Quick hits:

5 things you need to know about women’s basketball according to Baendu Lowenthal’09

1. Fantastic freshmen: “They’ve got great game. They all bring something different.”

2. Frager’s the real deal: “He’s a great coach. He knows what he’s doing. I’m glad he’s here.”

3. Our goal is simple: “MAAC Championship.”

4. Stepping to the plate “I think the freshmen will be playing a big role. Meka [Werts ’08] showed us a lot today [in the Red-White Scrimmage].”

5. Building school spirit takes time “It’s getting better. They’re working on it.”

Quick facts

Meka Werts ’08 and Sabra Wrice ’08

Head Coach Joe Frager puts an emphasis on defense and it has worked well for him in the past. His former teams were always near the top nationally in defensive statistics. Look for more of the same with the Stags, especially from both Werts and Wrice, two very quick guards.

Sean Grzeck ’11, Mamadou Diakhate ’08 (middle) and Devin Johnson ’10

Head Coach Ed Cooley said, “We were the worst rebounding team last year, so that’s our priority. Our frontcourt is the identity of our team, and we hope it can continue to get better.”

Michael Evanovich ’09 (left) and Meka Werts ’08 (right)

Evanovich and Werts will both contribute significant minutes off the bench and possibly contend for starting time. Werts was a key bench player last year for the women, while Evanovich sat out the season after transferring from Iowa State.

Lyndon Jordan ’11 and Joelle Nawrocki ’11

Men’s Head Coach Ed Cooley and women’s Head Coach Joe Frager are both well-respected and known for their recruiting abilties. This season’s freshman class for both teams should feature key contributers and possible starters. Nawrocki and Jordan were both McDonald’s All-American nominees.

5 things you need to know about men’s basketball according to Mamadou Diakhate ’08

1. Coach Cooley is great: “He’s helping us get better every single day. He is recruiting very good players and smart players. He is trying to build a family around the team so that we play and have fun at the same time.”

2. We want the MAAC: “Our goal is to get the bling-bling.”

3. Everyone needs to step up: “We have great freshmen coming in and strong leadership from the upperclassmen. Every player has to bring one thing to the table, play defense together and play fierce to win the game.”

4. On the Freshman class: “They are very special. Every single one of them has a different thing they can bring to the table.”

5. On school spirit: “We want more fans to show up at the games, we want to welcome them like a player, like part of the family. We don’t want to force them to come, we want them to come because they want to see us play and love the game.”