Men's basketball team-by-team capsules
SAINT MARTIN’S SAINTS
Coach: Keith Cooper, 10th season (106-142 overall)
2011-12: 10-17 overall, 6-12 GNAC (T-8th place)
Returning starters: 2
Key players: F Roger O’Neill (6-5, sr.), G Brady Bamber (5-10, sr.), G Evan Coulter (5-10, jr.), F Rei Jensen (6-8, jr.), C Matt Dodson (6-11, jr.)
Outlook: It’s tough to replace the 40 points a game lost via the graduation of Jeremy Green (18.5 a game), Brok Pendleton (15) and Ryan Votaw (7). But three junior-college transfers have made a big, early impact on a squad that looks to be more up-tempo. Coulter and Jensen have started all six games, averaging 13.7 and 13.9 points, respectively. O’Neill was selected to the all-GNAC preseason team after averaging 13 points a game as a junior. O’Neill and point guard Brady Bomber have been starters since they were freshmen and have totaled more than 75 starts together.
THE EVERGREEN STATE COLLEGE GEODUCKS
Coach: Arvin Mosley Jr., third season (9-46 overall)
2011-12: 1-26 overall, 0-18 CCC (10th place)
Returning starters: 2
Key players: F Elzie Dickens III (6-4, sr.), F Travis Wagner (6-4, sr.), G KJ Hong (6-1, jr.), F Marc Taylor (6-7, jr.)
Outlook: The Geoducks have nowhere to go but up in the conference standings, and will try to do it with nearly an entirely new roster. Twelve of the 14 players are transfers from other programs. Only Dickens and Wagner are returning. Mosley Jr., said he likes the size of his team; the primary interior players average 6-foot-4 to 6-7. With a 74-66 win in late November over the University of Puget Sound – behind Hong’s career-best 25 points – the program earned its 200th overall victory since it began in the 1997-98 season.
SOUTH PUGET SOUND COMMUNITY COLLEGE CLIPPERS
Coach: Curtis Norwood, third season (16-36 overall)
2011-12: 12-16 overall, 8-8 NWAACC (4th in West Division)
Returning starters: 2
Key players: G Jamey Smith (6-1, so.), F Dustin Meade (6-5, so.); G AJ Fuller (6-0, so.), G Scott Ewing (5-9, so.)
Outlook: The Clippers have made steady improvement under Norwood and qualified for the NWAACC tournament last season. Norwood recruited speedy guards for his up-tempo offense, and while the bulk of the roster features players with South Sound ties, there are players from Minnesota, Michigan, Missouri, Utah and British Columbia. Smith, an Olympia graduate, had a career-high 40 points in a 110-101 win over Shoreline this season.
Women's basketball team-by-team capsules
SAINT MARTIN’S SAINTS
Coach: Tim Healy, 18th season (203-234 overall)
2011-12: 9-19 overall, 4-14 GNAC (9th place)
Returning starters: 2
Key players: F Chelsea Haskey (6-1, jr.), G Jori Skorpik (5-2, so.), F Brooke Paulson (5-10, so.), G Jordyn Richardson (5-9, so.), G Angela Gelhar (5-6, so.)
Outlook: The Saints are young, but the youth is experienced. Twelve of the 16 players on the roster are either freshmen or sophomores, meaning those young players will have a chance to make an impression early. Redshirt freshman MacKenzie Taylor, Washington state’s Class 1A player of the year in 2011 at Freeman High School, is back after tearing her ACL in the season opener a year ago. Paulson, from Buckley, has scored in double figures in six of the Saints’ eight games this season.
THE EVERGREEN STATE COLLEGE GEODUCKS
Coach: Monica Heuer, 12th season (90-229 overall)
2011-12: 7-21 overall, 5-13 CCC (T-7th place)
Returning starters: 4
Key players: F Danielle Swain, (6-0, jr.), F Jessica Edge (6-2, sr.), G Sammi Clark (5-8, jr.), G Jessica Denmon (5-7, jr.)
Outlook: Can the Geoducks sustain the momentum from their playoff season of 2011-12? For the first time since 2007-08, Evergreen made the Cascade Collegiate Conference playoffs after its seventh-place tie in the league standings. And with four of five starters returning, back-to-back playoff appearances are a strong possibility. Swain is a double-double machine; she ranked third in the conference in scoring (15 ppg) and fourth in rebounding (9.6 rpg) and was a preseason All-CCC selection.
SOUTH PUGET SOUND COMMUNITY COLLEGE CLIPPERS
Coach: Mychael Heuer, third season (6-45 overall)
2011-12: 6-19 overall, 3-13 NWAACC (8th in West Division)
Returning starters: 2
Key players: G McKenzie Raben (5-8, so.), G Sarah Houchen (5-9, so.), F Renee Willey (6-1, so.).
Outlook: With nine players on the roster, this is the highest turnout in Heuer’s tenure. Six of the nine are freshmen. Houchen (4.2 ppg last season) and Willey (5.1 ppg) will shoulder the bulk of the load for the inexperienced Clippers. Willey, a North Mason graduate, had a team-best 16 points, nine rebounds and five blocks in the team’s NWAACC opener against Shoreline.
-- Meg Wochnick, staff writer
