Pollsters view KWU men as middle-of-the-road team

By BOB DAVIDSON

Salina Journal

WICHITA -- Kansas Conference men's basketball coaches and members of the media see Kansas Wesleyan as a middle-of-the-road team this season.

The Coyotes were picked fourth by KCAC coaches and sixth by the media in polls conducted Wednesday during the conference's annual media day gathering at Friends University.

The poll results suggest observers aren't certain what to expect from Wesleyan, which was a surprising 19-12 last season, 13-5 in the KCAC, and finished second in the KCAC postseason tournament in coach Mike Davert's second season.

Their hesitancy is reflected in the fact the Coyotes return four players who started at least a few games last season -- guards Rodney Brown and Matt Dickman, and forwards Matt Jarrett and Willie McCarty.

On the flip side, though, six players have departed -- starters Trey Sims, Eric Hammond and Romero Hood, and letterwinners Melvin "Boosie" Underwood, Brad Wespieser and Dante Jordan. Sims, Underwood and Hood completed their eligibility while Underwood, Wespieser and Jordan opted not to return.

Davert signed a large and strong recruiting class to fill the gaps. The newcomers include five transfers and features some much-needed size.

"We feel we have a good nucleus of guys coming back but we did we did lose quite a few guys off of last year's team," Davert said. "It's going to be extremely important for the new guys coming to buy into what we do and work hard every day."

Davert wasn't surprised by the poll results.

"I'm fairly happy. You could probably take the top six teams that were ranked today and say they've all got a shot at (the title)," he said.

The coaches' poll reflects the parity. Saint Mary was picked first but received just one first-place vote. Friends was second with four first-place votes and Sterling third with three first-place votes. McPherson shared fourth with KWU and had two first-place votes.

Media pundits favored Southwestern, followed by Sterling, Saint Mary and Friends.

"This conference just keeps getting better and better and better every year," Davert said. "There's a lot of great coaches in the conference. You can see the caliber of play goes up every year."

Bethany was picked seventh by the coaches and ninth by the media following last year's disappointing 9-21 campaign that included a 4-14 KCAC slate. Three starters return -- guards C.J. Littlejohn and Clayton Goggins, and rugged center Brandon Miller -- along with guard Rodd Williams, who led the Swedes in scoring two years ago but sat out last season. They're are joined by a strong group of recruits.

Veteran coach Clair Oleen expects his team to finish much higher than the prognosticators do.

"We're going to be good, we could be very good," said Oleen, who enters his 16th season as men's coach. "We've got maybe the best freshman class that we've had, maybe every. It's a tremendous class. We've got a great crew of returners, the key guys. A lot of size. And we've got three transfers that are going to be very, very good basketball players."

Oleen is especially pleased with his team's depth.

"We've got 16 guys who are good basketball players. I don't know what we're going to do with them all," he said.

"We're going to be scoring points, I know that."

* Sports editor Bob Davidson can be reached at 822-1404, or by e-mail at bdavidson@salina.com

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