'Hounds tip off at Colby Thursday

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

John Burn's fourth season in charge of the Fort Scott Community College men's basketball program begins Thursday afternoon with a game against McCook, Neb., in the Colby Ambassador Classic.

The Greyhounds will play three games in Colby in three days before returning home next week to play on consecutive evenings.

Fort Scott was 19-12 last season, posting just its third winning record in the past 14 seasons (Chris Beard was also 19-12 in his only season here in 1999-2000). Burns became just the second FSCC head coach with consecutive winning seasons since the end of the Bob Eshelbrenner's tenure after the 1975-76 season.

Finishing fourth in the Jayhawk Conference-Eastern Division last season with an 11-7 mark, conference coaches picked the Greyhounds to drop a spot this season. This is perhaps because only two lettermen will return from last season's team, just one of whom was a starter. One of last season's departed starters, A.J. Rhea, returns as a student assistant coach.

Post Arsenio Williams (6' 4", Soph., Chicago-Bogan) is the lone returning starter. The other returning letterwinner, who will be the only guard with any experience, is Kolby Hopkins (6' 1", Soph., Wichita North).

Williams was among the conference leaders in several areas last season. He was sixth in rebounding, averaging 8.9 per game. He was also 14th in field-goal percentage, making 57.9 percent of his shots, and 15th in scoring at 16.0 points per game. He should continue to play at a level that earned All-Jayhawk Conference-Eastern Division Honorable Mention status last season.

Hopkins played in 20 games last season, averaging 0.8 points and 1.2 rebounds.

The Greyhounds will have to find scoring to pick up the conference-leading 19.5 points per game departed guard Bateko Francisco scored last season as well as the scoring that will not be around after forward Kyle Cooper left the team a couple of weeks ago.

In terms of ball handling, at the least, freshman Jamill Harris (5' 8") of Foreman High School in Chicago should be able to contribute. He was a Class AA Honorable Mention player last season in Illinois, making him at least one of the top 80 players in the state, many of those in the metro Chicago area.

Kyle Grant (6' 3", Fr.) from Freeport in the Bahamas, is listed as a wing. He was on the Bahamas team in the FBIA U-18 Americas Tournament in 2006. Willie Bland (6' 7", Fr., Cincinnati, Ohio) will hopefully be able to help Williams out on the inside.

Other incoming freshmen include Brandon Kinnie (6' 2", Grandview, Mo.), named by scout.com as an honorable mention player in the Kansas City metro area, Brandon Dougherty (5' 9", Leavenworth), John Stokes (6' 3", Willard, Mo.), Conrad Brown (5' 9", Kansas City, Kan.-Washington) and Keenan Curry (5' 11, Olathe Northwest).

Two players currently playing football, twins Josh and Jeremy Sutton (6' 5" and 6' 6", respectively, both freshmen from Anderson County High School), are expected to join the team after the gridiron season is over.

While Williams and Hopkins bring experience, the young players -- especially the guards -- will need to develop quickly in order to be able to handle conference play. It can also take time for players from overseas to adjust to the American style of play, which is more physical.

The Greyhounds will play McCook Thursday, Western Nebraska Friday and Casper, Wyo., Saturday at Colby.

Wednesday, the Greyhounds host the MidAmerica Nazarene junior varsity at 6 p.m. Next Thursday, Ottawa University's JV comes to Arnold Arena for a 7 p.m. tip off.

NOTES -- Cooper, who would have been a starting forward this season, left the team shortly after the pre-season media conference in Wichita about three weeks ago. Cooper shot 44.7 percent from the floor and 40.4 percent from three-point range. He averaged 13.8 points and 5.6 rebounds. His ability to hit three-pointers would have kept defenses honest and allowed Williams to score inside….

Two French internationals, Ade Henderson (6' 3", Fr.) and Michel Swita, listed at seven feet on the pre-season FSCC roster, have been redshirted. Swita had told at least one spectator at a volleyball match earlier this season that he's actually 6' 11" (On the roster of the French team he played for, Paris Levallois, in 2006, he was listed at 2.1 meters, which comes out closer to 6' 11"), are being redshirted….

The roster turned into the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference is quite a bit different than the one that was attached to Fort Scott's pre-season form handed out just 3 1-2 weeks ago to media and other coaches. Eight players have already either been taken off of or been added to the roster in that period of time….

The other coach who has posted consecutive winning seasons since the end of Eshelbrenner's tenure is Fred Turner who had three straight from 1988-89 to 1990-91. Turner is also the last FSCC coach to win 20 games, doing so in 1990-91....

If the Greyhounds win 16 games this season, Burns will vault from ninth on FSCC's all-time victories list to fourth. He would trail only Eshelbrenner (138 wins from 1965-76), Charles Erickson (77 from 1924-31) and Turner (73 from 1986-91)....

Burns is one of just eight FSCC head coaches who have two or more winning seasons. Eshelbrenner had seven, Erickson six, Warren Littrell (1931-37) four and Turner three. Fort Scott has had 31 head coaches in its history....


2007-08 schedule

DateOpponent
Nov. 8vs. McCook, Neb., 4:30-a
Nov. 9vs. Western Neb., 2:30-a
Nov. 10vs. Casper, Wyo., 4-a
Nov. 14MIDAMERICA NAZARENE JV, 6
Nov. 15OTTAWA JV, 7
Nov. 27BENEDICTINE JV, 7,
Nov. 30vs. Garden City, 9.-b
Dec. 2vs. Hutchinson, 7.-b
Dec. 7vs. Friends JV, 3:30-c
Dec. 8vs. Central Neb., 3:30-c

Dec. 14 at MSU-West Plains, 7-d

Dec. 15vs. Ark.-Fort Smith, 5-d
Jan. 5at Coffeyville, 5
Jan. 9at Highland, 5
Jan. 12INDEPENDENCE, 2
Jan. 16NEOSHO COUNTY, 5
Jan. 19ALLEN COUNTY, 2
Jan. 21at Johnson County, 5
Jan. 23LABETTE, 5
Jan. 26COWLEY, 2
Jan. 30at Kansas City, 5
Feb. 2COFFEYVILLE, 2
Feb. 6HIGHLAND, 5
Feb. 9at Independence, 2
Feb. 13at Neosho County, 5
Feb. 16at Allen County, 5
Feb. 20JOHNSON COUNTY, 5
Feb. 23at Labette, 6
Feb. 27at Cowley, 5
Mar. 1KANSAS CITY, 2

a -- Colby Ambassador Classic.

b -- Jayhawk Conference Shootout at Coffeyville.

c -- Hutchinson Airport Steakhouse Classic.

d -- Missouri State-West Plains Classic.

All games from Jan. 5 through the end of the season are Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference-Eastern Division games.