Men's Basketball Upcoming:

Friday, October 27th, vs. Goshen College (Ind.), 6:00 PM

Saturday, October 28th, at No. 2 Grace College (Ind.), 2:00 PM

Women's Basketball Upcoming:

Thursday, October 26th, at Judson University (Ill.), 6:30 PM

HOME GAME TICKETS: All Madonna University Men's and Women's Basketball home game tickets can be purchased here in partnership with Hometown Ticketing. All visitors are encouraged to purchase tickets ahead of time using the link.
 
Last Time Out: The Crusaders had themselves a historic year in the 2022-23 campaign. They won their third-ever conference championship after defeating No. 6 Indiana Tech on the road 96-83 and won their first-ever NAIA National Tournament Game against #RV Olivet Nazarene 94-67. The Crusaders enter the 2023-24 campaign picked to finish fifth in the WHAC Regular Season. The Crusaders are without some big pieces from last season in Mark Mettie and Henry Speight. Mettie was an All-American Honorable Mention for the last two seasons and Speight was WHAC Player of the Year in 2020-21 and a First-Team All-Conference selection last year. Madonna is set to take on Goshen College (Ind.) on Friday at 6:00 PM, before closing out the weekend with a matchup against Grace College (Ind.) on Saturday at 2:00 PM. 

In this year's WHAC Preseason Coaches Poll, Madonna was picked to finish fifth in the conference by the league's coaches. This season, Lourdes was picked to finish first in the WHAC, while Rochester (Mich.), Indiana Tech, and Cornerstone (Mich.) rounded out the top four. Head Coach Noel Emenhiser is entering his 15th year as head coach of the Madonna men's basketball program, along with assistant coaches Adam Kerfoot, Stephan Umfress, and Chris Martin.  

Scouting Goshen: The Maple Leafs finished 3-25 last season under head coach Kyle Capps. Madonna defeated Goshen 96-59 at Alliance Catholic Credit Union Arena on December 20th. For the Leafs, Judah Simfukwe is a player to watch after shooting 51.2% from the field last season. Another player to watch for Goshen is Isaac Miller, who shot 30.1% from three-point range and averaged 3.1 rebounds per game. Coach Capps and company play in the always-tough Crossroads League, where Goshen went 1-17 last season with their lone conference victory coming against Taylor University on January 26th. 

Scouting Grace: Fifth-year head coach Scott Moore is back after leading the Lancers to a 31-4 overall record, and a 15-3 Crossroads League Record. The Lancers defeated Madonna 72-61 en route to an NAIA Elite Eight appearance, where they saw their season come to an end with a 92-85 by No. 8 Georgetown College (Ky.). The defending Crossroads regular season and tournament champions return three double-digit scores in Elijah Malone, Jakob Gibbs, and Cade Gibbs. Malone standing at 6'10" was named an NAIA Second Team All-American after averaging 14.9 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks per game. In the matchup last year against Madonna in the NAIA Second Round, Malone had 19 points, six rebounds and three blocks.

Jakob Gibbs in 35 games last year, averaged 14.4 points on 53.4% shooting, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game. Gibbs was named Second-Team All-Conference and All-Defensive Team. Gibbs also led the charge for Grace in the win over Madonna last year, scoring 24 points on 10-15 shooting and also pulled down four rebounds.  

Cade Gibbs played all 35 games for the Lancers last year, averaging 11.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 2.1 assists. Gibbs was named honorable mention for the All-Crossroads League and had a season-high 25 points in Grace's season-opening win against Michigan-Dearborn.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS: Madonna returns only one of their three double-digit scorers in junior Brendan Young. Young was a First-Team All-Conference selection last year, he appeared in 30 games and started in 28 of those games. Finished his sophomore campaign averaging 13.7 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 54.2% from the field and 42.2% from three. The Crusaders also return Jordan Graham who missed the 22-23 season due to an injury. In 2021-22 the 6'5" forward averaged 9.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.1 steals a game while playing 22.0 minutes a game.

The Crusaders return a lot of experience in the backcourt, as Devin Dunn and Ryan Nunn are both back. Dunn has started 56 games in his career for the Crusaders and has a career average of 7.2 points per game and dishing out 2.9 assists per game. Nunn has the ability to stretch the opposing team's defense as he's knocked down 97 threes in his career.  

Junior, Ethen Emerzian has the ability to be one of the better shooters in the conference this year according to Coach Emenhiser. Emerzian in two years has knocked down 94 threes at a 35.2% clip. For his career, he averages 7.2 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.1 steals per contest. Someone who saw some action last year before redshirting was Isaac Anderson. Anderson, a transfer from Muskegon CC, averaged 12.9 points and 11.8 rebounds in 28 games with the Jayhawks. In his best game of the 2021-22 season, Anderson put up 28 points and grabbed 25 rebounds in an 88-81 victory over Grand Rapids CC. In his limited action with the Crusaders in the 22-23 season, Anderson scored 7.2 points per game on 62% shooting.

Newcomers for Madonna include Juan Cajelli, a 6-8 forward from the University of New Orleans (La.), and Sho-Ron Graham, a 6-5 transfer from Oakland Community College 
(Mich.). 

Cajelli only appeared in two games for the NCAA Division 1 Privateers in 2022-23, but in the prior two seasons played for Southwest Tennessee Community College. In the 2021-22 season, Cajelli appeared in 25 games for the Saluqis, he averaged 4.6 points, on 46.9% shooting, and pulled down 5.9 rebounds a game. His best game of the year came against Jackson State CC where he recorded 14 points and 13 rebounds in just 20 minutes of action. 

Sho-Ron Graham appeared in 22 games for the Raiders, the 6-5 forward averaged 5.0 points per game for the Raiders and 2.8 rebounds in just 8.1 minutes per game.
Last Time Out: Despite finishing 2-25 overall last season, head coach Jaresha Obey and company went to work this summer and fall. Obey and her staff (Kerri Yarber, Brad Parker, and Al Hamilton) brought in a solid recruiting class to go along with a solid group of returners.

Madonna was picked to finish 10th in the 2023-24 WHAC Preseason Coaches Poll ahead of Michigan-Dearborn and Cleary University. Defending WHAC Regular Season champion Indiana Tech was picked to finish first after receiving all 12 first-place votes.

Women's Basketball kicks off their season tonight (Oct. 26), here is what Coach Obey had to say about their season opener. "It's the start of a new season, so that's always a great thing! With 13 new players we're all excited about continuing to build the foundation that we've been building throughout practice over the last few weeks. We're really looking forward to competing against other people! After you've been practicing against each other for a while, It'll feel good to see how we match up against someone else. Practice has been good, so hopefully we can see some good results."  

Scouting Judson: The Eagles finished 2022-23 6-22 overall and 5-15 in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference. Madonna earned a 51-43 victory over Judson on December 13th. The Eagles are led by first-year head coach Matt Richter, and return two key players in Audrey Quintana and Easton Kimball. Both players were named to the CCAC All-Freshman team last season. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS: Ashley Hill will return for the Crusaders this season. Last year as a freshman, she led the team in scoring with 8.9 points per game in 21 games. Also returning are Marcela Rodriguez (6.8 ppg) and Delani Robinson (8.3 ppg).

Aaliyah McQueen and Kayiona Willis are two top transfers to watch for Madonna. McQueen joins the squad after playing at the University of Illinois and Oakland University (Mich.), while Willis comes to Madonna via Lincoln University (Pa.) and Youngstown State University (Ohio). Other key players to watch are Becca Morrish (Wayne State transfer) and Keairra Jennings (Wayne County CC transfer).  

McQueen in high school was ranked as the No. 22 wing in the class of 2020 according to Prospects Nation. To start her collegiate career she played for the Fighting Illini where she appeared in 19 games, averaging 9.6 minutes per contest. McQueen's next two seasons she spent with the Oakland Golden Grizzlies where she played in 39 games averaging 4.9 points and 2.6 rebounds in 11.0 minutes a game. 

Willis, the 5-3 guard played 25 games for the Lincoln Lions last year, averaging 4.8 points in just 10.8 minutes per game.

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