By james art RV LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (0-0)
vs MISSOURI WESTERN (0-0)
Friday, November 1 – 1:30 p.m
First United Bank Center (Canyon, TX)
GUESS WHO’S BACK
Lubbock Christian returns eight players from the 2023-24 roster, including three of their top four scorers. Returnees included Najeeb Mohammed, Trey Thompson, Dylan Walker, Aaron Gonzalez, Ethan Duncan, Kendall Dow, Ty Caswell and Reagan Fiedler. Duncan is the team’s leading returning scorer at 14.8 points per game, followed closely by Muhammad at 13.6 points per game. Duncan is also the team’s top returning wrestler at 3.4 per game. Muhammad led the team in assists last year with 3.7 per contest.
FRESH FACES
The remaining seven players on the team are new to the Chaparrals. Recruits include AJ Tower, Jalen Thompson, Devin Bacas, Amondo Miller Jr, Alex Anamekue, Albert McBride Jr and Sean Murphy. Bakas is the only incoming freshman coming to LCU from Randall HS. The other six transferred to Lubbock Christian, all from other NCAA universities. Anamekue transferred from the University of Texas, while the other five came from other Division II schools.
PRE-SEASON FORECASTS
The Lone Star Conference released the 2024 men’s preseason poll on Oct. 20, with the Chaps ranked third and Muhammad one of the league’s players to watch. The Chaps were slated to finish third with four first-place votes. Only No.1 West Texas A&M and No.2 Dallas Baptist finished ahead of LCU. LCU received four first-place votes for the first time since they were slated to win the conference in 2021-22. In league play, the Chaps will play 22 games, facing each member of the West Division twice and facing each Eastern Division team once.
KEEPING THE ADVERTISEMENT
Back to lead the Chaparrals by 14th straight season is the head coach Todd Duncan. The seventh coach in program history, Duncan took over starting in the 2011-12 season. Prior to that, he spent 15 successful years as the Head Boys Basketball Coach and Athletic Director at Trinity Christian HS. In his 13 previous seasons, Duncan compiled a 244-134 record and led the program to the NCAA Tournament seven times in the 10 seasons they were eligible. Duncan is joined Jason Eameswho has been his assistant for all 14 seasons, along with three graduate assistants. Lloyd Danielswho played for the Chaps from 2019-2022, returns as a staff member and is joined by newcomers Sam Reeves and Colton Trimire.
NATIONALLY FAMOUS
The National Basketball Coaches Association preseason poll was released on Oct. 20, and while the Chaps didn’t receive a top 25 spot, they did receive votes. Their 48 points in the poll would tie them for No. 31 if the rankings were extended that far. LCU was last in the national rankings at the start of the 2022-23 season, when it was ranked No. 16 in the NABC poll and No. 24 in the D2CSC poll. The 2024-25 D2CSC pre-season poll has not been published.
EDUCATION
The Chaps are coming off a 23-11 season in which they advanced to the NCAA South Central Regional in Canyon, Texas. LCU was an LSC tournament finalist and went 16-6 in conference play and 10-4 in the West Division to finish second in the division. Lubbock Christian had one of the most efficient offenses in all of Division II, ranking No. 7 in effective field goal percentage at .581. They averaged 78.6 points per game and limited their opponents to 69.7 points per game.
STUDENT-ATHLETES
Over the summer, the Chaps were honored with the NABC Team Excellence Award, which is presented to programs that finished the 2023-24 school year with a team GPA of 3.0 or higher. in addition Ty Caswell and Aaron Gonzalez were named to the NABC Court of Honor, which includes junior, senior and graduate men’s basketball players who completed the 2023-24 year with a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or higher. Both players were also members of the LSC All-Academic Team and the CSC Academic All-District Team.
RELEASE OF THE GRIFFONS
- Missouri Western finished the 2023-24 season 17-13 overall and 10-12 in the MIAA to rank ninth in the league
- They started the season 7-0 for their best start since 1999 and picked up three wins over ranked opponents
- The Griffons were picked to finish sixth in the 2024-25 MIAA preseason poll with 105 points. Washburn was picked to win the league
- MW lost its top two scorers from a season ago, but returns Julius Dixon and Zion Swader, who both scored in double figures in 2023-24.
- Five new players were added to the Griffon roster for this upcoming season, including three upperclassmen transfers and two freshmen
RECOGNITION OF HUSKIES
- The St. Cloud State men’s basketball team was projected to finish No. 9 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Preseason Coaches Poll
- Sophomore Lucas Morgan was named one of the league’s players to watch after averaging 10 points and 5.7 rebounds per game last year
- The Huskies finished last season 12-17 overall and 8-14 in NSIC play, putting them at 12th in the 15-team conference
- Head Coach Quincy Henderson is in his third season at the helm of the Husky program with an all-time record of 24-52 at SCSU
- SCSU played basketball as early as 1901 when records showed a 13-10 loss to Minneapolis Central HS along with wins over Park Rapids and Brainerd