Beginning Monday, June 21st, 2004 CHN began unveiling 144 Team previews in 144 Days. CHN ranked the nations top 144 teams, and is unveiling one per day leading up until the opening day of the 2004-05 Season.

Bookmark the 144 Teams in 144 Days home page, and check back each day to see which team is previewed next.

#130 Monmouth Hawks

2003-04: 21-12, 12-6, 1st

NEC

By Joel Welser

The Hawks made it to the big dance last year by winning the Northeast Conference Tournament.  A 12-6 conference record was enough for a share of the title in a very balanced group of teams.  The Hawks return their two big scorers in forward Blake Hamilton and point guard Dwayne Byfield, who are looking to lead the team to the top of Northeast standings.

Who’s Out: Starters Jason Krayl and Brian Boxler are gone.  Despite being starters, neither Boxler nor Krayl averaged more then 20 minutes a game, so there are players who had significant playing time last year that are ready to fill their shoes.  Russell Anderson and Tom Kaplan saw significant playing time off the bench last year and are also on their way out.

Who’s In: It’s not a big class coming into New Jersey.  Guards Jon Ager and Chris Shovlin are the only newcomers slated to join Dave Calloway’s squad.

Who to Watch: Senior forward Blake Hamilton led the Hawks with 16.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game last year.  Hamilton is a consistent scorer and can be dominant in the paint.  He’s a tough match-up for opposing defenses, which gets him to the foul line constantly.  He makes the most of those trips to the charity stripe, shooting 76% last year.

Projected Conference Rank: Just about everybody in the conference is a contender at this point.  The senior leadership will be huge for the Hawks in what should be a lot of close conference match-ups.  Monmouth will end up on top of the Northeast Conference.

Projected Post-season Tournament: NCAA

2003-04 Post-season: NCAA

Projected 2004-05 Post-season : NCAA

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Email Joel Welser: jwelser_chn@ameritech.net

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