ABILENE – One of the most anticipated seasons in recent ACU men's basketball history tips off Tuesday when the Wildcats open the 2018-19 campaign with a home game against Arlington Baptist at 6 p.m. The competition level will increase significantly later in the week when ACU hosts Arkansas State in a 7:30 p.m. game Friday at Moody Coliseum.
Those two games are the beginning of a 31-game slate (15 at home) that eighth-year head coach
Joe Golding hopes will end with his team in prime position to make a run at a Southland Conference Postseason Tournament championship, a possible berth in the NCAA Tournament or, at the very least, a second straight postseason berth in either the National Invitational Tournament (NIT), collegeinsider.com Tournament (CIT) or the College Basketball Invitational (CBI).
Last year's squad – which returns this year almost fully intact – finished the regular season 16-15 for the program's first winning regular season record since the 2007-08 campaign. The Wildcats earned a bid into the CIT where they rallied from a 10-point deficit late in the second half at Drake to send the game into overtime where the Bulldogs pulled out an 80-73 win in ACU's first postseason tournament game of any kind since the 2007-08 Lone Star Conference Postseason Tournament semifinals.
The Wildcats – who return seniors
Jaren Lewis,
Jaylen Franklin and
Hayden Farquhar, as well as juniors
Jalone Friday,
Payten Ricks,
B.J. Maxwell and
Trey Lenox in a 12-man rotation that will also include sophomore 7-footer
Kolton Kohl and redshirt freshman
Tobias Cameron – have been picked to finish fourth in this season's Southland Conference pre-season poll, which was released last month. Defending tournament champion Stephen F. Austin was picked to win the league, followed by Southeastern Louisiana, New Orleans, ACU and Lamar in the top five.
But Golding knows those polls – along with other publications that have counted the Wildcats among the teams to watch at the mid-major level – don't mean anything once the ball goes in the air for the first time Tuesday night.
"I think it's great that our program is finally gaining some recognition and that people believe we're building this the right way," he said. "We're starting to gain some respect, but, ultimately, it's about winning."
The Wildcats appeared primed to put an end to their tournament drought last year when they sat at 14-9 overall and 6-4 in league play after a 74-69 home win over Lamar on Jan. 31. But the Wildcats hit the skids in February, going 1-6 over those 28 days to fall from fourth to eighth in the league standings. ACU finished the regular season with a win over Incarnate Word to finish 16-15 overall and tied for eighth in the league at 8-10, but lost out on going to the conference tournament via a tiebreaker.
"We quit talking about last year over the summer," Golding said. "Obviously there was a tremendous amount of frustration over how we finished, but at the end of the day we had ACU's first winning regular season in 10 years and qualified for a Division I postseason tournament, so it wasn't all bad. This is a different team, and we'd all love to put ourselves back in the position we were in going into the final six weeks of this season and finish better.
"One thing we've talked about with this group – and especially with this senior class – is that this is their chance to leave a legacy," Golding said. "How do they want to be remembered? They've changed the culture of this program forever, but now they have a chance to either raise the bar even higher and I think they'll rise to that challenge."
The core of this team is the trio of Lewis-Franklin-Friday and it's Lewis who has risen to become the unquestioned leader of the team after posting nine double-doubles and earning all-conference honors as a junior in 2017-18. Friday is one of the most talented players in the league, but must stay out of foul trouble to make the impact on the season that Golding expects, and Franklin is one of the top guards in the league, closing out his terrific career this season.
"I'm really proud of Jaren because of the type of young man he is, first, and then because of how hard he's worked to make himself into a really good player," Golding said. "J-Frank and Jalone are both all-conference players, but we've talked about it throughout the offseason with them and they both know we need more consistency from both of them."
Two players who will have larger roles in the offense in 2018-19 and must be major contributors are Ricks and Maxwell, who averaged 6.6 and 3.4 points per game, respectively, last season. And Farquhar must bounce back from an up-and-down season in 2017-18 to provide the Wildcats with a solid outside shooting threat off the bench.
"B.J. is the hardest worker in our program, and he's going to play more minutes this year than he's played before," Golding said. "When he's on the floor he's going to play hard and give us everything he's got, and we need that to continue. Ricks is going to play a huge role for this team and we need him to be a more consistent player when he's on the floor. Farquhar has had the best offseason he's had since he's been here and I expect that to carry over to his senior season. The changes we've made to our offense — running more out of a high-low set instead of a motion offense — really fits his strengths."
The Wildcats will be missing
Hayden Howell this season as he will redshirt in 2018-19 after having offseason surgery on both of his feet. He will spend the season rehabbing to be ready for his senior season in 2019-20.
"We just felt like that this would be the best thing for him because he might not be ready for a couple of months," Golding said. "We think it's in his best interest to redshirt, get healthy and come back next year ready to close out his career with a great season. Not having him is a big loss, but I think we have enough depth up front to compensate for not having him on the floor."
Part of the reason Golding believes the team can compensate for the loss of Howell is because of the play of freshmen
Joe Pleasant and
Clay Gayman in practice and two scrimmages against New Mexico State and Texas State.
"Joe has been very impressive in 25 practices and two scrimmages," Golding said. "He's got the body to play in this league, and he's got the best motor of any player I've ever coached. He's been very well coached in high school, and he's ready to contribute right away.
"Clay is very skilled, probably moreso than anyone believes him to be," Golding said. "He's a better athlete than people think, and he's going to battle every night and he'll help us a lot on the glass."
The other freshman is point guard
Damien Daniels, who's forte right off the bat will probably be on the defensive end where his quickness could cause nightmares for the opposition.
"Damien is very gifted in space," Golding said. "His quickness and ability creates a lot of open shots for others, but we need him to be more consistent at the point of attack. He's still learning how to run a team, but he's got a great future ahead of him."
Last year's team ended up reaching the postseason, something that this year's team wants to repeat at an even higher level. And that's the reason Golding and his staff decided not to hang a banner in Moody coliseum representing the 2017-18 squad's appearance in the CIT.
"We decided we didn't want to put up a CIT banner because that's not what we want to be about," Golding said. "We put together a really good season last year, but we want to build a program that hangs conference championship and NCAA Tournament banners and I think we're getting closer to doing those things."
