Former Point Park and current Slippery Rock women’s basketball assistant coach Ryenn Micaletti was impressed with what she saw from the Pioneers in a scrimmage Friday.
“I think the right pieces to the puzzle are put together to win a national championship this year,” Micaletti said. “Point Park is going to be a fantastic team.”
Micaletti is not the only one who feels this way, co-captain Ja’Nia McPhatter made her expectations for the team known at Point Park basketball media day.
“Undefeated with a national championship; That’s our goal,” McPhatter said. “We’re going to work hard and do our best to get to where we want to be. We don’t want anything less and if we have anything less we would think we failed. We don’t want to be that 29-5 team [from last season]. That’s a great record but we don’t want it to be a miserable 29-5.”
The Pioneers are predicted to finish first in the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (KIAC) North Division. Despite these expectations, center Sam Weir is not nervous.
“It will be a lot less pressure this year because we have so many players that can put up big numbers, so I’m really excited to see what this year has in store for us,” Weir said.
Point Park scrimmaged Friday against Slippery Rock and won 90-57. Slippery Rock was missing its two leading scorers in the contest. Guard Kelly Johnson led all scorers with 32 points, making five three point shots for Point Park.
“We have great leadership on and off the court that we all feed off of,” Johnson said. “We were talking about how it’s nice that you can throw anyone in there. We have trust in each other.”
The Point Park men’s basketball team is looking to rebound from last season’s 11-17 result and was picked to finished third in the KIAC North for the KIAC preseason poll. None of this matters to head coach Bob Rager.
“I enjoy coaching this team; it’s my kind of team,” Rager said. “This is a fun team to coach because I can do stuff with them. We have a lot of different guys who can play different positions.”
This size will come into play right away as six-foot-four transfer Yandell Denis is expected to start at point guard.
Starters from last season’s team that returned are Alan Heter and Matt Noszka. Both were complimented by Rager for their good and consistent play in practice.
In terms of leadership, Rager is looking for T.J. Lanier to fill this role with some potential help from Denis.
“It’s a little different when you’re the man playing the role of the man. I don’t think [Lanier] found his niche last year because of the injury,” Rager said. “He’ll be showing a little more leadership this year because we’ll look for him.”
Rager ran down the rest of the team which includes Saiid Allen who the former compared to NBA player Vinnie Johnson for being able to consistently score many points in a short window of time. He also cited Barry Smith as one of the best jumpers he’s ever had and guards Art Christian and Jerah’me Williams.
Rager is also excited about his team’s athleticism promising fans that attend games that they will see things they haven’t seen for a while with Point Park basketball.
“If you like exciting basketball, we’re the ones,” Rager said.
The feeling of excitement is contagious for both teams as the women’s season begins Saturday against West Virginia Tech and the men’s season on Nov. 6 at the Ohio Christian Tournament against Great Lakes College.
Much like the players that comprise both teams, forward Carly Forse expresses a simple sentiment.
“We’re really ready to play this year and we’re excited for the season to start,” Forse said.
