2005-2006 Men’s Basketball Preview:
New Conference, Same Approach for Yellowjackets
BILLINGS, MT – When the Montana
State-Billings men’s basketball team began practice on October 15,
there were a lot of familiar faces standing around head coach
Craig Carse’s huddle. The Yellowjackets graduated just one player
off last year’s 19-8 team, and eight of the 12 players on the
roster were in uniform last season.
Carse, along with his high-scoring offensive
system, is entering his eleventh season at MSU Billings. After
recovering from health problems over the summer, Carse returned to
work full time with the start of practice in mid October. The
squad he put through preseason workouts just might be one of the
most explosive offensive teams the Yellowjackets have had in the
past few years.
That’s saying something considering the
Yellowjackets ranked second in the nation last year for both
scoring and 3-point shooting. At 93.3 points and 12.4 made
3-pointers per game in 2004-05, MSU Billings gave fans plenty to
be excited about. The only loss to graduation from that team was
Justin Hassell, the team’s leading rebounder and second-leading
scorer. That leaves four returning players who averaged double
figures, including two of the program’s most prolific all-time
3-point shooters.
When the Yellowjackets take the floor for the
first time on November 12 for their annual Blue-Gold scrimmage,
fans will see a lot of familiar faces and a familiar up-tempo
style of play. But once the real games start, the 2005-2006
season will be unlike any of the previous 10. Gone from the
schedule are teams from Hawaii and the West Coast. With the
university’s joining the Heartland Conference last spring, those
longtime opponents will be replaced with teams from Texas,
Oklahoma, and Missouri.
Just as they have in the past, the
Yellowjackets won’t open the conference schedule until January.
They will have seven non-conference games between November 21 and
December 30 to prepare for the conference schedule. Five of those
games will be played in Billings, starting with NAIA Johnson &
Wales on November 21 at Alterowitz Gym.
Following a November 26 home date with Minot
State, the Yellowjackets will renew their cross-town rivalry with
Rocky Mountain College. The Jackets and Bears will square off
with two games on the same weekend. They will play at Alterowitz
Gym on December 8 and down Poly Drive on Rocky’s home court on
December 10.
The Yellowjackets will conclude the home
portion of their non-conference schedule on December 19 when they
host Emporia State University from Kansas. That game will be the
first South Central Region game for MSU Billings since moving from
the West Region. The Yellowjackets will make a return trip to
Emporia at the end of January. The Jackets’ final non-conference
games of December will come December 29 and 30 when they play at
the Texas A&M-Kingsville tournament in Kingsville, TX. There
MSU Billings will face East Central University and Texas
A&M-Kingsville.
The Yellowjackets open their first-ever
Heartland Conference season on January 4 against a familiar foe.
Western New Mexico moved with MSU Billings from the PacWest and
the two teams will square off in the Heartland Conference opener
at Alterowitz Gym. But it’s a safe bet that the game will also be
the last in Billings for the Mustangs, who will jump to the Rocky
Mountain Athletic Conference next season.
After the Wednesday game against the
Mustangs, the Yellowjackets’ opponents will be new to Billings
fans. The Yellowjackets have faced the other five Heartland
Conference teams a grand total of two times in their history.
MSU Billings played host to Oklahoma Panhandle State for two games
back in 2001-2002. The Yellowjackets have never faced University
of the Incarnate Word, St. Mary’s University, Lincoln University,
or St. Edward’s University.
“We’re familiar with Western New Mexico from
competing with them in the PacWest Conference,” said Carse.
“We’re a little familiar with Oklahoma Panhandle State because we
played them four years ago. But we’ve never competed against any
other teams in the conference. It’s totally new for us and new
for them. It will be interesting for the fans to see new teams.
The old faces from Hawaii will eventually go by the wayside. We
look forward to it optimistically. It’s great for our whole
department to have a conference to play in now.”
MSU Billings will face Heartland Conference
teams 18 times during the regular season with 12 of those games
counting in the conference standings and six counting as
non-conference regional games. A new wrinkle to the conference
race for the Yellowjackets this season will be the season-ending
conference tournament that is a tradition in the Heartland. The
top four teams during the regular season will meet at the home of
the top seed on March 3-4 to determine the conference’s automatic
qualifier to the NCAA Tournament. St. Mary’s won last year’s
conference title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The
Rattlers will likely be the preseason conference favorite.
The competition may be new, but Carse plans
to employ the same up-tempo, 3-point shooting style of play as in
his previous 10 seasons at MSU Billings. If last season is
indicative of the style of play in the Heartland, the
Yellowjackets’ style may be unique to the conference. The top
scoring team in the league last year was Lincoln at 72.2 points
per game. League champion St. Mary’s averaged just 69.3 ppg, but
ranked 25th in the nation for scoring defense, holding
opponents to just 64.2 ppg.
“Nine of our 12 players were in the program
last year,” said Carse. “Eight played and traveled last year and
seven of them started at some time during the season. Cameron Munoz (Chino, CA) and Buddy Windy Boy (Lodge Grass, MT) are our captains and are
here as fourth year guys.”
Munoz and Windy Boy are both seniors, and
either one is capable of lighting up the scoreboard. Both Munoz
and Windy Boy made over 100 3-pointers last year as juniors,
ranking 1-2 in the PacWest Conference. Combined, just their made
3-pointers accounted for 25 percent of the Yellowjackets’ total
points.
Munoz, a 6-foot-3 guard from Chino, Calif.,
averaged 20.4 points per game last year as a junior and ranked
second in the nation for 3-point field goals per game (4.44) after
knocking down 111 triples in 25 games. If he stays healthy, Munoz
should become the all-time 3-point leader at MSU Billings; his 304
made threes are just 67 behind Marcus Hallgrimson’s 371. If Munoz
duplicates last year’s total, he will also become just the fourth
player in NCAA Division II history with over 400 career
3-pointers. Munoz also has an outside chance at the all-time
career scoring school record. He enters the season with 1,268
career points, 615 behind Roy McPipe who has held the record since
1974.
Windy Boy is a 6-6 guard from Lodge Grass,
Mont., who made 104 3-pointers and averaged 15.9 ppg last season.
The Yellowjackets’ iron man last year, Windy Boy started every
game and led the team in minutes played. He will also be making a
run through the school record book this season. With 216 career
3-pointers, Windy Boy already ranks sixth all-time. He could
become just the third player in school history to eclipse 300 made
threes. With 931 career points entering the season, Windy Boy is
also a near lock to become the school’s 21st 1,000
point scorer.
Munoz and Windy Boy will have a relatively
young supporting cast which includes one other senior, two
juniors, four sophomores, and three freshmen. Moritz Wohlers (Wolfenbuttel, Germany), a 6-8 senior center,
is in his first and only season as a Yellowjacket after
transferring from McKendree College.
“The unique thing about our program is we
have only one guy who has played college basketball somewhere
else,” said Carse. “Moritz played junior college two years and
one year at McKendree. It looks like a lot of the teams we’ll be
playing have a lot of junior college transfers.”
“We have three sophomores who will be key
players,” added Carse. “Lucas
Walker (Launceston, Australia) was the freshman of the year in
the PacWest last year. Carlin Hughes (Perth, Australia) is our primary ball handler. Drew
Arnold (Tempe, AZ) also got valuable
experience last year. We also have juniors Jonathan Wiley (Westlake Village, CA), who started off and on
last year, and Cody Samuelson (Broadus, MT), who played 20 minutes a game.”
Walker, a 6-8 forward, was an instant hit
with Yellowjacket fans for his acrobatic dunks and explosive moves
to the basket. He averaged 15.4 points per game through 20 games
before missing the final seven games with a broken hand. Fellow
Aussie Carlin Hughes, a 6-1 point guard, missed the first five
games of the season but came on to average 12.5 ppg and rank
eleventh in the nation for assists at 6.2 per game.
Wiley and Samuelson combined to average 13
points and almost 10 rebounds a game. Both missed games due to
injuries, but are back to full health. Sophomore guard Jay
Jamieson (Big Sandy MT) appeared in
23 games off the bench.
There will be two new freshmen to the lineup
and one redshirt. Brett Weese (Wilkie, Saskatchewan), a 6-7 forward, practiced
with the team all season last year. Carse also added true
freshmen Kid
Wilk, a 6-1 guard from Rock Springs, Wyo., and Carl Johnson, a 6-9 center from Rapid City, S.D.
“We’ll continue to shoot the 3-pointer as we
have done in the past, and we’ll continue to push the ball up and
down the floor and try to score,” Carse said of the upcoming
season. “We’ll concern ourselves with what we do since we don’t
know much about the other teams in the conference. It will be
like my first year here when we went to Alaska and Hawaii and
won. At least this year we’ll go into places that haven’t seen
our style and system. Although I’m sure they’ll do their
homework.”
Despite switching conferences and regions,
Carse is comfortable with the fact that the 2005-06 Yellowjackets
have already developed chemistry playing together. Carse admits
that there are still questions about the post play, but
Yellowjacket fans know that the engine that makes the Jackets run
starts 19-feet, 9-inches from the basket.
“We know who’s going to shoot the ball,” said
Carse. “Cameron, Carlin, and Buddy have shown they can shoot. We
don’t know who’ll rebound it after losing Justin Hassell, who was
one of the best in the PacWest. Who will step in and do that?
The people who probably have to come to the forefront to rebound
will be Cody and Lucas. Buddy and Jonathan will need to grab
some. But we have a good bunch of guys who are going to work hard
every day.”
2005-2006 Yellowjacket Basketball Schedule
Nov. 21 – Johnson & Wales, 7:00 p.m.
Nov. 26 – Minot State, 2:00 p.m.
Dec. 3 – MSU Billings Alumni Game, 7:00 p.m.
Dec. 8 – Rocky Mountain College
Dec. 10 – at Rocky Mountain College
Dec. 29 – vs. East Central Univ. (at Kingsville, TX), 4:30 p.m.
Dec. 30 – at Texas A&M-Kingsville, 7:00 p.m.
Jan. 4 – Western New Mexico, 8:00 p.m.
Jan. 6 – Oklahoma Panhandle State, 8:00 p.m.
Jan. 7 – Oklahoma Panhandle State, 4:00 p.m.
Jan. 11 – at Incarnate Word, 8:00 p.m.
Jan. 12 – at Incarnate Word, 8:00 p.m.
Jan. 14 – at St. Mary’s, 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 21 – at Lincoln, 3:30 p.m.
Jan. 22 – at Emporia State, 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 28 – St. Edward’s, 8:00 p.m.
Feb. 3 – Lincoln, 8:00 p.m.
Feb. 4 – Lincoln, 8:00 p.m.
Feb. 10 – at St. Edward’s, 8:00 p.m.
Feb. 11 – at St. Edward’s, 8:00 p.m.
Feb. 15 – Incarnate Word, 8:00 p.m.
Feb. 17 – St. Mary’s, 8:00 p.m.
Feb. 18 – St. Mary’s, 8:00 p.m.
Feb. 22 – at Oklahoma Panhandle State, 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 24 – at Western New Mexico, 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 25 – at Western New Mexico, 7:30 p.m.
Mar. 3-4 – Heartland Conference Tournament
Mar. 10-13 – NCAA South Central Regional |
