The 2007–08 Western Michigan Broncos men's basketball team is an NCAA Division I college basketball team competing in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The Broncos, 20–12 overall and 12–4 in the conference, captured the MAC West Division championship by four games and earned the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament. WMU reached the semi-finals of the MAC tournament before falling to No. 3 seed Akron.

During the regular season, Western Michigan defeated No. 25 ranked Davidson College, a team that reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament. WMU finished the non-conference portion of their schedule 7–7, defeating Davidson, Detroit Mercy, Loyola Chicago, North Carolina Central, Pepperdine, Southern Illinois and Wisconsin–Green Bay.

WMU also retained the Michigan MAC Trophy for the third consecutive season.

Sophomore David Kool and senior Joe Reitz earned First Team All-MAC honors. Reitz was also named to the MAC All-Tournament team.

Preseason The Broncos were picked to win the West Division by members of the MAC News Media Association, receiving 23 of 32 possible first place votes ( received six votes and three). Western Michigan also received six votes to win the MAC Tournament, which was second to Kent State (7 votes).

Joe Reitz was named to the Preseason All-MAC Team.

Awards Derek Drews West Division Player of the Week (week 1) David Kool All-MAC First Team 3-time West Division Player of the Week (weeks 12, 16, 17) Joe Reitz All-MAC First Team 4-time West Division Player of the Week (weeks 2, 7, 13, 14) Academic All-District IV First Team Mid-American Conference Academic Player of the Week (February 7)

Roster No. Name Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown (Previous school) 4 Derek Drews F 6'5" 224 Jr. Elkhart, IN (Elkhart Central) 1 Derek Fracalossi G/F 6'5" 203 Sr. Davison, MI (Davison) 34 Shawntes Gary G 6'2" 207 Jr. Elkhart, IN (Concord) 13 Justin Hairston * F 6'5" 215 Fr. Fort Wayne, IN (Fort Wayne South) 5 Andrew Hershberger F 6'7" 223 Sr. Goshen, IN (Goshen) 0 Dan Hess F/C 6'7" 225 Sr. Owosso, MI (Corunna) 23 David Kool G 6'3" 200 So. Grand Rapids, MI (South Christian) 2 Silver Laku G 6'2" 180 Sr. Toronto, ON (Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute) 33 Donald Lawson C 6'9" 234 So. Chicago, IL (Leo Catholic) 21 Martelle McLemore G 6'5" 198 So. Detroit, MI (Consortium Prep) 22 Michael Redell G 6'0" 183 Jr. Rockford, MI (Cleveland State) 42 Joe Reitz C 6'7" 256 Sr. Fishers, IN (Hamilton Southeastern) 12 Andre Ricks G 5'9" 159 Jr. Detroit, MI (Pershing) 15 Alex Wolf G 5'11" 198 Fr.-R Parchment, MI (Parchment) 3 Jon Workman * F 6'9" 220 So. LaGrange, IN (Lakeland) * Will redshirt the 2007–2008 season

Schedule

!colspan=9 style="background:#6a3e0f; color:#e3bc85;"| Exhibition

!colspan=9 style="background:#6a3e0f; color:#e3bc85;"| Regular season

!colspan=9 style="background:#6a3e0f; color:#e3bc85;"| MAC Tournament

Coaching staff Steve Hawkins – Head coach Clayton Bates – Assistant coach Cornell Mann – Assistant coach Andy Hipsher – Assistant coach Phil Sayers – Director of Basketball Operations

2008–2009 recruits Western Michigan signed forwards Muhammed Conteh, Justin Hairston and Flenard Whitfield, center Lemarcus Lowe and guards Mike Douglas and Demetrius Ward during this season.Broncos land Flint big man to replace Workman Western Michigan Broncos – MLive.com Each player will be a freshman for the 2008–09 season. Lowe was rated the #1 Michigan high school center in 2007.

References