The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team will be opening the season November 1 when Casper College heads to Cougar Palace. 

                The contest will feature a Casper team that received pre-season NJCAA recognition compared to a Cougar men's team that will be young with just three returners back from last year's 16-15 team. 

                Billy Engel, who will beginning his fourth year, is ready to turn the tables with a team that has been working hard in practice and fun to be around. 

                "We are really excited about this group," Engel said. "It is still early and we still have a ways to go. There is a lot we can continue to clean up and improve on and continue to work together better each day. But, there is a lot to be excited about this group. We have some youth. We have some experience from some different guys. We play hard and we are very competitive and right now it is really good group to be around." 

                The Cougars do have some talent returning even if it is three players. Those returning include 6-foot-4 Maurice Walker of Denver, Colorado, 6-9 Stephen Ovia of London, England, and 6-5 Daniel Bula of Belgium. Bula started 24 games for the Cougars a year ago while averaging 9.5 points and 4.9 rebounds a contest. Ovia averaged 6.1 points and 3.2 rebounds a contest, while Walker averaged 7.2 points and buried 53 3-pointers a year ago. 

                Engel said these three have been good role models to this year's team. 

                "The three returners have been great. They have done a really good job of stepping into their roles as sophomores," Engel said. "All three of them were very impactable as freshmen for different reasons. Daniel was on the floor a lot and, for statistics, he filled a lot of boxscores. Stephen had some really bright moments as a freshman. We look forward to seeing a lot more of those from him as a sophomore. Maurice really picked up on how good of a teammate he was, how much of a leader he was, how much he cared about his teammates getting things right, and himself stepping in and getting things right." 

                To compliment those three three sophomores, the team has a good group of incoming newcomers that have the potential to off-set the seven sophomores that were lost from a year ago.  

                The freshman include 6-4 JJ Harris of Tallahassee, Florida; 6-2 Loren Daniel of San Diego, California; 5-11 Junior Galicia of the Dominican Republic; 6-7 Anthony Simo of Yaoundé, Cameroon; 6-7 Danilo Glisovic of Kragujevac, Serbia; 6-0 Nazir Griffin of Orlando, Florida; 6-2 Willie Wilson of Minneapolis, Minneapolis; 6-4 Travis Easterly, Jr. from Youngstown, Ohio; 6-1 Elijah Burney from Las Vegas, Nevada; 6-7 Kayden Nation of Peoria, Illinois; 6-4 Noah Jones of Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and 6-1 Kellon Harris of Scottsbluff. 

                What Engel likes about this group of guys is the willingness of working hard and competing. That is something that will stand out this season. 

                "I think our strength right now is how hard we play and how competitive we are. I think those two things are things, after being around these guys for the past two months, is something I can go home every night and feel pretty good about of how this team plays hard and this team competes," Engel said. "I think those are two really good things to be proud of." 

                The Cougars haven't had a lot of pre-season scrimmages but of the ones they have, Engel said he likes where they are right now. 

                "You have to be happy where we are at right now," he said. "Like I said, there are things we still need to clean up. The other thing we have going for us is good depth. We have good guards at that position, so I am excited to get up and down and be a fast-paced team. To be a full-court press team and get up and down the court." 

                The Cougars have a tough but unusual schedule this season. WNCC will have four home games before the holiday break in November and December, and will have the majority of home games second semester. 

"We open up at home and we get Eastern Wyoming at home in the first semester and we also get Laramie County at home in the first semester. This schedule is set up difficult," Engel said. "We go on the road and play two Jayhawk teams down in Kansas. We go to CSI to play two tough Region 18 opponents. We are going up to Northwest Wyoming and play two Region IX North opponents. So, it is a tough schedule and we definitely will be pressed. 

The opener will be tough as well when they open Wednesday, November 1 against Casper College with a 7 p.m. tip. Casper received votes for the NJCAA pre-season poll but are under a new coach in Tom Parks, who comes from the State College of Florida but has ties to Region IX, serving as the associate head coach for Sheridan College. 

                Engel knows Casper will be tough, but his team will be ready. 

                "We open up the season with an extremely difficult opponent," he said. "It will be early for us and we are learning new things. But I am sure they will be in the same spot. I have seen some of the guys they have signed and I know there is a lot of talent over there and it is coach Parks first year at Casper, but he has a good track record behind him. We absolutely have our hands full November 1." 

                After that, the Cougars will travel to Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne for a November 8 game followed by trips to Goodland, Kansas, Powell, Wyoming, and Twin Falls, Idaho. 

                The second semester will have nine home games with five in January and three in February. The Region IX tournament will be held at the site of the South conference winner March 14-16 with the national tournament slated for March 27 through March 30 in Hutchinson, Kansas.