MEN'S BASKETBALL: Ball State freshman could make early impact

Posley hasn't played competitive games since junior year, but has been impressive in practices.

Marcus Posley
Marcus Posley

High expectations revolved around the senior tandem of Jarrod Jones and Randy Davis last season, but with eight new faces on this season’s roster, the Ball State basketball team’s outlook is a little more uncertain.

While most of that uncertainty is geared toward filling the holes left by departing players, some was stirred up in the summer over whether freshman guard Marcus Posley would qualify for college.

Before his senior year, Posley transferred from Winnebago High School to Rockford Auburn High School in Illinois, but was barred from playing in games. He said something went wrong in the transfer process, and even after two appeals, he was forced to the sidelines.

“I don’t really count it as a setback because those guys [at Rockford Auburn] were helping me get better as well,” Posley said. “Playing against Fred Van Fleet at Wichita State, and LaMark Foote in practice — it was tough, but fun.”

Posley could practice with the team, but repercussions from his botched transfer kept coming up. He didn’t get signed off by the NCAA clearing house in time for Ball State’s first summer session and couldn’t enroll.

Forced to stay home, Posley practiced with his AAU coach Anthony Cornell and hired a personal trainer. He lifted weights and worked on his game but had not played competitive basketball since his junior year at Winnebago High School.

“I talked to coach about it, and he wasn’t super upset,” Posley said. “He just said, ‘Get here in August, and we’ll take care of the rest.’”

Since coming to Ball State, Posley has been anything but a question mark. Impressing coaches and players in practice, junior forward Chris Bond went as far as to say Posley is the “wild card” on this season’s team.

“Marcus Posley has had a very good preseason for us,” coach Billy Taylor said. “He didn’t participate in summer workouts, but he’s come in and picked things up very quickly. It’s so much of an adjustment playing that point guard position. He’s played well, and I’d like him to continue to push and crack that lineup.”

In practice, junior guard Jesse Berry said Posley has been pushing the upperclassmen in every drill, especially intrasquad scrimmages.

Berry said the black-jersey team usually consisting of him, Bond, junior Majok Majok, junior Matt Kamieniecki and senior Jauwan Scaife go against the white team, and Posley makes it very tough on them.

“Marcus Posley has impressed me the most,” Berry said. “He steps up in practice and makes big shots. He makes the second team look really good. Over the last few years, the white team usually doesn’t compete. We usually beat them by a lot, but Posley keeps them in it.”

Taylor’s newly installed dribble-drive offense may have something to do with Posley’s recent success.

At 6 feet and 201 pounds, Posley uses an NBA-type body and quickness to find the open seams and passing lanes allowed within the offense.

“Posley is a big point guard,” Berry said. “He gets guys on his hip and can keep them there for a second to see what he wants to do. He can shoot, too, but his best attribute is his dribbling and getting past guys. Marcus Posley is a good get for us.”

While Posley might be an immediate contributor for the Cardinals, he is staying grounded with his expectations.

He said he’d love to keep moving up in the lineup and team, but his immediate goals are to keep the offense flowing as a point guard and get everyone in the right spot to succeed.

“My main focus is not really to start,” Posley said. “It’s to get those 20 wins and to get wins within the MAC. Whether it’s sixth man, seventh man, wherever I come off, it wouldn’t matter to me. As long as I can do anything, I can to help this team win.”

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