Excitement returns to Cowley men’s basketball program

Having made Redlands Community College the winningest men’s basketball program in the country over the last six seasons, new Cowley College basketball coach Steve Eck has Tiger fans excited about the possibilities of this year’s team.
It may seem like a stretch to expect too much from this year’s team considering it will be Eck’s first at the helm. However, he led the Cougars to the 2001-02 NJCAA Division II national championship in his first year as head coach. During his second season, Redlands moved to the Division I level and won the Region II championship and advanced to the NJCAA Division I Tournament, making it the first time a school moved from Division II to Division I and made the National Tournament their first year.

In six years at Redlands, Eck compiled a record of 182 wins and only 22 losses. This past season, the Cougars finished 31-2 and were ranked No. 1 in the NJCAA poll for three weeks.
If Eck would have stayed at Redlands he would have had his team ranked in the top-10 in the preseason poll.

“It’s another challenge for me, which is one of the reasons I changed jobs,” Eck said. “The people here are very supportive and it’s a good town.”
Overall, in 29 years as a head coach, Eck has a record of 590 wins and 78 losses.
To be sure Eck has made this his team, there are no returning players from last year’s squad, which finished with a record of 16-15.

“We are starting from scratch and trying to understand what it takes to be a successful program,” Eck said. “For us to be successful the players will have to step up to the challenge and understand what I want as a coach. Team chemistry is very important.”
Last season, Eck’s Redland’s squad averaged 88 points per game while allowing just 57 points.

I like to get up and go, but I am definitely not a run and gun coach,” Eck said. “We need to get guys to buy into playing aggressive on the defensive end.”

Scoring should not be a problem for this year’s team as Eck brought three players with him from Redlands that averaged at least nine points per game as freshmen. Chris Rhymes is one of the top transfers as he averaged 15 points per game before suffering an injury in the middle of the season. Eric McKinney and Preston Brown also made major contributions to last season’s Redlands’ squad as they each averaged nine points per game. Reggie Cook is another transfer from Redlands that has a good stroke from the outside and is expected to provide leadership at the point guard position.
“Those guys know what I expect,” Eck said. “I expect a lot from our sophomores, each one can do something different.”

Another potential scoring threat for the Tigers is sophomore Montrell McDonald, a 6-foot-6 slasher that has the ability to play any of the five positions on the floor. McDonald spent his freshman season playing valuable minutes for George Washington University before sitting out last season.
Jeremy McCarty, a 6-foot-6 freshman from the Gulf Shore Academy, rounds out the out-of-state players.

Having led Wichita South High School to an incredible 10 consecutive Wichita City League titles from 1986-1996, including six state championships, Eck is very familiar with the talent in the Wichita area.

This year’s team will feature four players from Wichita. Players from Wichita are, Jack Crowder III, a First-Team All-State selection at Wichita Southeast; Mike Atwater, a Second-Team All-State performer at Wichita Southeast; Kenny Bates, an Honorable Mention All-State performer at Wichita South, and Edwin Hutton from Wichita North.

Other in-state players are, Kyle Hammerschmidt, a Class 4A First-Team All-State selection that helped lead Thomas More Prep to back-to-back state championships; Zach Miller from Liberal High School, and Darren Miller, who served as the team captain at Ark City High School.

“This is probably my youngest team as far as knowing what it takes to win and what a college program is all about,” Eck said. “I need the players to understand what kind of program we expect to have here.”
With no player on the roster listed taller than 6-foot-7, Eck will look to utilize the team’s quickness.
“We are not a tall team and don’t have that dominant big guy to go to, so we will have to play together as a team in order to be successful,” Eck said. “Our quickness should be a strength. We are going to have to be able to guard the perimeter.”

Eck, a self proclaimed perfectionist that watches video tape of his team’s practices and opponents until 3 or 4 in the morning, will put a team on the floor that will be hard working and fun to watch.

“One of our goals is to practice hard every day and with a purpose and also to play each game with a purpose and as a team,” Eck said. “We will take it one game at a time. The key will come down to the guys buying in to what we are trying to do and taking care of the defensive end.”