Rams basketball making plans to go further this season

Head Basketball Coach Bobby Collins has a good feeling about the upcoming season.

Winston-Salem State ended last season with a 21-7 overall record.

The Rams finished second in the CIAA Southern Division, but lost in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament, 69-67 to Slippery Rock.

Last season's Rams were ranked seventh in the national polls, their highest mark since the University won the national championship in 1968.

There are 12 new players on the roster and WSSU has been picked to win the CIAA Southern Division. Coach Collins was surprised and honored by the prediction.

"Personally, I don't see how they could have picked us after we lost so many players," he said.

"You have Livingstone, which won the league last year and has all its players returning, and Shaw has the majority of its team coming back. This is a very tough league, and from year to year, you don't know who has what.

So I think us being picked first speaks volumes to the type of program we have in place and to the respect my colleagues have for our University."

Justin Glover, Marcus Wells and Wakefield Ellison and Michel Ofik-Nzege won't be back.

Glover was the team's leading scorer, and Wells led the team in assists. Ellison and Ofik-Nzege were also starters.

Junior WyKevin Bazemore, who led the team in rebounding and was named to the All-CIAA team last season, is the only returning starter. He said he is pleased with the new crop of talent.

"We have 12 new players coming in, so we have to get our chemistry together," he said.

"Our expectations are still high. We're looking to win the CIAA and make a run at the national championship.

We have a very good system in place here and a good coaching staff, so we're just going to fit the new pieces together and we'll be alright."

Collins is excited about all of his new players, especially Preston Ross and Brian Okam.

"We're looking for some special things from Preston Ross, a 6-foot-6-inch senior transfer from Western Carolina.

He's very talented and athletic.

"Obviously, we expect big things from Brian Okam, a 7-foot senior transfer from Appalachian State. He's doing well, running well and practicing hard every day. Those two guys, being senior transfers, know what's at stake and that this is the time that they've got to come and give it all they've got."

Ross averaged 7 points and four rebounds per game while starting 16 of 25 games at Appalachian State last season. He is looking to help the team reach its goals.

"I'm not going to try to replace the guys from last year," he said.

I'm just going to play as hard as I can and do what's best for the team. I have high expectations, and I know that we were selected No. 1. That just means we have to work that much harder. We have to go hard every time we step on the floor."

Coach Collins knows the potential for success with this group is high, and he is going to make sure his players reach that potential and obtain their goals.

"If we can get our guys to come together early, we can have a special season," he said.

"We've gone to the [Division II] tournament each of the last three years and haven't been able to get past that first game.

"We want to go further than we did last year, and we're going to accept that challenge."