BY RYAN DEPAUW | The Statesman With the UMD men’s basketball season about to begin, head coach Matt Bowen is preparing his players for a tough season.
"As you look at the season, the biggest challenge is going to be our schedule,” Bowen said. “We played one of the toughest schedules in the country last year and our schedule this year is significantly more difficult. Eight of our first 12 games are on the road. We have bitten off a significant challenge for us to overcome early. We're going to be tested."
Of those 12 opponents, four made it to the NCAA II tournament last season. Despite the mountain ahead of them, Bowen and his team aren’t shying away from the climb.
"I think we've tried to up our intensity. We're an older group, we have six seniors and we want to use our age and experience to our advantage," Bowen said.
As for setting goals, the Bulldogs are eyeing a big one.
“It's been awhile since UMD has had back-to-back winning seasons,” Bowen said. “We hosted a home playoff game for the first time in nearly a decade and we'd like to do that again."
The last time the Bulldogs had back-to-back winning seasons were the ‘05-‘06 and ‘06-‘07 seasons.
"This year is quite different. We have a very strong supporting cast in seniors like Taylor Lavery, Junior Coleman, Brendon Pineda and Pierre Newton (who) could step up and have big games, which will make us certainly difficult to match up with--and we have some younger guys who could fill some spots."
Bowen hopes that the strong supporting cast can work well together to translate their games into wins.
"It’s a tale of two seasons. We have a break over Christmas so I look at it as the first semester being a real challenge for us,” Bowen said. “We spend a lot of time on the road. We have a lot of games in a short amount of time and quite honestly, I hope we can get through that with a winning record."
Senior guard Pierre Newton, who was selected as a Player to Watch in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Preseason Coaches Poll, believes they have the depth to handle the tough schedule.
"It's a team effort,” Newton said. “We have so many guys who can do so many different things."
Three keys to the season:
- A Strong start: With eight of the first 12 games on the road to start the season, the Bulldogs will have to not only start each game strong if they want to win, but also start the season strong if they want to gain momentum to carry through the season and after winter break.
- Upperclassmen leadership: With six seniors this year, the Bulldogs have a total of seven upperclassmen. Coach Bowen hopes his upperclassmen can help be a big part of the team and lead the Bulldogs to their first back-to-back winning seasons in nearly a decade.
- Finishing strong: Last year, the Bulldogs won four of their last five games, including three in a row to end the season. Those final three wins allowed UMD to have a winning record and go on to win their first game of playoffs against Winona State.