DENVER – At long last, Kendall McIntosh (Oakley, Calif./Freedom) made his debut in a Metropolitan State University of Denver uniform last week.
 
The 6-foot-8 junior didn't disappoint.
 
"I thought he was really good," MSU Denver coach Michael Bahl said. "He's a guy who hasn't played in almost two years. He came out with his nerves high, but he showed he belongs here."
 
McIntosh had 14 points and blocked three shots in a 79-75 overtime loss to an experienced Stanislaus State (Calif.) team, helping lead an inexperienced Roadrunners team in its season debut. Though credited with only two rebounds, McIntosh spearheaded a strong effort defensively and on the boards.
 
"It felt so good," McIntosh said. "I was a little nervous before the game, but I think I was just anxious. It was exciting. Once I got settled in, it just felt normal."
 
McIntosh will get a double dose of settling in this weekend, as MSU Denver plays host to a pair of returning NCAA Division II tournament teams in the Hilton Garden Inn Cherry Creek Classic at the Auraria Event Center. The Roadrunners face Northwestern Oklahoma State (0-2) in a 7 p.m. game Friday, then square off with Lone Star Conference favorite Texas A&M-Commerce (4-1) at 5 p.m. Saturday.
 
McIntosh is back on the court after sitting out last season following his transfer from City College of San Francisco.
 
"Sitting out last year was tough, because I wanted to play and I think I would've played a lot of minutes," McIntosh said. "I felt like I could've really helped them out in some areas, but I had to sit on the bench and watch."
 
McIntosh's height, length, athleticism and perimeter ability figure to make him a key component on an MSU Denver team that is picked to finish fifth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference but has much higher aspirations.
 
"He's really a matchup nightmare for the opposing team's 5-man, a 6-7 or 6-8 guy who is more of a perimeter player," Bahl said. "He has the ability to take the ball inside, but we're trying to put him in places where he can be successful and where he wants to play. He's not a back-to-the-basket player primarily. He can, but he's more of a catch and face. He's been working on his jump shot.
 
"Defensively he's got to use his athleticism and his size. He's not the biggest guy, but he can cause havoc blocking shots. And he needs to rebound the basketball – he's one of the guys we're counting on to do that."
 
Despite the obvious attributes, and despite have been the most valuable player in his conference while at Freedom High School in Oakley, Calif., McIntosh's junior college numbers may not seem particularly impressive – he averaged 3.3 points as a freshman and then contributed 6.6 points and 5.6 rebounds as a sophomore.
 
But consider that his CCSF teams went 51-4 in his two seasons and won a championship and made a semifinal appearance in the highly-competitive California Community College Athletic Association, and it becomes much more understandable.
 
"They had a lot of guys like him," Bahl said. "They were a really good team. He showed the mobility that we were looking for from a guy like him."
 
A qualifier out of high school, McIntosh said NCAA Division I programs advised him to go the junior college route to add polish to his game. He said he got some Division I interest out of CCSF, but he said schools backed off when they realized he would sit out a year.
 
MSU Denver came into the recruiting picture, and the connection was a good one since former Roadrunners assistant Lucas Gabriel had recruited McIntosh while he was an assistant at Cal State Chico.
 
"When they called me, I knew this is where I needed to be," McIntosh said.
 
Bahl said McIntosh is "my kind of guy.
 
"He's a blue-collar guy, and we have quite a few guys like that. He's one of our hardest workers. He's constantly in the gym, constantly working on his game, constantly talking basketball. He's a gym rat. He's a humble kid. He's a pleaser, maybe to a detriment. He's a perfectionist."
 
Listed at 215 pounds, McIntosh is benefitting from going up against the 6-8, 240-pound Cain van Heyningen (Amsterdam, Netherlands/Open schoolgemeenschap Bijlmer) every day in practice. Those are the same dimensions of Northwestern Oklahoma State's Treyvon Andres, a senior Denver native who was the Great American Conference's Newcomer of the Year last season for the Rangers after averaging 11.8 points and 6.2 rebounds. He has played one game this season and has 20 points and 13 rebounds.
 
No easy matchup for McIntosh.
 
"I definitely pride myself in getting rebounds and blocking shots," McIntosh said. "I'm too tall and athletic not to, and it's important I do that every game for this team. If anybody brings anything into the paint, it's my job to block it out. And being a 5-man who can play on the perimeter is an advantage. We like to create mismatches."
 
The Rangers are picked sixth in the GAC, but went 22-7 last year in reaching the NCAA Division II tournament.
 
Meanwhile Texas A&M-Commerce, which plays Friday night at 25^th-ranked Regis, is not only picked to win the Lone Star, but it is also receiving votes in the national polls and is coming off a season in which it went 22-9 and reached the second round of the national tournament.
 
The Lions are 4-1 and played Division I Texas-Rio Grande Valley within seven points in an exhibition game. They've played against two RMAC foes, having lost to Colorado Mesa 102-83 before beating Western State Colorado 84-76.
 
Guard Reggie Reid, a Florida Gulf Coast transfer who was the Lone Star's newcomer of the year last season and preseason player of the year this year, is one of four scoring in double figures at 16.0 points per game. Another in double figures is Austin Grandstaff, once ranked 14th among the country's high school shooting guards before embarking on a career that has included stops at Ohio State, Oklahoma and DePaul.
 
The quality and experience the Roadrunners face this weekend will be challenging for a team that is practically brand new and has played together just once.
 
"It all starts with us," McIntosh said. "If we follow the game plan and execute, I think we'll be fine."