Men’s Basketball Preview: Yellowjackets Will Count on Mix of Youth and Experience
Six Players Return as Foundation of New Look Team

BILLINGS, MT – NCAA basketball teams begin practice around the country this Wednesday, and the men’s team at MSU Billings will open camp with its sights set on recapturing the Pacific West Conference title.  For the Yellowjackets, who have won four PacWest titles including their last one in 2002, the key to success in 2003-3004 will be mixing a solid nucleus of returning players—including four seniors—with a handful of new recruits. 

After finishing third in the PacWest a year ago with an 8-7 conference mark and an 18-9 overall record, the Yellowjackets were picked to finish second this year by the league’s coaches.  Despite graduating three players who earned all-conference recognition, including first team selection Dan Thompson, one of the biggest reasons MSUB is receiving notice from its opponents is the fact that the Jackets return a group of players who have the ability to score points in a hurry.

Tabbed as one of the conference’s top five returning players for 2003-2004, Cameron Munoz (6-3 So, Chino, CA) will be one of the Yellowjackets’ and the conference’s most dangerous scoring threats.  Munoz was named PacWest Freshman of the Year after leading the conference in three-point shooting last season.  He ranked fifth in the nation for three-pointers per game, dropping in 96 from behind the arc in 26 games.  Munoz’s 96 threes is the eighth-highest single-season total in school history.

Returning to the lineup to take some of the scoring pressure off Munoz will be seniors Jerett Skrifvars (6-5 Sr., Brea, CA) and Dave Carse (6-1 Sr., Billings, MT).  Both missed a majority of last season with injuries which required surgery.  Skrifvars was averaging over 22 points a game when he went down in the fifth game of the season, while Carse was scoring nine points and handing out almost four assists per game before he was lost for the season after the seventh game.  Both players are healthy and will return as co-captains to lead the 2003-2004 squad.

Coach Craig Carse’s team returns three other players who saw significant playing time last season and are expected to be key contributors this year.  Justin Hassell (6-4 Sr., Brooklyn, NY) is the top returning scorer behind Munoz.  Hassell played in all 27 games and averaged 13.4 points per game.  A slashing guard, he also averaged just under six rebounds a game and led the team by getting to the foul line 161 times.  Bill Day (6-8 Sr., Boise, ID), the fourth senior on the Yellowjacket roster, provides a defensive presence in the paint.  He averaged 5.3 points and 5.1 rebounds a game before missing the final four games of last season with a torn medial collateral ligament.  Also returning for MSUB is guard Buddy Windy Boy (6-6 So., Lodge Grass, MT), who played in all 27 games last season.  Windy Boy missed considerable practice time due to various illnesses, but still averaged 6.7 points in 18.5 minutes per game.  He is healthy and could be a dangerous long range threat opposite Munoz.

Even though the team will be built around six returning players, the 2003-2004 Yellowjackets will have a distinctly different look than the teams of the past few years.  MSUB won’t have the big man in the middle like they had with Brian Cook and Kyle Stirmlinger.  Instead, they will most likely resemble Carse’s early teams at MSU Billings with an up-tempo style and a barrage of three-pointers.

“We won’t be as big as we have been the past few years with Brian and Kyle,” said Carse.  “So we’ll probably go back to more of a three-point shooting team and play up-tempo.  We’ve got seven guys who will be ready to play right away and we’d like to be able to use two platoons by the time we get to the conference schedule.”

New to the Yellowjackets are a pair of junior college transfers and four freshmen.  Carse’s top recruit is Trae Fortier (6-7 Jr., Los Angeles, CA) who comes to MSU Billings from Antelope Valley College.  Fortier averaged 11 points and nine rebounds in leading Antelope Valley to a 29-3 record last season.  The other transfer is Alex Galloway (6-7 Jr., Berkeley, CA), who played last season at City College of San Francisco, the same school from which Hassell transferred last year.

“Realistically, we have to look at our experience as a key with six guys returning,” said Carse.  “We also have to hope that Jerett and Dave can return without their injuries holding them back.  Trae is probably as talented athletically as we’ve had, and we’ll rely on him a lot early along with our six returning players.  I think some of our freshmen have the potential to contribute as the year progresses.  We’ll have to rely on the new players to contribute by the time we get into the conference.”

The Yellowjackets’ top freshmen recruits are Jonathan Wiley (6-7 Fr., Westlake Village, CA) and Justin Hynes (6-7 Fr., Upland, CA).  Wiley averaged 21 points, seven rebounds and five assists for Westlake High School, earning first team all-league and second team all-CIF honors.  Hynes averaged a double-double of 15 points and ten rebounds in leading Upland High School to a conference championship.

Also joining the Yellowjackets are a pair of central Montana standouts in Derek Taylor (6-1 Fr., Lewistown, MT) and Jason Dembek (6-7 Fr., Winnett, MT).  Taylor earned all-state honors after leading Fergus County High School to the 2002 Class A state tournament with 13 points, five rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.  Dembek was a first team all-conference selection after averaging 19.8 points and five rebounds at Winnett.

Carse has built a non-conference schedule that was designed with reaching the post season in mind.  After opening with three home games, the Yellowjackets will hit the road in mid-December to face a pair of tough regional opponents.  The first road game of the season will be December 13 at Humboldt State, the team that some polls are picking as the nation’s preseason No. 1.  They follow with a game at Western Oregon on December 16.

“To have a couple exhibitions and three home games out of the blocks will be nice because of all the new guys,” said Carse.  “Then we open with Humboldt on the road.  They’ve got to be one of the best teams in the country, and they have two legitimate All-Americans.  With Western Oregon on the same trip, that will be a good test to see where we’re at.” 

Reaching the NCAA Tournament in Division II is a numbers game with wins over regional competition the most important factor.  The Yellowjackets will return from the trip to Humboldt and Western Oregon to host those same two teams plus St. Martin’s before opening PacWest competition in January. 

“With five straight regional games before conference play begins, we’ve tried to position ourselves to get to the Tournament,” said Carse.  “We’ll tee it up and see what happens.”

MSU Billings will open the PacWest schedule on January 6 in Hawaii with two games against Hawaii Pacific and one against defending PacWest Champion BYU-Hawaii.  After a pair of non-conference contests at home against Green Mountain College from Vermont, the Jackets will host Hawaii-Hilo on January 20 in their conference home opener.  The Vulcans were picked as the PacWest favorites in the preseason coaches’ poll.  MSUB will host UHH again on January 22 and Chaminade on January 24.

After a pair of road games at Western New Mexico to end January, MSU Billings will play four straight home games including two against BYU-Hawaii and one against Hawaii Pacific.  The Yellowjackets’ second trip to Hawaii will come at the end of February when they’ll face Chaminade twice and Hawaii-Hilo once. 

“Without question, we have to find a way to be more successful in Hawaii,” said Carse of his team’s 0-6 record there last year.  “We’ve had years where we won all of our games over there.  We need to be able to win there for a shot at the post season.”

By the end of the second Hawaii trip, the Yellowjackets will have a good idea what their post season chances look like.  They will then close the regular season with two home games against Western New Mexico on March 4 and 6.  Last season the Yellowjackets set a single-game scoring school record against the Mustangs with 146 points.  If everything goes as planned, MSUB will be able to start preparing for the “second season” on March 7 with tickets to the NCAA Tournament on March 11.

“We don’t have that one all-around player who comes in and dominates,” said Carse.  “But we have a point guard who knows what I want done on the floor.  We have a shooter in Cameron and a slasher in Jerett who can both score.  With Bill, Justin and Trae, we have solid three, four and five players who can get the job done, and in our system if you have five guys who fit well, you can be pretty good.”