THE GOOD NEWS
The Mountaineers won the Northeast Conference and played two games in the NCAAs with only one senior in the eight-man rotation. That means Milan Brown has a lot coming back next year, with freshman Jean Cajou and sophomore Kelly Beidler saving their best for last.

THE BAD NEWS
It's never easy to replace a guy like Chris Vann, who averaged 14.4 points per game and meant so much more than his scoring average. Vann's leadership will be missed as the Mountaineers try to repeat as the NEC champions.

KEY RETURNEES
G Jeremy Goode was the leader of this team this season and will be the same next year. The Atupem brothers, Sam and Shawn, will both be key members, as will young G Jean Cajou and F Kelly Beidler, who will be a junior next year.

ROSTER REPORT

--G Jeremy Goode had 51 points (23 against Robert Morris), 14 assists, nine rebounds and five steals in the three NEC tournament wins and then scored 21 and had four rebounds and five assists in March 18's play-in victory over Coppin State. He had 15 points in the loss to North Carolina that ended the season. The only North Carolina native on the roster had five assists and only two turnovers in his return home.

--Goode's 182 assists this season was the third-best total ever recorded by a Mount St. Mary's player.

--MSM had held 17 straight opponents under 50 percent shooting from the field before running into North Carolina's 60.6 percent on March 21.

--Mount St. Mary's finished 18-1 when ahead at halftime, 1-13 when trailing, 0-1 when tied.

--G Chris Vann scored 16 points in his college finale, after reaching the 1,000-point college scoring plateau on March 18. Asked if he was happy with his final game, he said, "I would say yes and no. That I'm a competitor. I hate to lose. But I mean, when you're going up against the No. 1 team in the country, that's just a great experience that I can say I played Carolina in my final game of my college career."

--Vann finished with 1,019 points and hit 58 of his last 62 college free throws.

--G Jean Cajou, the surprise MVP of the NEC tournament, cooled off in the play-in game on March 18, scoring eight points and going just 1-for-8 from the field and then had 13 points March 21 vs. North Carolina.

--F Kelly Beidler came off the bench with 10 points in the finale. He averaged 12.4 points and 7.2 rebounds over the last five games of the season.

--MSM was outrebounded 46-16 by North Carolina. "It seemed like they had an extra person around," said Sam Atupem. "It's like they had six people to our five rebounding."

Copyright (C) 2008 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.