Marshall Team Report (Yahoo! Sports)

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:00:41 PDT

Marshall hoped that an influx of freshmen and eligible transfers would lead to a breakthrough season. For a while, things looked good, but injuries took their toll on the Thundering Herd and doomed them to another sub-.500 season.

The young Herd had to deal with injuries that slowed their continuity, but it opened up playing opportunities for many young players. Freshmen Shaquille Johnson and Damier Pitts both played major minutes, while another freshman, Dago Pena, was a regular as well before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury.

Transfer Chris Lutz had his ups and downs in his first year with the Herd, but he also had a solid season in his junior campaign and will come back as the team's leading returning scorer at 10.7 ppg.

All four of those players will...