New faces hoping to continue the Tigers’ winning ways

Following the success of a conference and region title, and a trip to the Elite 8 at the NJCAA Division I Basketball National Championships, eight Cowley College men's basketball players from last season signed letters of intent to play at four-year schools.

After leading Cowley College to its first Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference regular season title and NJCAA Region 6 Tournament Championship since 2021, Donnie Jackson was named the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association Two-Year College Men's Coach of the Year.

Jackson led the Tigers to a record of 30-5 as Cowley earned the number two overall seed in the National Tournament and was consistently ranked in the top 10 of the NJCAA Division 1 men's basketball top 25 poll while ranking in the top three in the conference in field goal percentage, free-throw percentage, assists per game, steals per game, blocks per game, and points per game allowed. 

Cowley enters this season ranked No. 12 in the NJCAA Division I preseason poll.

"Anytime you can win at that level, you will have a chance to get pretty good high school freshmen, which I think we did," Jackson said. "The freshmen still have a lot to learn. While I am very optimistic about the long term, there could be some hard lessons early on."

Some of the top incoming freshmen are point guard Marcus Smith from Atlanta, GA, guard/forward Roman Miller from Oklahoma City, Jaxson Jones from Gainesville, GA, and Xavier Vickerstaff from Cleveland, OH.

"Marcus will arguably be one of the fastest guards in the country, and Jaxson brings a physicality on the interior that we did not have last year," Jackson said.

Other freshmen are LJ Britt, Chase Robinson, Aven Mboule, Deshawn Davis, Jordan Smith, and Khai Brown.

"We have an abundance of guards, so we should have good team speed," Jackson said.

Returning for the Tigers are guards Kyden Thompson (5.0 points, 2.3 rebounds), CJ Majors (5.1 points, 2.5 rebounds), and forward Leslie Owens Jr., who was averaging 10.4 points per game before an injury cut his season short.

"Everything will start and end with the sophomores' leadership," Jackson said. "I expect both those guards (Kyden and CJ) to take a step offensively, and as long as Leslie is healthy, I can see him being one of the better players in the conference. A healthy Leslie will be beneficial for a young, inexperienced Tiger squad."

Cowley will scrimmage against three teams that competed at last year's national tournament prior to opening the season.

"These games will offer us some early-season tests to see where we are with the measuring stick," Jackson said.

Following a demanding non-conference schedule, the Tigers will open conference play at home against Dodge City and Cloud County.

"Those first two conference games could set the tone for how things go in the early portion of the conference slate," Jackson said.

Coach Jackson is glad to have assistant coach Reggie Scurry back for a second season with the team. Former Tiger assistant coach Roybell Baez will return to town when his Western Nebraska squad takes on Cowley on November 7.

Along with Cowley, Coffeyville, Barton, Hutchinson, Garden City, and Butler are among the teams in the conference that the Tigers will be competing with for a conference title.

"There are no weak teams in the Jayhawk Conference," Jackson said. "If we have success or adversity early on, can the freshmen handle that. There are some really good teams in the Jayhawk Conference that want to get payback on us."