There has been a chill in the night air lately. The trees are shedding. We have turned our clocks back, and Halloween has passed. All of this means that a brand new season of basketball is upon us. On Saturday night at 6:30, the Bulldogs will square off in an exhibition against Branch West Basketball Academy of California. This edition of Bulldogs hoopsters will return some key ingredients from last year’s team, while adding some bright new elements to the mix. If the momentum from the 6-3 close-out of last season that included two postseason wins in the National Invitational Tournament can be carried over to this campaign, Bulldog fans will have a lot to cheer about. “I like this team,” said a very optimistic Rick Stansbury at Tuesday’s press conference.
At the onset of his fourth year as MSU’s head honcho, Stansbury has amassed an impressive 52-42 total, guiding the Bulldogs to the postseason in two of three years. He went on to applaud the team’s energy level and praise the team’s improvement of skills, adding that they have a hunger for winning. Satisfying this hunger with another postseason appearance could prove to be a small challenge since 57 percent of the scoring and 60 percent of the rebounding outputs graduated.
Stansbury said he believes that he will be able to go deep into the bench this year. This should create a variety of match-up problems for opposing coaches to solve. State is going to be at least three deep in all positions and will be able to go really tall if rebounds are crucial, put several shooters in while keeping some size or go really small when speed is the need.
A staple of good team basketball is finding players who can complement each other. Thus, the coaching staff has been evaluating which players can best function as a unit. Passing skills are essential to this functioning.
“Skill can get better, higher percentage shots,” Stansbury said.
Leadership is expected to come from all of the experienced players, but a high concentration will come from captains Michael Gholar, Guy Gardner and Derrick Zimmerman. Gholar, at 6-foot-5-inches, will play forward and guard in his senior season after being third on the team in rebounding last year. Gardner, who shot 44 percent from behind the arc in his first year at State, will play guard in his senior season. Zimmerman, a 6-foot-2-inch junior guard, was voted as MSU’s best defensive player last season and is coming off great performances in the NIT.
Sophomore guards Timmy Bowers and Roy Goffer will also be able to deliver minutes. Goffer’s eligibility is in jeopardy because he played club basketball for a team in his native land of Israel. This violates an NCAA rule, threatening the current eligibility of over 120 players across the country.
Down low, State will be anchored by sophomore Mario Austin, a 6-foot-9-inch forward who averaged 7.9 points and 3.6 rebounds in only 17 minutes a game as a freshman, and redshirt sophomore Lincoln Smith, a 6-foot-9-inch center. Both Smith and Austin have toned up, dropping over 35 pounds each to help with quickness and agility.
Junior college transfer Michal Ignerski is expected to deliver great shooting ability to complement his 6-foot-9-inch frame once he is completely healthy. The native of Poland is currently about 75 percent due to an injury on his shooting wrist.
Added to this is the senior leadership of guards Brandon Carr and Corey Stidham, the rising talents of redshirt freshman Ontario Harper and true freshmen Winsome Frazier, Marcus Campbell and Wesley Morgan. Harper and Frazier will see time at guard and forward. Campbell and Morgan, who both extend seven feet upward, will be in at center this year. Campbell and Frazier headline this recruiting class with a 42 and 69 ranking respectively by Recruiting USA.
“The wins and loses will take care of themselves as long as every team member works as hard as they can to make themselves better,” Stansbury said.
Saturday’s contest is just the first of sixteen home games. State has five more home games this month, followed by just two in December. January will once again start the conference portion of the schedule. This year is sure to be filled with lots of excitement, and it all begins Saturday. Admission to Saturday’s game is free.