Pioneers equipped to make run in SAC

Competing in the Sooner Athletic Conference is never easy, particularly in men's basketball. Over the last decade, a SAC team has won the NAIA men's basketball national championship four times and been the runner-up twice.
 
A year ago, the Wayland Baptist men's basketball team started the season not only with no returning starters, but no returners, either. Although being competitive in the SAC against such tough competition might have seemed unlikely for Wayland, the Pioneers held their own, going 4-3 in the first half of conference play and picking up wins against No. 4 John Brown, No. 22 Oklahoma City and Mid-America Christian, which had a stint in the Top 25 at the end of the season.
 
The Pioneers struggled the second half of the season, however, getting just one win before falling in the first round of the conference tournament. Wayland finished two games under .500 at 14-16 while going 5-11 in the conference.
 
After improving his record in his sophomore season by three wins, head coach Matt Garnett has even higher goals for his squad in 2013-14.
 
"Our goal is to play for a conference championship and have an opportunity to play in (the national tournament) in Kansas City," Garnett said.
 
The coach knows that won't be an easy task, but he also knows the Pioneers are much better equipped this season than last, starting with the return of starters Travis Payton and Juhreece Thompson, along with a talented cast of new faces.
 
Payton, the Pioneers' point guard, averaged 9.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists last season, earning All-SAC third team honors. Thompson, a wide body forward, averaged 10.0 points a game, which was fourth on the team, along with 4.9 rebounds. Wayland also returns point guard Nikola Grbic, who saw significant minutes for the Pioneers last year as a freshman, as well as Robert Lopez and Joshua Cox.
 
Garnett is excited about those returners and what they have brought to the table for his team this fall.
 
"It's been really nice to have a group that understands the culture of our program," he said. "In many ways, they're the group that formed it.
 
"All of our returners have done a very good job of making sure that culture continues to grow and develop. Having Travis back at point guard and Nik as our second point guard has been good for us. We've been really hard on them and gotten them to embrace a leadership role, and they've responded well."
 
In addition to their returners, the Pioneers have brought in a multitude of new faces to compliment the returning lettermen. Garnett signed five new guards: a pair of freshmen in Maurice Redmond and Brady Leissner, and three transfer students in Barry Johnson, Markus Monroe and Yves Jules. Plainview native Thomas Curry also joins the roster after playing football for the Pioneers last season. 
 
Rounding out the rest of the recruits are transfers Sasha Ovcharenko, Plamen Hristov, Royal Crouch, Bunja Yaboe, and Kelly Lawson, all forwards.
 
With his five returners and 11 newcomers, Garnett boasts of a deep roster that he feels will compete and get up and down the floor.
 
"After watching our guys this fall, one thing became apparent early on: This is an energized group that likes to compete," he said. "Our practices have been very competitive. They had to compete against each other for playing time, which is a good thing.
 
"We finally had our first scrimmage last week and it was good for everyone to be on the same team. The challenge now is for them to continue to get after each other and continue to push themselves."
 
Because of the depth of his team and their competitive drive, the Pioneers coach believes his squad has what it takes to compete for a conference championship.
 
"I'm excited to see what this group can do," Garnett said. "They have good chemistry. They like each other and they like to compete against each other, and hopefully that turns into a very competitive team on game night."
 
Garnett understands, however, that it will take more than just good, hard effort to come out on top of the SAC.
 
"When you look at the preseason rankings, there's  not a team on there that makes you feel comfortable," Garnett said. "When the team (USAO) that's picked to finish eighth made it to the national tournament last year, that just shows you how tough it's going to be.
 
"You have to be really good, and more importantly, consistently good to win the SAC. You can't give any opportunity that you have to win a game. We'll have to play really good basketball and defense each night. With a league this deep, it's going to come down to playing your best basketball as many times as you can."
 
The Pioneers get their season started at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Hutcherson Center against Barclay College in what will be the first of four home games to start the season.
 
After playing their first two games on the road a year ago, Garnett is excited about opening this season off on the Pioneers' home court.
 
"I'm excited to play our first four games at home," he said. "I'm hoping that we have a really good home crowd to kick things off. We're going to run and get up and down the court and it will be fun. Wayland and the city of Plainview will have a team that's exciting to watch."