Sporting News: Merrimack Men's Basketball is Team to Watch

NORTH ANDOVER, MA – Coming off the program’s first NCAA tournament win since 2000, Bert Hammel's men’s basketball team has been chosen as a breakthrough team to watch in Division II for the 2009-10 season.

Senior captain Darren Duncan (Briarwood, NY) and junior Darin Mency (Hagerstown, MD) were also named to The Sporting News preseason All-American squad collecting first team and honorable mention recognition, respectively.

With a 21-9 mark in 2008-09, the Warriors tallied the program’s first 20-win season since 1999-2000 when Merrimack was the Northeast-10 Conference Champion.

The two-time Northeast-10 All-Conference First Team guard and 2006-07 Rookie of the Year, Duncan, led the conference and team with 19.5 points and 7.7 assists per game a year ago.

Mency, the 2008-09 All-Conference Second Teamer and 2007-08 Rookie of the Year, was seventh in the league in scoring (17.2 ppg) and fifth in three-pointers per game (2.70) during the Warriors run a season ago.

The Warriors will open their regular season and Northeast-10 Conference schedule against preseason Sporting News #5 Bentley University on Wednesday, November 18 at 7:30pm in North Andover.

The Sporting News Complete Poll (2009-10)

NCAA Division II Preview

Top 10
1. Bellarmine
2. BYU-Hawaii
3. Central Missouri
4. Valdosta State
5. Bentley
6. Indiana (Pa.)
7. Grand Valley State
8. Humboldt State
9. Cal Poly Pomona
10. St. Cloud State

Possible Breakthroughs
Adelphia, Arkansas Tech, Augusta State, Barton, Bridgeport, Cal State-San Bernardino, Central Oklahoma, Central Washington, Christian Brothers, Dallas Baptist, Findlay, Florida Southern, Johnson C. Smith, Kutztown, Le Moyne, Massachusetts-Lowell, Merrimack, Metropolitan State, Minnesota State-Mankato, Northern Kentucky, Philadelphia, Saint Anselm, Seattle Pacific, Southern Indiana, Southwest Baptist, Southwest Minnesota State, Tarleton State, Tusculum, Virginia Union, West Liberty State, Western Washington and Winona State.

All-America Team
First
Lucas Alves, BYU-Hawaii
Tyrone Curnell, Valdosta State
Darren Duncan, Merrimack
Matt Rogers, Southwest Baptist
Jason Westrol, Bentley

Second
Brandon Brown, Cal State-San Bernardino
Kendrick Easley, Mount Olive
Laurence Ekperigin, LeMoyne
Aaron Hill, Rockhurst
Ben Madgen, Augusta State

Honorable Mention
Morris Anderson, Western Washington
Daniel Bailey, Queens
Chris Banchero, Seattle Pacific
Thomas Baudinet, Saint Anselm
Gerald Brooks, Indiana (Pa.)
Brandon Byerson, Virginia Union
Richard Byrd, Adelphi
Pierce Caldwell, Incarnate Word
Rashad Callaway, Tampa
Duke Crews, Bowie State
Stephen Dennis, Kutztown
L.J. Dunn, Barton
Russell Frederick, Philadelphia
Chris Hall, Lynn
Braydon Hobbs, Bellarmine
Malcolm Ingram, Philadelphia
David Johnson, Winona State
Justin Keenan, Ferris State
Dustin Maguire, Northern Kentucky
Darin Mency, Merrimack
Kyle Moore, Tusculum
Travis Nelson, Minnesota State-Mankato
Marcus Parker, Findlay
Matt Schneck, St. Cloud State
Jamar Smith, Southern Indiana
John Thompson, Florida Southern
Zac Tiedeman, Humboldt State
Sanjay Watts, Central Missouri
Darryl Webb, Indiana (Pa.)
Marques Whippy, BYU-Hawaii
Taylor Witt, St. Cloud State
Nick Wolf, Rollins