WNCC men’s basketball looking for success this season

Men's Basketball in action during a scrimmage.

             The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team started preparations for the upcoming season with the first official practice on Monday and third-year head coach Billy Engel is liking what he is seeing.

            "The first day went really well. We had a good pre-season and used our hours wisely and got the most out of not only individual skill work, but the weight room and full team activities, strength and conditioning, things like that," Engel said. "Now that we are here in regular season, the regular season is not here and we are in the full swing of things and I feel like we are in a pretty good place."

            With the new look Cougars, Engel is excited for the season.

            "We are very excited for the season," he said. "We are looking to make improvements off of last year's team. You can't compare last year's team to this year's team because who knows what the rest of Region IX did and how much talent they went out and got. For us, it is day-by-day and we can get a little better playing together and get used to each other and buying into the system, buying into the defensive end. I think that will lead us to the opportunity of winning some games this year."

            The Cougar men finished last season at 17-14, falling in the semifinals of the Region IX tournament a year ago. The Cougars run at a regional title was epic as they topped Lamar Community College 79-68 in the first round and then upset the top seed Western Wyoming Community College 85-82 in overtime. WNCC ended the season falling to eventual champions Trinidad State College 67-61.

            The Cougars return plenty of talent from last year's team including five players that saw plenty of action including 6-foot-7 Carl Thorpe of Rabun Gap, Georgia, and 6-5 Rodney Sawyer of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.

            Other returners that saw action include CJ Johnson, a 6-4 guard from Atlanta, Georgia; Biko Johnson, a 6-3 guard from Carson, California; and Dimitrije Nikolic, a 6-5 guard from NIS, Serbia.

            Engel is excited to have these five players returning.

            "It is really good to have returning experience that were here last year and were big-time impact players," Engel said. "Biko Johnson and Rodney Sawyer were really big impact players with double-digit scorers and pretty good numbers and percentages. Then there is Chancellor, who was almost a 40% shooter as a freshman is really important coming back. Then Carl on the defensive end and everything that Dimitrije brings us on and off the floor. It is nice to have those five with us."

            WNCC also have three transfers that played at other colleges before that will help. Those three transfers include Enzo Clouvel-Urie, a 6-2 guard from Fraconville, France. Clouvel-Urie played at Eastern Wyoming College last year.

            The other two transfers include Camryn Dennis, a 6-3 guard from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who played at Northern Oklahoma-Tonkawa, and Zach O'Callaghan, a 6-9 forward from Crystal River, Florida, who played at Bryant Stratton College.

            The newcomers or players that red-shirted a year ago are also talented and should help the team. They include red-shirts Sergio Burchell, a 6-3 guard from Canutillo, Texas, and Caio Monteiro, a 6-3 guard from Sao Paulo, Brazil.

            The newcomers include Tristin Thomas, a 6-1 guard from Houston, Texas; Ahmari Samuel, a 6-4 guard from Sumtor, South Carolina; Daniel Bula, a 6-5 guard from Belgium; and Maurice Walker, a 6-4 guard from Denver, Colorado.

            WNCC will have plenty of depth at different positions.

            "I am very happy with some of the new guys we brought in," Engel said. "We not only are bringing back talented returning players, but we are bringing in talented transfer players that had experience at different places. It is also to bring in some young and hungry freshmen that have bright futures in front of them."

            The goal for this year is to take that extra step and play for a regional title and even win it. The last time the Cougars won a regional title was in 2018 and Engel was the assistant coach. This year, he believes they have the talent to take that extra step.

            "Having some transfers that have won at their respectful schools before they got here, bring in some older guys that they know what it takes to win at different places, bring that mentality with them here and then having those five returners that played in where we came up short in that semifinal and all five of those guys have a chip on their shoulders and want to go a little further of going to a championship game and winning a championship game this year," Engel said. "Then you have a lot of young and hungry freshmen that just don't know any better, so they are 18-year-olds that think we are going to take the whole world. There is a lot of confidence and I think we established our goal this year is to win a Region IX championship."