HOUSTON, Texas – Despite a 12
th-place finish in the Southland Conference Preseason Men's Basketball Poll, The University of the Incarnate Word men's basketball team is optimistic for the 2017-18 campaign.
Not only do the Cardinals return Newcomer of the Year, Second Team All-SLC, and Preseason First Team All-SLC
Jalin Hart; fellow senior
Shawn Johnson; and junior Honorable Mention All-SLC honoree
Simi Socks, the Cardinals also enter their first season as a fully-fledged NCAA Division I member and are eligible to compete in Southland and NCAA postseason tournaments.
"It was a tough transition," said UIW head men's coach
Ken Burmeister. "Players now have the opportunity to play in the postseason. The evaluation of players and recruiting are very important. We need to get good players that can lead us to the championship."
Burmeister stated his non-conference slate is more like a postseason primarily to get the men ready for Southland Conference action. "Gonzaga's not bad," he said with a chuckle. "We also play at Florida (12/22), Houston (11/25), and UTEP (12/19), while returning a home-and-home with Loyola Marymount (11/22). The Cardinals play GU on Wednesday, Nov. 29 at 8 p.m. central time on AT&T Sportsnet Southwest Plus.
"It's nice to have a nice chunk of returners who saw a lot of minutes last year meshed with our newcomers," stated Burmeister. Along with the aforementioned trio, who are looked upon to lead the Cardinals, UIW brings in five newcomers, plus redshirt-freshman
Christian Peevy, who was injured in the first game of the season. Among the newcomers are three-star recruit
Keaton Hervey and 7'0" center
Konstantin Kulikov.
Another thing that makes Burmeister optimistic about this season is he gets to coach his son, graduate student Sam, for a final season, as the younger Burmeister will walk in May with his masters degree in finance: "How lucky am I to see him play every game?"
2017-18 Preseason Poll:
Place School (First Place Votes) Total
| 1. |
Stephen F. Austin (14) |
268 |
| 2. |
Lamar (5) |
234 |
| 3. |
Southeastern Louisiana (3) |
209 |
| 4. |
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (2) |
204 |
| 5. |
Sam Houston (1) |
192 |
| 6. |
New Orleans (1) |
178 |
| 7. |
Abilene Christian |
172 |
| 8. |
Northwestern State |
130 |
| 9. |
HBU |
119 |
| 10. |
Nicholls |
116 |
| 11. |
Central Arkansas |
108 |
| 12. |
UIW |
56 |
| 13. |
McNeese |
42 |
For the most up-to-date information on UIW Athletics visit uiwcardinals.com. Be sure to follow UIW Athletics on Twitter @UIWAthletics and like UIW Athletics on Facebook at UIW Athletics.
