Tide likely to turn this year for SMSU Bears squad

Southwest Missouri State University basketball coach Barry Hinson was more than ready for the season-launching exhibition game Nov. 5 against the touring Australian team, the Kilsyth Club.

After putting his Bears through 19 practices since mid-October, Hinson said half-jokingly, "We need to play somebody different. We're tired of playing each other and tired of beating up on each other."

The tide may be turning this year for Hinson and his Bears. After racking up 23 wins in the 1999-2000 season the best victory total ever by an SMSU first-year coach the coach last year fell on what sports wags call "a snakebit season." Hampered by the loss of four starting seniors, a senior sixth man and standout scorer Scott Brakebill, who suffered a broken arm, the team finished with a 13-16 record.

It was Hinson's first losing season in 17 years as a head coach.

Off-season

That fact made his off-season less than terrific. "It wasn't a typical summer for me," he said. "I spent most of the time working on basketball, working on recruiting, and ... you know, it's a little bit easier to work when you're a little bit more relaxed, coming off a good year."

Instead, Hinson said, "I just beat myself up to a pulp until a coach finally told me actually, it was Dave Rader at the University of Tulsa he said, Now let me get this straight. You had five seniors the year before ... and four of those were starters and one was your sixth man.' I said yes. And your only returning starter broke his arm. ... And lo and behold, you're telling me you started two freshmen in the Missouri Valley?' You know, he made me feel a lot better."

Hinson obviously has reason to feel even better now. "Experience and no broken bones makes a huge difference in how your season goes," he said. "Cur-rently we're proud to report that we do have experience, and we have no broken bones."

Best shape

Brakebill, Hinson said, is in good shape. "Matter of fact, he's in the best shape physically and I even think mentally that he's ever been in since he's been here at SMSU."

Asked if that means the recovered senior will be this year's "go-to guy," Hinson said, "We've got four seniors, and I would say it's going to be pretty well divided up. I don't think we have, quote-unquote, a go-to guy, but I do think we have a go-to squad."

Hinson also is excited about some new prospects. "We have three kids who've really surprised us: Terrance McGee, the junior college guard from Kirkwood Community College, and then Jason Gilbert, the transfer from Arkansas, and then the freshman, Tamarr Maclin from CBC (High) in St. Louis. And I think our biggest surprise has been here all along. It's maybe a hidden treasure: Travis Walk, who's going into his junior year. Travis has had a phenomenal preseason."

The biggest thing this year's team brings to the table, Hinson said, is help on the perimeter. "We had a huge exterior problem last year, and we couldn't fix it. And we didn't have anybody over there on the bench that could help fix it for us. Now we've brought in experience. We look up, and we've got a Division II (junior college) All-American. We've got a guy that started at Arkansas and played in the Southeast Conference. Travis is in his junior year, so there's three guys with experience."

The junior college all-star is Terrance McGee, who plays combo guard and according to Hinson is "both a scorer and a playmaker he's just a good, solid guard."

Game-breaking players

Asked if the team has a gamebreaking player, Hinson said, "We've got gamebreaking players. We've got players that ... can do what needs to be when it needs to be done. We've got that type of squad that ... at one time or another will be doing something well."

The Bears' strengths this year lie with the interior players, Hinson said. "Our perimeter game hasn't been proven yet ... I do think there's some strength there, but we haven't played a game yet, so we'll have to wait and see."

The defense looks good, according to Hinson. "Defense is always ahead of offense this time of year. Defense is never as good as what it should be as far as I'm concerned. But that is one area we're pretty proud of. We feel like we're pretty good at defense. We were first in the league two years ago and second in the league last year.

Defense

Asked where he would like the team to be stronger, Hinson said, "We haven't played very much, so I really don't know ... but I think right now that just our continuity ... the flow of the game ... we're not hitting on all cylinders right now, and you know, we've got to do that."

Hinson summed up the Bears' pros-pects this season. "We're going to have some fun," he said, "and I think we've got a good group of young men and I like our senior leadership, so that'll help us a tremendous amount."

That night the Bears seemed to hit on all cylinders and then some, as they rolled over Kilsyth of Australia 105-53 in a game that saw 6-5 senior center Mike Wallace score 26 points with 14 re-bounds. Brakebill contributed 20 points, Gilbert 14 including four 3-pointers and McGee 12.

The Bears open the season officially Nov. 16 with a road game against the University of North Texas at Denton, Texas. Their first home game is at 7:05 p.m. Nov. 24 in Hammons Student Cen-ter against Southeast Missouri State University.