2005-06 Missouri Southern Men's Basketball Preview

Eight lettermen, including three starters, and five new recruits give head coach Robert Corn a better feel about his 17th Missouri Southern State University men s basketball team.

Corn, 252-202 in his previous 16 seasons at the Lions  helm, was encouraged with the work ethic and the attitude of his players in individual conditioning workouts prior to the start of preseason practice.

 We (the coaching staff) know a lot more about our basketball team going into this season than we did at this stage last year,  said the Illinois native and 1978 graduate of Missouri Southern.

 We had so many new bodies going into last season that we weren t sure what we were going to do. Plus Hiram Ocasio and Jeremie Bond had knee surgery before the start of the season and that put us behind even more.

 I ve been impressed with the attitude and work ethic of this group so far. Ronnie (assistant coach Ressel) and Aundrey (assistant Wright) have worked them extremely hard in the preseason-conditioning program and they ve responded in a positive way. That s encouraging going into the start of the season. 

Corn s roster includes four seniors and all of them started eight or more games last season. Three of those seniors were new to the program last year and were inconsistent in making the transition from junior college to Division II.

 Any time you bring in a lot of players it takes them some time to get adjusted. I think Quentin Edwards is a perfect example,  Corn said.  We were running him at the point with Tyler (Ryerson).  Q  really made some strides late in the year and made himself a complete player. He s going to be a big key for us. 

 Bond is healthy this year and that s a big plus. He had a great game in the conference tournament against Central Missouri last year (27 points and four rebounds). He certainly can give us a lot of inside presence and that will be a must for us to be an effective team.

 Dan Jones has been a warrior. He s a guy who has been with us for five years and has developed into a very good player. Jeremy McCadney is a good athlete who showed flashes last year. He just needs to become consistent to be a force in this league. 

Missouri Southern s list of returnees also includes juniors Matt Habermehl and Dale Hunter and sophomores Tyler Ryerson and Daron Harris.

 Matt did some positive things last year but he needs to develop consistency,  Corn said.  He s a 6-foot-8 player who can step out on the floor and do some things, but can also post up and show some good moves inside. He s a player who gives us some different options.

 Dale Hunter is continuing to improve. He s a great person to have on our team because of his great attitude. He s the type of kid who works hard and gives you everything he has every day. He s the type of player who makes us better. 

 Tyler had a good freshman year for us, but it s important that he continue to improve. He was second in the conference in assists last year and second in assists to turnover ratio. He just needs to develop the things he was lacking last year.

 Daron is one of our better perimeter shooters and has an understanding of what we re trying to accomplish. He played a lot of point last year, but we plan on playing him at the two spot this year and hopefully utilize his shooting ability. 

Corn said he is  real excited  about his recruiting class that includes four junior college transfers and one freshman, guard Corey Anderson of Liberty, Mo.

 We brought in some guys who bring some toughness to our team, guys who have a strong work ethic and have a hunger to win,  Corn said.

Two players who excite Corn are 6-foot-5 Ed Miles and 6-2 Stanley Titsworth. They were teammates at Clarendon (Texas) College.

 Ed Miles could have an outstanding year for us,  Corn said.  He s a guy who averaged almost 20 points a game for Clarendon against good competition last year.

He brings a lot to the table in his scoring ability and he s a guy who takes pride in his defense.

 Stanley Titsworth also brings a strong work ethic into our program. He has a chance to be one of our better defenders. He s strong and the type of player who can guard a lot of different positions. With his athletic ability and his strength, he s going to get a lot of opportunity to score. 

Corn also sings the praises of his other two junior college transfers   6-8 Myron Hodge from Frank Phillips (Texas) College and 6-2 guard Michael Lang, a Kansas City, Mo. native, from College of the Desert (Calif.).

 Myron Hodge is coming from a very successful junior college program (27-4 last season) and he had a good year for them,  Corn said.  With his size, he can step out and shoot the three but has the capability to score inside as well. He has a chance to be a solid player for us.

 Michael Lang is a heck of an athlete. With his ability to score, he will be a big key as to how we do this year. Our success this year will depend on how quickly our four junior college players adjust to what we re trying to do. If they adjust quickly, we could have a very successful basketball team. 

Corn said this will be a learning experience for Corey Anderson this year.  He s a very good player, but there s a huge adjustment for a freshman,  Corn explained.  He ll get better playing against our guys in practice. He has good strength and comes from a good high school program. We think he has a chance to be a solid player for us. 

Missouri Southern lost two of its top scorers through graduation in Orestus Cavness and Hiram Ocasio. Cavness led the Lions in scoring with 17.9 points a game and in rebounding with 5.3 caroms a game. Ocasio averaged 9.4 points a game and led the Lions in steals with 67. He also had 17 blocked shots.

Edwards, second in scoring last year at 11.5 points per game, is expected to shoulder some of the scoring load, but Corn expects Miles, McCadney and Bond to make solid contributions on the offensive end, as well.

Corn s charges will be tested early. The Lions face three tough exhibition games, starting with a game at home on November 3 against Brad Mann s Living the Dream team composed of former collegiate players.

Road tests at the University of Missouri and at Missouri State University follow on Nov. 8 and 10, respectively.

 It s a great opportunity (the Missouri and Missouri State games) for our young men to compete at the highest possible level,  Corn said.  When you compete against a Big 12 team you don t get much higher than that. And then playing a Missouri Valley team (Missouri State) is a big jump from Division II as well.

 We re excited about doing it and pleased to have the opportunity. Missouri and Missouri State could have let someone else play those games, but they chose us. We feel good about it. It will be a very positive experience for us, regardless of the outcome of the games.

  It s a great opportunity for our young men to compete at the highest possible level.   When you compete against a Big 12 team you don t get much higher than that. And then Missouri Valley team is a big jump from Division II as well. We re excited about doing it and pleased with the opportunity to do it. Missouri and Missouri State had opportunities to let someone else play those games and they chose us, so we feel good about it. We feel like it will be a very positive experience for us, regardless of the outcome of the games. 

Corn said the only negative about playing the two Division I teams would be the confidence factor if the Lions should get beat really bad.

 You want to go into the season on a confident note, but there are so many positive things about playing these games that the positives outweigh the negatives,  he added.

 In addition to the exhibition contests, the Lions face a rugged nonconference schedule.

 We re going to be challenged,  Corn stressed.  We play Bemidji (Minn.) State and Missouri Baptist in our Freeman Sports Medicine/Chris Tucker Memorial Classic and those will be very good tests. We play our first regular-season home game against Central Bible. They came in and played us tough last year. Central Bible is one of those teams that has structure and is well coached. It s the type of team you want to play early.

 We ll be playing at Missouri-St. Louis and that will be a good road test for us. I don t believe we ve played them since they left the (MIAA) league so we re excited about playing them again.

 After our classic, we ll play Bacone (Okla.) College at home before going up to the Pittsburg State Classic where we ll meet St. Joseph (Vt.), and Hannibal-LaGrange (Mo.) on back-to-back nights. Our other non-league games, other than the Las Vegas classic, are at home against Southwestern Oklahoma State and at Northeastern State.

 We ll have two challenging games at Las Vegas, meeting Seattle Pacific and Drury. We ll definitely be tested before we get into conference play. 

With the departure of Missouri-Rolla, the MIAA home-and-home schedule has been revamped and all teams will play twice in December. Missouri Southern will entertain Emporia State on Saturday, Dec. 10, and will play at Missouri Western on Friday, December 30. Western and Emporia are two teams Corn considers as solid contenders for league honors. But he believes Central Missouri is the team to beat.

 They won it last year and Kim (Coach Anderson) has a lot of players back. And, he s added some good players,  Corn said.  Southwest Baptist has brought in a lot of players and has added some size. They have a big center from Oklahoma State coming in and he s certainly going to be a presence in our league.

 Washburn brought in some really good players, but they ve already had some bad luck. Their transfer from Kansas State has already quit school and a transfer from Kentucky Wesleyan broke a leg and could be out for the year. But, again, Washburn, year in and year out, is one of the top teams in the conference and you have to consider them.

 Missouri Western also brought in some good players and Emporia State has done a very solid job with its program. Gene Iba at Pittsburg State and Steve Tappmeyer at Northwest Missouri will have their teams competing at a high level. Truman State has more veteran players returning than anybody and has been on the verge of beating a lot of teams. They ve given us a lot of trouble the last couple years. They could be ready to take a big jump forward. 

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