Coming off Big Sky title, EWU men’s basketball starts from scratch with new coach Dan Monson, mostly new roster
In the Eastern Washington men’s basketball program, it’s a fresh start for everyone.
It’s a fresh start for redshirt junior Nic McClain, healthy again after playing just two games last season, his first in the Eagles’ program.
It’s a fresh start for the other five returners who were role players at best for the Big Sky’s regular season champions.
It’s a fresh start for the other nine players on Eastern’s roster, who came from all levels of college basketball.
And it’s a fresh start for Dan Monson, the Eagles’ 63-year-old head coach with 445 career victories to his name.
How well all those pieces come together is the question as the Eagles prepare to defend their league title.
“I needed a new challenge,” Monson said, “and I think for the majority of our team they needed the same. Guys who were here last year didn’t get much of an opportunity to play, whether it was injuries or they were behind very good players, or whatever the circumstances were. And (the guys we recruited) … I think we’re all here for the opportunity.”
Eastern finished 21-11 overall last year and 15-3 in the Big Sky but lost its first game in the conference tournament for the second straight season. Afterward, head coach David Riley left to become Washington State’s head coach, and he brought with him four of the team’s top six scorers.
In all, the Eagles returned six players from that team, but only one of them saw consistent and substantial minutes. That’s sophomore Sebastian Hartmann, who played in all 32 games and averaged 12.6 minutes off the bench.
Sophomores Vice Zanki (14 games) and Mason Williams (17) contributed at times, but both will be called upon to step into larger roles on this year’s team.
“Losing five starters five years ago would have been unheard of,” Monson said. “Now it’s just part of the landscape. I think having six guys back in a situation like we’re in, we’re lucky to have those six guys because the culture of the program remained intact. … The winning, the work ethic, they’re able to carry that on.”
Joining them are nine transfers who came from programs in Iowa, Nevada, California, Montana, Arizona and Idaho. Two – redshirt freshman Shaumba Ngoji and junior Maddox Monson – played for Dan Monson last year at Long Beach State. Just one, guard Jordy McKenzie, from Archbishop Riordan High School in San Francisco, is a true freshman.
Many of the new players bring plenty of experience with them. Senior Andrew Cook was an NAIA All-America selection last year at Carroll College in Helena, Montana, where he started 60 of 81 games. Last season he averaged 20.8 points per game and made 55.8% of his shots.
Juniors Angelo Winkel and Elijah Thomas were teammates at Des Moines Area Community College the last two years, and last season they led the Bears to a 31-5 record and a fifth-place finish in the NJCAA Division II national championships.
How well Winkel (16.9 points per game) and Thomas (10.7) adjust to playing Division I basketball is one of the unknowns for the Eagles.
Monson also recruited redshirt junior guard Tyler Powell, who was previously at Nevada and, before that, Seton Hall. Grad student Pavlo Dziuba, originally from Ukraine, played most recently at High Point University, and before that at Maryland and Arizona State.
They’ve also been joined by redshirt senior guard Sam Stockton, who started 34 of 107 games the last four years at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston.
If it’s a hodgepodge, then at least there is one commonality: veryone has the same goals.
“All the new guys have come in and just want to be part of the team,” McClain said. “We all want to win. Everybody has come here to win.”