Sports

New faces dominate 2013-14 Jacks

By Tyler Ohmann

10/29/2013

With only two returning sophomores the Dakota College at Bottineau basketball team is going to have a lot of new faces in 2013-14.

However, that does not mean that they plan to struggle whatsoever.

“We knew we had to become more athletic and get more talent, and in order to do so we had to leave the state to get some players that could impact the game immediately,” Jacks head coach Cory Fehringer said. “Losing so many sophomores from last year, what we needed to focus on was getting some guys with experience, some which are a little older and some are transfers.”

“We wanted to go get guys who had success in other areas with a high level of competition,” Fehringer added.

And Fehringer felt like they did that. They added 10 freshman recruits that will start out on the roster and also nabbed two sophomore transfers to go along with returning sophomores Billy Engel and Julian Vasquez.

Fehringer believes that both Engel and Vasquez can bring a lot to the Jacks this season.

“We do have Billy Engel returning, who has taken on a leadership role and been great at it,” Fehringer said. “We have Julian Vasquez, was a red shirt last year and he’ll possibly be one of the best players in the conference, so we expect him to carry the load a lot on the offensive end, but he’s also an unselfish player.”

“What he does is breed confidence in the team,” Fehringer added.
With 20 players in the program (six are red shirts), Fehringer thinks that depth at each position will allow them to play their style for a full season, instead of having to adapt, like they did last season when they faced injuries.

“We went out and got enough players at each position, so that we’re not going to have to change our style if a Jayden McMillin gets injured or if a Kristoff Walker gets injured,” Fehringer said. “What I see us doing down the road is continually playing the same brand of basketball over a 30-game span, and when it’s all said and done being very good at what we do.”

And that depth included a large recruiting class, which Fehringer and the coaching staff are proud of.

“I’m extremely excited for the guys we got. We worked really hard to get these guys in,” Fehringer said. “When it was all said and done, we got the guys we wanted, and we never had to beg to come to Dakota College.”

“Everybody who is putting on a Lumberjacks uniform is excited to be here,” Fehringer added.

Fehringer thinks that will help with success early, as will an extended preseason against stiff competition, something Fehringer believed lacked in previous years.

So far the Jacks in the preseason have played against a four-year NAIA school, a Division II school, twice against five-year schools from Canada and two Division I NJCAA schools.

“So for freshman and game time, they already have a lot of it under their belt versus guys that are better than teams we’re going to have to play,” Fehringer said. “I really liked the preseason that we’ve had, because going into the Thom Classic, we’ve already seen the errors and weaknesses that we need to correct.”

That Kevin Thom Classic is the opening of the regular season for the Jacks and will be on Nov. 1-2. The Jacks will play both Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) and the University of Winnipeg (UW).

Fehringer has a few goals for the Thom Classic, but that doesn’t just begin then, it began this past summer.

“Up to this point for the first month to two months our continual point of emphasis is becoming a better team,” Fehringer said. “We made sure to get our guys involved in a bunch of team building exercises, and involved in the community.”

“We wanted to make sure they could work together off of the basketball floor, because then we could be sure that they would be ready to hold each other accountable when it came time for the first tip off of the Thom Classic,” Fehringer added.

Also, he believes that the Classic can set the tone for the rest of the season.

“I think what we can do this year is focus on how we can become a better team, and how our  team philosophies and strategies can help us win the most amount of games,” Fehringer said. “We’re not going to change our style based on who we play. We’re going to play high tempo, high pressure, we’re going to play team basketball.”

Trust and intensity are two of the biggest tenants that the Jacks coaching staff are preaching this year.

“What we’ve really started to push is trust the pass, and we need to make sure we trust each other to pass the ball when we’re open,” Fehringer said. “Defensively we’re going to get up in people and make people put their head down and go to the rim, so we expect our help side to be there to trust our pressure.”

The Jacks are also trying to break the season up instead of focusing on it as a whole.

“A lot of people at the beginning of the season like to talk about National tournaments right away, but we’re not going to do that,” Fehringer said. “We’re going to try and break down the season in chunks, and we’ll try and win those sections.”

One familiar face that won’t be on the court this season is Kristoff Walker. A year ago Walker was a highlight for the Jacks, but broke his leg in two places late in the season. He will be a medical red shirt this season. He and the rest of the red shirts, and all the returners pose a bright future for years to come.

“We actually have about 20 guys in the basketball program, which gives us a lot of leeway to prepare for next year’s group,” Fehringer said. “Hopefully the transition from this year to next won’t be difficult because we’ll have a lot of guys that will know.”

Another will be Dashamone McCarty, who was set to return this season as a sophomore. However, his life was tragically ended in a drive-by shooting in his hometown Maywood, Ill., shortly after returning home for summer vacation.

The Jacks have a plan on remembering McCarty as both a person and a player.

“With Dashamone we have the two sophomores Julian and Billy carrying his jersey out before each game,” Fehringer said. “We’re also going to hang a picture with a motto right over the door as we come out.”

It goes far beyond that though.

“There has been a big push to value your opportunity to play basketball, and you’re not always promised another day,” Ferhinger said. “So, whatever day it is, we need to embrace that day and that we have a team that we get to play for.”

The sophomores and coaching staff are also teaching the newcomers about McCarty as well, so he is not just another former player.

“I think he’s working within our team on a daily basis,” Fehringer said. “We’ve shown the team film with Dashamone, so that he’s more than just a guy who was here last year, and they have a visual of the type of guy he was.”

“I think if we all work as hard as Dashamone on a daily basis, this team is set up to have a very strong year,” Fehringer added.
However, the Jacks are excited to start the season at home with the Kevin Thom Classic.

On Friday they will play at 8 p.m. against CMU to open the Classic and then they will play UW at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

“Defending our home court will be great, because we have a great student section,” Fehringer said. “I think our guys have embraced the community as much as they could in a short amount of time, so I truly believe that from the campus to the community we’re going to have a stronger season.”

DCB went 11-21 last season, which ended at the Region XIII Tournament where they were eliminated in the opening round against United Tribes Community College.