CALEDONIA, Mich. — The Davenport men's basketball team struggled to a 7-21 record last season.
The Panthers held a media day on Tuesday at the Student Center and optimism was incredibly high for the new season despite last year's struggles.
"We didn't have a great season last year," 16th year head coach Burt Paddock said. "We had a lot of injuries last year and some guys had to sit out and different things and so it wasn't our typical year but moving forward, my assistant coaches have done an incredible job, we have an incredible recruiting class we got some kids coming back, we had some kids sitting out that didn't get to play last year that we are super excited about and as I told a lot fo people and I don't want to put the cart before the horse but if we don't have a good season this year, it's on me. We have a really good team and I'm excited to get them started."
DU returns six of its top eight scorers from last season led by Marcedus Leech Jr. who was second in the GLIAC averaging 20 points per game.
"We had a terrible season last year so it was important for us to have a really good off season and a really good preseason this year," Leech Jr. said. "It is all about focus and commitment and everybody buying into the coaches plan and also us putting it together on the court and being successful out there as well."
The Panthers welcome 11 new players this year led by Myles Belyeu who transferred from Saginaw Valley State where he averaged 21 points per game in the 2019-2020 season.
Davenport begins practice on Friday with the first game scheduled for November 10th.
