The Roybell Baez era of Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball is off and running as the Cougar men opened official practices on Tuesday.
Baez, who takes over the men’s basketball head coaching position after being an assistant coach for the Cougars when they won the Region IX tournament in 2018, is excited for this season with a team that he believes has plenty of talent.
“Returning to WNCC has been a dream come true,” Baez said. “The community and faculty have been so good to me, and I couldn’t off asked for a better start to my head coaching career.”
Baez said the first official practices went well considering the team had an early morning practice.
“Our first official practice went well,” he said. “We practiced at 6 am and the guys got after it. We are just trying to get 1% better each day.”
The Cougars will get in some competition this weekend when they head to Oklahoma for a jamboree. Baez said that trip will bring the team together in many ways.
“Do I think we are ready for this weekend? No!,” he said. “But again, we won’t truly know if we’re ready until we lace them up and play. I think the guys are anxious to compete, but the jury is still out about how we will look as a team.”
But, Baez believes this weekend will be beneficial for the team in so many ways.
“This weekend is going to be great for our team,” he said. “We finally get to compete and we also get to spent a lot of time together. It’s a 12-hour trip to OKC, so it’s going to be fun hanging out with the guys.”
This year’s team has plenty of talent and a lot of it is young talent. WNCC returns just three players from a year ago and just one that saw action. Elijah Burney, a 6-1 guard from Las Vegas, Nevada, is the only player that played a year ago.
Baez said Burney and Jones have stood out in the pre-season so far.
“We have a variety of guys who have looked good this preseason,” he said. “Elijah Burney and Noah Jones have been tremendous helping the coaching staff lead the team.”
The other two returners both red-shirted a year ago. They include Scottsbluff’s Kellon Harris, a 6-2 guard, and Noah Jones, a 6-6 guard from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The Cougars have three other sophomore transfers on the team. They include Elijah Hollins, a 6-3 guard from Hendersonville, Tennessee; Mathiang Maker, a 6-8 forward from Melbourne, Australia; and Kendall Hamilton, a 6-8 forward from Memphis, Tennessee.
The rest of the lineup is all freshmen. They include Scottsbluff’s Caleb Swisher, a 6-1 guard. The others are David Boschdemont-Esteban, a 6-6 forward from Spain; Reece Randolph, a 6-6 guard from Boston, Massachusetts; Isaiah St. Preux, a 6-1 guard from Miramar, Florida; Max Orchard, a 6-3 guard from Loma, Colorado; Kendrick Preston, a 6-8 forward from Miramar, Florida; Dorin Nguema, a 6-6 forward from Spain; Witold Czerenkiewicz, a 6-6 forward from Poland; and Toms Linis, a 6-6 guard/forward from Latvia.
Baez said the talent on this team is excellent and the players have been working hard.
“The talent on this year’s team is good; we have guys who can play multiple positions and guard multiple positions,” he said. “But as versatile as we are, we still have to get a lot better if we want to compete at a high level.”
After this weekend, the Cougars will have the Colorado jamboree later this month and then another scrimmage in Colorado Springs, Colorado. WNCC opens the season for real November 1 and 2 when they head to Ephraim, Utah, where they will face Salt Lake Community College and Snow College. The Cougars first home contest will be November 6 when they host Eastern Wyoming College.
“Our biggest focus this season is simply to get better every day,” Baez said. “If we can get better each practice and each game, I like our chances in March. Another one of our goals is to maintain a 3.5 team GPA and get our sophomores recruited and graduated.”
