by Colton Rempel
Looking into the upcoming basketball season, the men’s head coach Jason Eaker is excited, as they have many returners coming back as well as a couple of transfers that he thinks will bring new levels of success to the team this season.
One of those transfers, Seth Granberry, comes from University of Arkansas at Monticello a fellow GAC school.
“Adjusting to a new team is just a part of basketball, and that’s the fun part about learning and getting better with my teammates so looking forward to Friday to show what we got,” said Grandberry on the upcoming season with a new team.
One surprise of the preseason is the team’s only big man Eric Madrid, also known as “Big E” around campus, has shown impressive amounts of growth during the offseason.
“He’s had an unbelievable three scrimmages, so we’re hopeful that that continues. He definitely is something none of our opponents have. A kid that big, that skilled,” said Eaker.
Eaker was also excited about returning junior, and first team all-conference player in guard Terry Coner Jr. Eaker had this to say about the returner’s previous year with.
“He missed seven of the 22 conference games and still was first team all-conference,” Eaker said.
Some other players coach Eaker mentioned were seniors Joshua Udoumoh, JC Curry, Jackson Greene, redshirt sophomore TJ Strong, and freshman Austin Coner and Christian Hodge.
The team is looking to make their presence known in the GAC as they were ranked second in the preseason poll and got votes to be in the top 25 preseason rank.
“We don’t put a ton of stock in preseason rankings. But you know, everybody knows that we should have a good team,” Eaker said.
Going into the season the team is looking forward to some new opponents as well as some tough opponents.
“Southern Nazarene is our longtime rival that we were in the NAIA with and now Division II. They were preseason numbers; they have a great coach and a great program. We always look forward to playing our rival. We play them twice and then we could potentially play them a third time,” said Eaker on which opponents he was looking forward to playing.
When Grandberry was asked a similar question about which team he would be looking forward to playing, he had some different opponents on his mind.
“Looking forward to facing Umary playing a former teammate, that always fun and eager to kick off conference play vs my former school Monticello,” said Grandberry.
Grandberry is not only hoping to bring his high scoring ability but also hoping to build in his defense as well as his leadership on and off the court.
“I’m hoping to make a jump in my defensive game and efficiently score and help the team no matter what it is. I decided to come to OBU to be a part of Coach and Culture, who cares, and it has been a brotherhood and taught me a lot not just on the court but off as well about leadership,”
This OBU team has been created not only with on-court success in mind, but with off-court success as well. This team has been hand picked by Eaker and former coach Mitchell Hollis to bring sustainability to the program.
“We did a very good job of selecting the kids, and I say that, that there’s a baseline of talent that you have to have to play at this level, but I’m talking about beyond that. And so that’s where our sustainability, that’s where our optimism, that’s where our hope lies,” said Eaker.
The team will start off this Friday against Northern State University and Saturday against the University of Mary in the GAC/NSIC Conference Challenge in Bethany Oklahoma. It seems clear that the men’s basketball team has one common goal for the season: a GAC basketball title.
Looking into the upcoming basketball season, the Bison Women’s team are looking at going beyond the success they had last year after a promising year ending last season with a record of 20-9 overall and 16-6 in conference play.
Head coach Bo Overton was very excited with the offseason moves as well as the returners they are bringing back this season. The first player brought up was Jaedyn Getman.
“Our Team will start with the return of Jaedyn Getman. She is a four year all-conference starter coming back from an injury last year. She is the leader on and off the floor and has had a great fall in preparation for this season,” said Overton
They are also going to rely on the other five returners to bring the energy and guide the newcomers to a successful season.
“We will depend a lot on our other five returners. Aubrey Marjason and Sydney Duncan give us experience at the forward position. Parker Stevenson, Faith Wright and Katelyn Davis will continue to bring us good minutes at the guard position,” said Overton.
Getman is coming off last season’s injury hoping to bring leadership to the team through her experience and encouragement and is individually pushing herself to hopefully help push her teammates through her own actions.
“I hope that through all my actions, it will promote success to this team. I start by showing up to practice every day with an attitude that encourages my teammates and gets the energy flowing. I do my best to be a leader for the team and help them practice at a competitive level. Off the court, I get my work in individually so that when it’s my time to do a job, I can be successful. I hope that putting in the work day in and day out, encouraging my teammates, building trust within the team, and trusting in our teams’ abilities that we will be successful,” said Getman.
Overton mentioned that they had success in the recruiting process during the offseason. bringing in some new faces that he thinks will bring success in the upcoming season.
“Really excited about our three transfers. Brenna Butler comes to us from OSU. Very solid guard that has the ability to score and also be that floor leader. Reagan Fox is a transfer from UCO who gives us experience and more size at the Wing position. Taryn Cottrell comes from OCU. She will give us some size and is able to play multiple positions,” said Overton.
The team is looking to put their name back on top as the past couple seasons the team has seen early exits from the conference tournament most recently as the three seed falling to the sixth seeded NWOSU.
“Some team goals I have for this season is obviously to be successful. A winning record is always more fun than a losing one. I hope that we will make it to the GAC conference tournament and finish at least top 3 in our conference. We have been beat out in the first round of the conference tournament the last two years so I’m hoping that this year will be different. We must take every day one by one and do what we can do to get better each day. The rest will pay off,” said Getman.
The women’s basketball team are looking to set the standard that they are not to be overlooked this upcoming season as they were voted fifth in the GAC preseason poll and plan to move up throughout the season. They will start the season on Friday against Northeastern State University and Saturday against Rogers State University.
