arguably the most devastating inside force in the conference. If you’re living on the edge, try to guard him one-on-one in the paint area. Just know that you might not live to tell the tale. In the Horizon League’s most dominant individual performance last year, Hogan took the short drive up I-75 to Oakland, pouring in 39 points and pulling down 11 boards to lead the Titans to a shocking victory over the conference’s top team. The only question marks with Hogan are A) can he learn to play with that level of physicality while not getting in early foul trouble, and B) can he improve on that 54% mark at the foul line? This team dropped a very winnable home game last year to Milwaukee in overtime, a contest in which Hogan attempted 12 from the charity stripe and converted just one.
You know that things are looking bright in Titan territory when a team preview can go this long without mentioning Corey Allen, last year’s conference Freshman of the Year. Allen enters his sophomore campaign full of confidence and in possession of the purest outside stroke in the Horizon League. Shooting 45% on all field goal attempts is generally considered to be a very respectable mark -- that’s what Allen shot from 3-point land alone. In one five-game stretch during league play, he buried a whopping 25 triples, a video-game average of five 3-pointers per game. Allen, along with Jackson Jr. and returning guard Josh McFolley (a lefty with Steph Curry range), give Bacari Alexander one of the Horizon League’s most intriguing backcourt trios.
There’s no way to sugarcoat Alexander’s debut season in Detroit. The Titans lost 23 games, they never won more than two in a row, and their stay at Motor City Madness was brief and unpleasant (85-60 loss to Milwaukee). But as Oprah Winfrey once shouted to her viewers, “Turn your wounds into wisdom!”
That will be the Titans’ challenge this season. Thankfully, such wisdom will never be far away, with the coaches on this tight-knit team doubling as battle-tested fathers.
It’ll be a family affair in Motown for the next five months.
If things fall into place, the memories they create could last a lifetime.
Motor City Madness
Support the Titans at the 2018 Little Caesars Horizon League Basketball Championships March 2-6 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. Tickets can be purchased at campus box offices now and online starting December 15. For more information, click here.
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