By Duane Cochran
FAIRMONT — The season begins today for both the men’s and women’s basketball teams at Fairmont State University.
The FSU men will host their own annual Tip-Off Classic at the Joe Retton Arena with Glenville State, Urbana University and Maryland Bible College. Action gets under way in the classic at 4 p.m. this afternoon when Glenville tangles with Urbana. Fairmont State and Maryland Bible will meet in the nightcap at 6 p.m.
On Monday, the Pioneers and Maryland Bible will square off at 6 p.m., while FSU battles Urbana at 8 p.m.
On the women’s side, the Lady Falcons will be taking part Sunday in the annual Concord University Lady Lions’ Tip-Off Classic at the Carter Center in Athens. Fairmont’s women will face Bluefield (Va.) College today at 4 p.m., while Concord takes on Milligan (Tn.) College at 6 p.m. On Monday, Fairmont will battle Milligan at 4 p.m., while Concord meets Bluefield at 6 p.m.
With five new players on the roster, some key veterans returning and a more overall athletic team in general look for Fairmont’s men's this year to step up their play on the defensive end and run the floor with more success.
“We’re anxious to finally get on the floor, play in front of some people and show them what we have,” said FSU senior forward Dan Bruner, the team’s top returning scorer who averaged 11.4 points and 4.7 rebounds per outing last winter. “We definitely have the most athletic team I’ve ever played on right now with the new guys we’ve added.
“One thing we’ve done here in the preseason is try to get used to playing with the new guys and get ourselves accustomed to their games. They like to run up and down the floor so you have to be in shape, you have to fill the lanes and they’ll find you. It’s a fun style of ball we’re playing this year. It’s quick and uptempo and I think people are going to like it.”
FSU finished 20-9 last season overall and 12-8 and in sixth place in the West Virginia Conference. The Falcons must replace second-team All-America guard and leading scorer Thad McFadden, who is now playing professionally in the Czech Republic.
“Our team is a little different than it’s been the last several years,” said sixth-year head coach Tim Murphy. “We are a little more athletic, we are a little quicker and we are a little smaller. We obviously have some concerns about rebounding the ball, but the good thing is we are quicker getting to the ball.
“One thing we’ve really pushed and stressed with this team in the preseason is playing defense. For us to be a better basketball team we’ve got to do a better job of defending. We’re not teaching anything any different and there’s no magic to it. We just flat out need to be better on defense. We stress the fundamentals of defense and work hard on them every day and right now I think we are a little better. We’ll see, though, how that progresses once we get into the season.”
Glenville’s men finished 20-9 overall last season and 13-7 and in fifth place in the league. The Pioneers are under new leadership this year. Former Alderson-Broaddus standout Stephen Dye has moved up from assistant coach to head coach replacing Dwaine Osborne.
Urbana finished 6-21 last year. No record is available for Maryland Bible, however, the squad did lose to WVU-Tech, 73-57, on Nov. 1.
Fairmont’s women, like the Falcon men, have a lot of new faces on the roster and that new talent will be counted on heavily to produce for veteran coach Steve McDonald this season.
FSU’s women will likely feature four new starters today surrounding senior two-guard and first-team All-WVC selection Ashley Vavrek. True freshman Kaitlin Snyder of Sissonville will run the point for the Lady Falcons, while redshirt freshman guard Lauren Streicher will play the three. Converted junior guard Lauren Gilbert of Bridgeport, who transferred to FSU from California (Pa.) University, will play the four and 6-3 junior college transfer Rachel Murray will start at center.
Like the FSU men, look for the Lady Falcons to be much more uptempo this season than they’ve been in recent years.
“Something important for us in this classic is to establish how we’re going to play and develop a confidence-level in our style of play,” said McDonald, who is 181-83 in nine seasons as FSU’s head coach. “That’s what we’re looking for early on this year and in particular on Sunday and Monday. We need to establish our identity as a basketball team and then work off of that identity to get better and better.
“We have a lot of new kids and a lot of them right now don’t know what to expect, but you can sense the excitement level on our team right now is pretty high. Also, the energy level of the team has been excellent. They have a strong desire to want to win and be successful.”
Concord finished 13-15 last season, while Bluefield (Va.) College compiled a 13-20 overall mark in 2008-09. Milligan College has already opened the 2009-10 season. The Lady Buffs bring a 4-2 record to Athens this weekend.
