Spring Break
Men's and women's basketball ready for turnaround seasons
Matt L. Stephens
Issue date: 11/17/08 Section: Sports
Men's Basketball:
A year ago, the CSU men's basketball team started their season with only two familiar names in 7-footers Stuart Creason and Ronnie Aguilar. There were a couple of promising junior college transfers and freshman recruits, but the roster still wasn't full, so first year head coach Tim Miles held open walk-on tryouts where the Rams added three more players, two of which would play on a nightly basis.
It quickly became obvious that it would be a rebuilding year and a 7-25 season with no conference wins helped prove that.
But even in a season when the Rams were 18 games below .500, they showed promise, especially with the play of then junior Marcus Walker and freshman Andre McFarland. Walker was the Mountain West Conference's second leading scorer with 17.1 points per game, which included a 43 point performance against Tennessee State.
McFarland played a variety of positions on the court, averaging 8.3 points per game and leading the Rams in three-point percentage at 43.
Now it's a new season, one where CSU is already 1-0 and where Miles announced to the crowd at the CSU-BYU football game that the Rams would win the MWC this season.
"Well, the guys told me we were winning the conference championship and that's what I wanted to relay to the crowd, that's their goal," said Miles, now in his second year at CSU. "I also want us to be as good as we can, find a way to compete at the upper level, find a way to get to the post season; that's our goal every year, regardless of the kind of season we came off of … That's our goal, we have to work hard. Goals need to be ambitious."
The Rams were picked to finish eighth in the MWC this season.
Once again this year, the Rams have a few newer faces who will help them reach their MWC championship goal.
Sophomores Andy Ogide and Dan Vandervieren were on the roster a year ago, but had to sit out due to NCAA regulations regarding transfers. Both had good coming-out parties in their CSU debuts on Friday night as the Rams topped Montana 85-55.
A year ago, the CSU men's basketball team started their season with only two familiar names in 7-footers Stuart Creason and Ronnie Aguilar. There were a couple of promising junior college transfers and freshman recruits, but the roster still wasn't full, so first year head coach Tim Miles held open walk-on tryouts where the Rams added three more players, two of which would play on a nightly basis.
It quickly became obvious that it would be a rebuilding year and a 7-25 season with no conference wins helped prove that.
But even in a season when the Rams were 18 games below .500, they showed promise, especially with the play of then junior Marcus Walker and freshman Andre McFarland. Walker was the Mountain West Conference's second leading scorer with 17.1 points per game, which included a 43 point performance against Tennessee State.
McFarland played a variety of positions on the court, averaging 8.3 points per game and leading the Rams in three-point percentage at 43.
Now it's a new season, one where CSU is already 1-0 and where Miles announced to the crowd at the CSU-BYU football game that the Rams would win the MWC this season.
"Well, the guys told me we were winning the conference championship and that's what I wanted to relay to the crowd, that's their goal," said Miles, now in his second year at CSU. "I also want us to be as good as we can, find a way to compete at the upper level, find a way to get to the post season; that's our goal every year, regardless of the kind of season we came off of … That's our goal, we have to work hard. Goals need to be ambitious."
The Rams were picked to finish eighth in the MWC this season.
Once again this year, the Rams have a few newer faces who will help them reach their MWC championship goal.
Sophomores Andy Ogide and Dan Vandervieren were on the roster a year ago, but had to sit out due to NCAA regulations regarding transfers. Both had good coming-out parties in their CSU debuts on Friday night as the Rams topped Montana 85-55.
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