Season Outlook

Bees Blend Youth and Veterans for 07-08

The St. Ambrose Fighting Bees Men’s basketball program will be combining a healthy mix of veterans and newcomers for the 2007-08 campaign. Despite returning several key players from a year ago, the Bees are reloading a roster that graduated 12 players.

“A key this year will be how well our newcomers blend with our veterans,” Head Coach Ray Shovlain said. “This is the first time in many years that three or four freshman will be expected to contribute.”

With the graduation of Third Team All-American point guard Chris Washington, Coach Shovlain will look to freshmen to fill his shoes. Reggie Shipp (6’2, FR, G), Lafayette Gray (5’10, FR, G), Kevin Mullins (6’3, FR, G) and Brett McGinnis (5’10, FR, G) will all compete for time at both guard positions.

“All four guys bring significant quickness, both defensively and offensively,” Coach Shovlain said. They all possess strong ball-handling skills as well.”

Fortunately for Shovlain, the Fighting Bees have several key returners to offset their youth. Brett Cole (6’5, G/F, SR), Adam Fahrenkrog (6’6, F, SR), Matt Bryant (6’2, G, SR) and Alex Burkle (6’6, G, SO) all started several games a season ago for the Bees. Fahrenkrog and Brett Cole were Midwest Classic Conference Honorable Mention performers last year. Cole averaged 14.2 points and 6.0 rebounds a game in 2007. Fahrenkrog added 11.1 points and 5.5 rebounds.

“Adam and Brett really established themselves as the leaders in the off-season,” Coach Shovlain said. “They have both significantly improved their skills and have approached the season in a positive manner.”

Alex Burkle and Matt Bryant will also be counted on to play significant roles for the Bees. Burkle gave the Bees 9.2 points and 5.1 rebounds as a freshman. He also scored 21 points in his first college game in the Bees exhibition with DePaul. Matt Bryant added an outside shooting threat and scored 7.5 points a game for SAU.

Burkle and Bryant’s success will depend heavily on their ability to stay healthy this season. Bryant played through foot injuries for most of last season and Burkle missed virtually all of the conference season with severe illnesses.

“Alex had a very successful freshman campaign the first half of the season,” Coach Shovlain said. “The coaching staff is confident that he has recovered as he has improved over the summer.”

“Matt Bryant had a successful first season with us, but had to work through injuries all season. He has been plagued with injury during the preseason but appears to be very well prepared to play.”

The Bees also return juniors Josh Binder (6’3, F, JR), Adam Parrot (6’0, G, JR) and senior Dean Ramoino (6’8, C, SR). Both Parrot and Binder saw some time at the wings as sophomores and have improved in the off-season. Ramoino gave the Bees some size inside, averaging 3.7 points and 3.6 rebound last year.

“We expect significant contributions from Adam, Josh and Dean to be successful this season,” Coach Shovlain said.

In addition to their returners, the Bees have also added three transfers to their roster. Alex Washington (6’3, G/F, SO), from St. Mary’s College (Winona), Mike Church (6’3, G, SR)from North Park University and Davenport West product Jake Kent (6’3, F, JR) from Kirkwood Community College.

“We recruited Alex from St. Joseph’s high school, where we have gotten a lot of players in the past. He is a threat inside and outside and a versatile player. Jake and Mike provide additional strength and depth at the wing position.

Rounding out the Bees roster are Brad Mohr (6’4, F, SR), Jordan Waide (6’4, F, SR), John Potter (5-10, G, SR), John Hammar (6’4, F, JR), and Pat Hogan (6’1, G, JR). Each of these players played significant minutes for the junior varsity team last season and will be counted on to contribute on varsity this year.

“These five upperclassmen have provided excellent leadership and competitiveness and will eventually vie for playing time,” coach Shovlain said.

Meshing the variety of talent will be imperative to the Bees success this season. St. Ambrose will also need to remain healthy to continue to be successful against a very demanding season. Once again, the Bees face several opponents ranked in the top 10 of their respective divisions. They will also face Bradley University and the University of Notre Dame in back-to-back preseason exhibitions.

“We always have prided ourselves on playing the best possible teams and this year is a perfect example with Bradley and Notre Dame,” Coach Shovlain said. “These are great opponents for the program and the school to be recognized with these tremendous institutions and persons. It will be an experience that the coaching staff and student-athletes never forget.”

The SAU men’s program was picked to finish third in the MCC this year in the preseason coach’s poll. The MCC will be tough as a number of teams return many critical personnel. William Penn and Iowa Wesleyan were picked to finish ahead of the Bees in the conference race.

“Our goals remain the same every year, regardless of where we’re picked to finish at the beginning of the season,” Coach Shovlain said. “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.”