Men's Basketball on the Rebound

This season's edition of Lyndon State College's men's basketball team has some big shoes to fill.

The active roster contains nine players, and those players have to follow a team that had the second best record against North Atlantic Conference opponents (10-4) last season. The previous team lost the NAC Championship by a score of 84-74.

A 91-46 exhibition loss to Concordia on Sunday did not start the new Hornets off on the right track, but it was the first game action that the team had seen this season.

Head Coach Joe Krupinski notes that it has been tough transitioning from the players that he had last season as opposed to this season.

"It's been a little slow. I would anticipate the preseason and the first few weeks honestly a little behind where we were last year, only because it's a whole new system and a whole new personnel," Krupinski said.

Not all players are completely new. The team will return two players, guard Ben Sackett and forward Jason Gray. However, the new personnel consists of seven players, several of which are projected to start.

One of those projected starters, freshman forward Asa Smith, wants the team to remember one word: defense.

"Basically, I just want to make sure that we have a defensive presence. I think we have enough scorers to be effective in our conference, but defense wins championships," Smith said.

And if the team executes well, Smith thinks that the 2011-12 squad can win the NAC Championship.

"I think if we can keep our minds to it, we can win it," Smith said.

The Hornets will host their first game of the regular season against Western New England College on November 15 at 7:00 p.m.