Fighting Bees Reload For
2005-06
The St. Ambrose Fighting Bees
are coming off a season where they surprised a lot of people. They were
picked to finish 6th in the MCC before last season, but when the season
was over, SAU added another conference title and conference tournament
championship to the rich history of Fighting Bee basketball. SAU finished
the year 22-13, after a loss to Southern Oregon in the first round of the
NAIA National Tournament, which marked SAU's third consecutive trip to
Nationals in Branson, Missouri.
"Last year was one of the most
rewarding and memorable seasons over the course my 22 years as head
coach," coach Ray Shovlain said, "We got better every game and we
were really helped by the quality of the people in the program, as well as
the assistant coaches, including coach Tom (Linnell), coach John (Doyle),
and coach (Matt) Fitzpatrick."
SAU returns all but two
players from last year's team, as Nick Ferreira and Ryan Johnson were both
lost to graduation, but that doesn't mean this year's version of the
Fighting Bees will look the same as last year. The Fighting Bees are
ranked 15th in the country to start the season, and one reason for the
difference is the transfers of three big-time players into the SAU
program.
Tyler Ryan is one new face on
the team, but he won't be new to many people in the Quad-Cities. The New
Windsor, Illinois native and 2002 graduate of Rock Island Alleman High
School returns home to play in front of his family and friends.
Ryan played last season at
Oklahoma Baptist University, where he averaged 5 points and 2 assists last
year, but he brings more than just his scoring to SAU. He also brings his
roommate from OBU, Andrew Bryant, who averaged 8 points and 7 rebounds
last season. Bryant originally went to school at Boston College, where he
played in 30 games as a freshman for the Eagles. The third player who's
new to the program is Aaron Strayhand, who comes to SAU from Division I
Chicago State.
"Tyler will be able to provide
us with a lot of leadership and shooting ability and can also handle the
ball well and Andrew is a real solid inside threat and can also shoot the
ball from the outside. Aaron is a very fine athlete as well, and is really
quick and versatile." Shovlain said, "It's kind of a unique situation
where we basically have three one year players who have transferred in for
their senior seasons," said Shovlain.
Those three join a team that
already has a lot of talented individuals in place, including junior point
guard Chris Washington, who had a breakout season last year, in which he
was named to the MCC All-Conference First Team.
"Washington had an outstanding
season last year and we look for him to come in and be a quality leader
once again this year," said Shovlain.
Washington averaged 17.5
points per game last season, to go along with four rebounds and four
assists per contest. However, the Fighting Bees will have to be without
their leading returning scorer, for at least part of the season, as
Washington broke his arm during a preseason scrimmage and is expected to
miss the first month of the season.
"When something bad like this
happens, we've got to look at the positives, which is that we're fortunate
that he broke his arm at the start of the season instead of towards the
middle or end of the year, so he'll be able to finish the season, and
he'll be a major player for us down the stretch for us," said Shovlain,
"It will also provide some playing opportunities for some players who may
not have gotten to play much at that position, so we'll gain some
experience with some other guys and maybe in the long run, it will make us
better."
The Fighting Bees have six
seniors on this year's team, including Will Howard and Ante Juric, who
have worked hard in the off-season to improve their game. Juric averaged
7.5 points and 3 rebounds a game last year, while Howard chipped in 4.5
points and 2 boards per game.
Junior Matt Wilke and
sophomore Adam Fahrenkrog are also expected to see significant time. Wilke
was a solid player off the bench last year, averaging 4.7 points and 2.1
rebounds per game. Fahrenkrog also had a solid season last year in his
first season of college basketball, averaging 4.9 points and 3.8 rebounds.
"Will, Matt, Adam, and Ante
are all key returning players that should have solid years this season,"
said Shovlain, "They've all done a good job of improving during the
off-season."
SAU has a lot of depth this
season, allowing them to go as deep as eleven players in their rotation.
Ricky Mojek, Mike Steigerwald, John Griffin, Eric Tuftee and Jeff Amman
all return from last year's team, and should contribute off the bench this
season.
Reid Oberle will also
contribute this year, after sitting out all last season with a torn ACL.
He should bring some outside shooting to the team this year.
The Fighting Bees were picked
to win the MCC in this year's conference preseason poll, which shows the
potential that this team could have, but unfortunately the games are
played on wood, not paper.
"This season will basically
come down to how everyone blends together and plays as a team," said
Shovlain, "Our goals remain the same every year, regardless of where we're
picked to finish at the beginning of the season. We want to be
considerably better at the end of the season than we were at the beginning
and hopefully we can win the conference regular season title and the
conference tournament and go back to Nationals again."
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