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WESSON – The 2021-22 regular season for Co-Lin Men’s Basketball is a start of a new era for the program as David Sanders begins his first season leading the Wolves.
“I think the main thing for fans to know is that we are going to play an up-tempo style of basketball and bring an exciting brand of hoops to our fans at Co-Lin,” stated Sanders. “One thing that I believe is that no matter the result, we always want people leaving the game wanting to come back and see more, and I think we have a good group of guys that can do that.”
The team features 14 players on the roster including ten sophomores and four freshmen. Five of the sophomores are players returning to the Wolves from last season while the other five and four freshman are new faces for the Wolves. “We have a good group of guys that are athletic and long players,” said Sanders. “We are going to go out there and play a fast-paced game and be an entertaining team to watch.”
Coach Sanders has high expectations for his team heading into the season but is also focused on how his players develop throughout the season to reach their goals. “Our main expectation is to go out and win every game we play, but aside from that we want our guys to play the game the right way,” stated Sanders. “Early on we want to establish how we will play throughout the season and start building towards the end of the season and focusing on potential postseason play.”
Coach Sanders noted that there will be several players that Wolves fans should take notice of throughout the season.
“Everything we do starts and ends with Lorenzo Fort III (Jackson), he is our leading guy and the guy we look to get us going each night offensively as a point guard. He transferred to us from UT-Martin and is a guy that can really put points on the board and one that I think could be a candidate for player of the year in our league,” stated Sanders. “The five guys we have returning are led by AJ Warnsley (Byram) who I think will make a big jump this year as a big athletic forward and we are going to ask him to do a lot for us this season. Jordan Marshall (Raymond) is a guard that we are going to count on to step up and make plays for us as well as Jermario Hersey (Brookhaven). Cameron Butler (Vicksburg) and Zach Upkins (Bogue Chitto) are veteran guys that have been around the league, and we will look to them for veteran leadership for our team.”
Coach Sanders also noted that the statewide conference play is a challenge that he is looking forward to in his first season at Co-Lin. “This is something that will be different for our returning players, but for me as a coach I am used to playing teams from all over the state from my previous experiences in high school so that is all I know,” said Sanders. “I am really looking forward to our schedule and playing all of the teams in the state because it gives you a good sense of the caliber of players that are in our league. As coaches we vote for all the conference honors, and it is hard to make those decisions if you have not coached against those guys and playing them at least once gives you a good reference point for those players.”
“This conference is tough across the whole state and our fans know how tough just the South Division has been. The conference is competitive, and we have seen that in the fact that the state champion did not win the region championship last season,” added Sanders. “We have to make sure that we are ready to compete and bring our best game on the court every night and at the end of the season we want to be in a place to compete for the state and region championships.”
The Wolves open the season with a road contest against East Mississippi on Monday, November 1, and will play their home opener on Friday, November 12, against Lawson State Community College.
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