Sunday, November 23, 2014
BASKETBALL COLLEGE SEASON PREVIEW
MISSOURI WESTERN WOMEN
FLYING TO NEW HEIGHTS Griffon women ready to take leap forward in Edmisson’s 3rd year
By THOM HANRAHAN St. Joseph News-Press
R
ob Edmisson’s players believe this will be the year things come together. Edmisson is entering his third year as coach of the Missouri Western women’s basketball team and he and his players have gone back and forth putting together a roster and playing style they say might surprise some people.
In 2011-12, Edmisson won a national championship with Oklahoma City University. When he took over the Griffons in 2012-13, he introduced a new style of play that might be ready to gel this season. “We played fast and went with athletic kids and maybe weren’t as big,” he said. “But we pressed and went uptempo and immediately went 16-10 and turned the program off a seven-win season the year before. Last year, we recruited and got some bigger kids and tried to play some of the MIAA style with size and for us we kind of took a step back. “This year, we went back and brought in kids that fit more of the style that I have coached before and what we did the fi rst year.” The Griffons, picked No. 11 in the preseason MIAA coaches poll, fi nished last season as the top team in scoring defense, but near the bottom of the league in scoring offense. Edmisson said part of that is by design — he believes in tenacious defense, but that the offense should start to emerge this year. “We have some kids who can flat shoot the ball this year and hopefully that will make our lives a little easier on defense,” Edmisson said. Last year, the Griffons allowed opponents just a little more than 50 points per game, but only were able to score 60.6 points per game themselves. Guard Ariana Novak is coming off an ACL injury that sidelined her after just six games last year. During those fi rst six games, the Griffons were 4-2 and Novak was averaging 10.7 points per game. After she was lost for the season, the team went 6-14 and averaged 15.7 less points per game. But the 5-foot-8 senior says she is ready to go this year and likes what she sees on the court this year.
NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE MEN
Bearcats replace talented class by staying tough By CHRIS BILS St. Joseph News-Press
File photo | St. Joseph News-Press
Missouri Western guard Sarafina Handy makes her entrance Oct. 30 at the 11th annual Griffon Basketball Tip-Off Party at MWSU Fieldhouse. Handy is one of many new players this winter.
File photo | St. Joseph News-Press
Missouri Western guard Miliakere Koyamainavure goes up for a layup against Missouri during an exhibition game Nov. 11 in Columbia, Mo. “Our transition from last year to If the team’s transition includes an this year is huge,” she said. “We defi- increased scoring output, 5-9 junior nitely are more offensively strong college transfer guard Sarafi na Handy than we were last year. Defensively thinks the Griffons will be just fine. we are starting to get into that groove, “We haven’t been too worried on the because we are known as a defensive team.” Please see GRIFFONS/Page 14
MARYVILLE, Mo. — Any time a program looses a large and successful senior class, there is a period of transition that ensues. The team needs new leaders and a new identity. That is the case for Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball this year. The Bearcats are coming off a season in which they won a share of the MIAA regular season and tournament championships, and made it all the way to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division II tournament. This year, they are faced with the task of replacing their top two scorers — DeShaun Cooper (17.6 points per game) and Dillon Starzl (14.5) — and the rest of an accomplished six-member graduating class. “I don’t know that you necessarily replace those kinds of kids,” Northwest coach Ben McCollum said. “I think that we need to continue the culture that we’ve already established with our toughness, our work ethic, our effort throughout games and then our handling of adversity. If we can do those things, I think we’re going to be OK.” Instead of worrying about who will replace Cooper’s slashing drives or Starzl’s steady inside presence, the Bearcats believe the key to success this season lies in something far less tangible: it’s in their culture. Playing in the MIAA, teams set off on a grueling 3½-month journey full of long road trips and two — sometimes three — games per week. The champion will be the team that plays to win every night, no matter how many days of rest they are playing on or what the scoreboard says at the end of the fi rst half. It is a league that rewards toughness. So how does a program develop that trait? “It just really starts with the players (McCollum and his staff) recruit,” sophomore forward Zach Schneider said. “Obviously, you can develop toughness, but it helps to recruit players that already have it.” Walk down the halls of the Northwest athletic facility at 5 a.m. during the fall semester and you can hear hooting and hollering coming from the weight room. It’s the men’s basketball team preparing for late-season games by pouring the energy it will take to win them out of their barely awake bodies. “That develops mental toughness,” Schneider said. He is one of three players that McCollum points to as exemplifying the principles he looks for. The sharpshooter provided 7.7 points and 2.8 rebounds in Please see NORTHWEST/Page 15
MISSOURI WESTERN MEN
Griffon men to prepare for infusion of youth By THOM HANRAHAN
ing to grow as people and it has really helped those two that we have started practice. Those guys like to play. Second-year Missouri Western men’s “A senior’s job fi rst and foremost is to basketball coach Brett Weiberg calls lead in any way that a young man can his team “interesting.” lead. Whether that be by example, by efAnother word might be young. fort, by communication or everything As the Griffons prepare for the opencombined.” ing of the regular season, Weiberg likes And Weiberg said that leadership will where his team is. be important to the development of the “We are going to play a lot of senior team’s four incoming freshmen. Weiguards and we are also going to play berg said he expects them to contribute a freshman guard and we are going to right away and there will likely be sceplay a true sophomore guard,” Weiberg narios where the Griffons have two or said. three freshmen on the floor at the same Among those guards, Western retime. And he said those players and the turns 5-foot-9 senior Ryan Devers, who seniors share responsibility for the outFile photo | St. Joseph News-Press led the team in scoring, assists, recome of that learning experience. bounds and minutes. Also returning is Missouri Western guard Ryan Devers goes for a The quartet includes forwards Mason Devers’ senior backcourt mate, Cortrez shot against Northwest Missouri State during a Hughes, Currie Byrd and Seth Bonifas. Colbert, who fi nished second in those game last year at Bearcat Arena in Maryville, Mo. At 6-9, Bonifas is the tallest player on categories last season. Weiberg said this year’s roster. The fi nal freshman both players will need to step up this win seasons. addition is Cole Clearman, 6-foot guard. “Those guys are doing a good job,” year and lead the team in order for the Griffons to improve on back-to-back 10- Weiberg said. “They are both continuPlease see WEIBERG/Page 14
St. Joseph News-Press
File photo | St. Joseph News-Press
Northwest Missouri State guard Matt Wallace scores a layup on a fast break against Lindenwood during a game last year at Bearcat Arena in Maryville, Mo.