Connar Tava's Diverse Skill Set Helping WMU Broncos
By Chris Morgan
Name: Connar Tava
University: Western Michigan University
Year: Junior
Height: 6'6''
Weight: 235
Hometown:Macomb, MI
Position: F
In their regular season finale, Western Michigan beat their directional Michigan counterparts, Central Michigan. It was a nice win for the Broncos, as the Chippewas have been the best team in the MAC pretty much all season. If Western Michigan can beat Central Michigan, they could certainly win the MAC conference tournament. If they do, it will get them into the NCAA Men's College Basketball Tournament, known colloquially as March Madness. It is the only way they will be able to make the tournament, given their regular season, which was solid, but nothing special. In this win over the Chippewas, Connar Tava had 10 points, 10 rebounds, and also six assists. That's in line with what the team has come to expect from Tava this season.
While David Brown leads the Broncos in scoring - although he's down to 15.1 points per game after averaging 19.1 points last year, due largely to getting less free throw attempts - Tava is second with 12.8 points per game. However, Tava leads the team in both rebounds and assists. That makes him a bit of a point-forward, although his assist totals aren't actually all that high. He's only averaging 3.5 dimes per game, but that's a full assist more than anybody else on a team that is only 146th in assists per game. The team is even worse at rebounding, but Tava's 6.3 boards per game is still solid.
Tava doesn't have great size, but it's more than adequate for a smaller conference. He has the game of a big man, aside from the passing. He never takes threes, and he's not a great free throw shooter. However, he has improved this year, as he now makes 68% of his shots from the charity stripe. That's still poor, but it's acceptable for a player of his ilk. His field goal percentage is down now, too. However, he's still improved his scoring average this year, albeit by only one point. Overall, his numbers are essentially what they were last year during his sophomore season. They are almost all slightly better, but it makes it seem unlikely that he is going to take his game much further next year, his senior season. Although he may get more touches with Brown graduating.
Tava isn't the "leader" of this team. That would be Brown still. However, Tava is just as important. He does a vaster range of things than Brown does. A team that struggles to rebound needs Tava. His assists are needed, too. Who else will get Brown the ball? Western Michigan is a slightly above average MAC team. If they end up pulling off an upset and winning the conference, they will be a very low seed. Still, making the tournament is better than not. Tava does a little bit of everything, and he does it all fairly well. Every team needs a "glue guy" like Tava. He just happens to be a particularly skilled and adept glue guy.
Chris Morgan has been a diehard Detroit Lions fan through the good (Barry Sanders) and the bad (Matt Millen) and that love has led him to take jobs writing about sports, including as a fantasy sports "expert." His work can be found on Examiner.com. .
