Bronco Youth Looks Bright: Shines in Pre-Season Scrimmage

It's another year, and another successful Breakfast With The Broncos.

The annual event held by the Western Michigan Men's Basketball team again drew a strong crowd despite dreary, cold weather and an 8 a.m. start time.  Nevertheless, as fans ate an assortment of hashbrowns, sausage, fruit, and eggs, they were treated to a great set of three scrimmages by the defending MAC West Champs.

In the first scrimmage, the young guns were out as redshirt freshman Kellen McCormick and sophomore Connar Tava led the white team to a 30-25 victory over the Shayne Whittington led black team.  Whittington was teamed up with stellar freshman Tucker Haymond, who led all scorers with 10 points in his first action in front of Bronco fans.

In the second scrimmage, Whittington dominated in the 10 minutes he played (of 12), scoring 9 points and grabbing 3 rebounds.  He also had help on the boards from Tava, who finished with 4.  Junior point guard Austin Richie led the white team in a losing effort, scoring 6 points and dishing out 3 assists to account for all of the scoring.

In the final, shortened scrimmage, Bronco fans saw what very well may be the starting line-up as Richie, Haymond, redshirt junior/senior David Brown, Whittington, and Richie teamed up to down the white team 20-8.  Von Washington led all scorers with 6 points for the black team off the bench, but the starters looked very balanced on both the boards and with their scoring.

Brown, who was recently named #22 in the Hustle Belt Top MAC Players countdown, is in his 2nd year after a horrific knee injury.  He hopes to return next season if the NCAA grants him the "Jordan White 6th Year" rule (medical redshirt + normal redshirt + 4 years eligibility).  In limited action, Brown looked like a stud, knocking down a couple 3's and had a LeBron James block from behind in the 3rd scrimmage.

As for head coach Steve Hawkins, he enjoyed yet another successful Breakfast With The Broncos in his sweats.

"It was a great turnout," Hawkins said during the autograph session.  "We shot the ball well.  I don't know, due to it being an inter-squad scrimmage, whether to be happy that we are shooting well, or upset because we aren't playing defense.  But that's the only thing we have to be concerned about."

And while this event is mainly for the community, Hawkins and Company plan to put on an event for the WMU students this Thursday.  Complete with a concert and fan interaction with the team, the men's team plans to "Rock The Zoo" this Thursday, October 24th at 8 pm.  That will be more of the "midnight madness" to the country club feel of this morning.