Cowboys Prepare for Title Run

With a big boost from third-year players Jahcoree Ealy and Jordan Tillmon, the Connors State Cowboys returned to the NJCAA National Championships for the time since 2018 last year. It marked the 15^th trip to the Nationals in school history and the 11^th for head coach Bill Muse who enters his 31^st year at the helm for Connors with a record of 713-252 and is the fifth winningest among active NJCAA coaches.

"We started 1-3 start in conference play last year, so we had to play catch up the rest of the season," said Muse. "We entered the Region 2 tournament as the third seed and, after defeating Eastern in the first game, knocked off Murray State which had beaten us twice during the season in the semifinals and then beat Northern-Enid in the finals. I thought we got a poor seed in the national tournament and ended up having to play Hutchinson, the tournament host, in the first game. We had a big lead early in the second half, but they pressed us, we made some mistakes and let the crowd back into the game and ended up losing in overtime. But we ended up 28-6 and I was pleased with the way things went."

Now as the 2022 season is here, the Cowboys will need some players to step in and fill the big holes left by Ealy and Tillmon who combined for nearly 30 points a game last year. Connors graduated four players who have gone on to play elsewhere-Ealy, Tillmon, Basey and Greg Johnson- and freshman Marquel Sutton who left to go Division 1. Three of those five went to D-I schools making a total of 84 players that Muse has sent on to the highest level of college ball in his time at Connors. 

Looking ahead to this season, the Cowboy head coach surveyed the court.

"I think we'll replace Sutton with a quality player in Shemar Smith from Norman North who played D-II ball last year and will give us some experience. We should be strong inside with the return of Mason Alexander (6-8 forward from Tulsa Edison who averaged 6.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game) and we picked up a transfer in Tamaury Releford from Eastern State (6-8 who averaged 7 points and 4 rebounds a game) who hurt us in both games we played against him last year. We also picked up Bradyn Hubbard from Tulsa Memorial. He as an All-State player and is versatile enough that he can help us inside or on the wing.

"On the outside, we'll have Xavier Glenn from Bixby returning. I said last year I thought getting him was a steal and he proved to be valuable to us. He averaged 12 points a game and started until he got hurt late in the year and had to play off the bench but even then, he scored in 18 points in the game at Nationals. He's being recruited already, and he has a bright future."

Also returning is Jhamyl Fricas from the Boston area who played off the bench last year as well as Xavier Brown from Muskogee and Brenden Dan from Checotah all of whom have improved greatly according to Muse.

The point guard position will be the big question mark for the Cowboys with the loss of Tillmon, but Muse feels he's got a good jump on finding a replacement.

"We recruited what I think will be a good point guard in Donyae May from Russellville, Arkansas who was an All-State player there.  We also added a couple of out of state players that might battle for that spot in Calvin Hall from South Carolina whose uncle I coached at Clemson and Harrison Carr from Jackson, Mississippi who played at Tougaloo College last year."

Picking the strong candidates in the Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference this year is more difficult than usual with new coaches at Eastern, Murray State and Northern but Muse says look for NEO and Seminole to be the early front runners.

As far as the season schedule is concerned, early season visitors to Melvin Self Fieldhouse will include National Park, Paris, Independence and Neosho County which always field quality teams. And there's an extra surprise at the end of the rainbow for basketball fans this year.

"After 26 years of running an outstanding Region 2 Tournament, the city of Shawnee decided to give up hosting the tournament and we're excited to announce that Muskogee will be hosting the tournament March 8-11, 2023. The games will be played at the Muskogee Civic Center, and it will be nice for a lot of our fans who haven't been able to make it to Shawnee over the years to get to see quality basketball right in their own backyard."