DENVER – MSU Denver is hoping to extend its best start to a men's basketball season in nine years.
But it won't be easy.
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play begins this weekend and MSU Denver plays host to Westminster on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. before squaring off with Colorado Mesa – ranked in the national top 10 in the preseason – on Sunday at 3 p.m. The Mavericks are the preseason league favorites after winning both the regular-season and conference-tournament titles last year.
"We approach this week as the start of a brand new season," MSU Denver coach
Michael Bahl said. "We have two teams coming in who are playing really good basketball. They're going to be tough games."
MSU Denver is 6-0 for the first time since the 2012-13 season. The Roadrunners were picked to finish seventh in the preseason poll, despite finishing fourth last year, but they are now receiving votes in both national Top 25 polls.
"I wouldn't say we're surprised, because we're a very confident bunch," Bahl said. "But there's still a lot of work to be done. We tell our guys that how we handle success is going to ultimately determine the outcome of this year. Adversity comes, and our adversity now is how we can handle being 6-0."
Led by
Laolu Oke – the Division II national leader in rebounds per game (14.0) and double-doubles (six) – the Roadrunners rank 28
th nationally in rebounding margin (+8.3) and 30
th nationally in rebounds per game (41.5). MSU Denver is also holding opponents to 63.3 points per game to rank 26
th in Division II.
Oke also ranks fourth in the RMAC in scoring (17.8 points per game) and gets help from
Ra'Shawn Langston (17.0) and
Miles Gibson (15.5) as well as a cast of long-range shooters starting to find their groove.
"We always say defense is our best offense," Chrisman said. "But we're starting to get more confidence, especially from 3-point range. As long as we keep doing what we're doing on defense, our offense will keep improving."
Tyrei Randall, in particular, found his shooting stroke last weekend while making a combined 6 of 10 from 3-point range in wins over Concordia-St. Paul (Minn.) and Benedictine Mesa (Ariz.).
A vocal leader, Randall is excited about having the team start 6-0.
"It's amazing," he said. "And being picked seventh in our conference, we've got a lot of things to show people."
