The IUS men’s basketball team is starting the 2009-2010 season with lofty expectations after a very successful 2008-2009 season.
The Grenadiers finished with a 24-8 record and won the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season and tournament titles.
The Grenadiers advanced to the Sweet 16 in the NAIA Division II National Tournament for the first time in school history and finished the season ranked No. 16 in the NAIA Division II Coaches’ Poll.
IU Southeast has all five starters from last year’s team returning and seven total seniors returning.
Wiley Brown, IUS men’s head basketball coach, said he views the experience his team has returning as an advantage that most teams are not lucky enough to have.
“We have seen it all, we have been through the trenches,” Brown said.
Brown said his experienced players will be like coaches out on the floor this year.
After experiencing success last year, Brown said his team has bigger expectations for this season.
DeJon Gary, senior guard, said the goal is to win the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Division II National Championship.
Gary, who led the KIAC in steals last season, said the Grenadiers are going to take the season one game at a time and try to play solid and consistent every game.
To achieve the ultimate goal of winning a National Championship, Brown said he knows exactly what the Grenadiers will have to do.
“Win with defense, beat teams with our D,” Brown said.
Brown said they had a different tactic last year.
“Last year we just tried to outscore the other team,” Brown said. “This year we are going to try to lower the amount of points we give up each game.”
The Grenadiers return two players who were selected to the KIAC All Conference First Team, Craig Bryant, senior forward, and Jazzmarr Ferguson, junior guard. Ferguson led the Grenadiers in scoring last season, averaging 15.1 points per game.
“Only thing I want to do is win a National Championship,” Bryant said. “Everyone is buying into that ultimate goal.”
The Grenadiers will look to use their inside presence to their advantage this year with the addition of 6-foot-10-inch sophomore forward, A’Darius Pegues.
Pegues transferred to IU Southeast from Western Kentucky University.
Brandon Anderson, freshman guard and transfer from Shawnee Community College, will help add more depth to the back court for the Grenadiers.
Brown said he has been impressed with what he has seen so far from his new players.
“It adds to what we already had,” Brown said.
Gary said the transition for his new teammates has been easy so far for the team. Six of the eight newcomers are redshirt players from last season, who were at the school but sat out during the season. The other two newcomers are transfer students from other colleges.
“Most of the new guys have experience and that has made it easy for them,” Gary said.
Bryant agrees with his teammate.
“We have been friends and known each other,” Bryant said. “That makes for an easy transition.”
Brown said the Grenadiers will need to improve their communication to be effective on the court this year.
The Grenadiers will run the dribble drive offense that will require the team to communicate with each other to run the offense effectively.
With the Grenadiers success last year, achieving this year’s lofty goals will be an even harder task.
“We have a target on our back,” Brown said. “We should be ranked high at the beginning this season. It will be harder to achieve our goals with our recent success. We just need to work hard and we have done so, so far.”
Gary believes his team will be able to withstand the extra pressure and expectations.
“We just need to stay mentally prepared and work on our team communication,” Gary said. “We just can’t let the rankings get to our head.”
The Grenadiers play their first game of the season on Nov. 2 at the University of the Cumberlands. The first home game is Nov. 6 against Mid-Continent University in the third annual Joe B. & Denny Classic.
By JUSTIN RAY
Staff Writer
jusray@ius.edu