Sweany’s Spartans open at home

Southwestern men’s basketball has a new coach in starting the 2023-24 season at home Wednesday night, but it’s a smoother transition than with many coaching changes.

Shane Sweany is at the helm this season after serving as Reggie Kindle’s assistant for the past two seasons at Southwestern.

Sweany, a Kansas City native, was announced as the new head coach in early August. Kindle returned to Peru State to be an assistant coach.

Prior to Southwestern, Sweany began his coaching career while in the master’s program at Doane University in Crete, Nebraska. He earned a bachelor’s degree in sports management/marketing in 2020 from the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Mo. He was also a student assistant coach at UCM.

Sweany has five returnees from last year’s Spartan roster along with 10 newcomers for Wednesday’s 7:30 p.m. home opener against Southeast Community College of Nebraska, coached by former Red Oak boys head coach Joel Wooton.

Sweany’s staff includes assistant coach Ian Russell, a California native most recently an assistant coach at Montana State University-Northern; and graduate assistant Will Chlebek from Florida.

Bringing back experience at point guard is sophomore guard Justin Bussey of San Antonio, Texas. Bussey was a transfer last year at the semester and became a starter for the Spartans.

“I see Justin having a big role for us this year,” Sweany said. “He brings back experience. He knows how tough are league is. He’s a good on-ball defender.”

A pair of speedy 5-9 guards provide depth at the point in Coffeyville (Kansas) Community College transfer Kyren Angelo and freshman James Braddy of Kansas City.

“Kyren is really fast. He can get the ball and push it in the open floor,” Sweany said. “James is very scrappy and a hard worker. He’s a captain as a freshman so he came in and bought into being a leader as a freshman.”

The Spartan coach said there is a wealth of shooting talent on this year’s roster. Among them is returning sophomore Patrock Worrell, freshman Donny Fontenot of Georgia, redshirt freshman Rickie Wright from Jeffersonville, Indiana, and Eastern Florida State transfer Bogdan Cret of Romania.

“Hopefully we’ll see Patrick take that second year leap and bring some confidence in shooting it and do some more things off the bounce,” Sweany said. “He’s a good rebounder as well.”

There’s a big void to fill in the post with the departure of leading scorer and rebounder Devin Tomlinson from last year’s team. Tomlinson is now playing at Freed-Hardeman, an NAIA college in Tennessee that made the elite eight in last year’s national tournament.

Sweany has three players 6-6 or taller to help replace the production of Tomlinson this year. Andrew Scroggins of Minneapolis redshirted last year and will assume a big role this season.

“Andrew has grown in confidence in the post and developed his skills in his redshirt year,” Sweany said.

Fatih Huyuk, a 6-7 Peru State transfer from Turkey, is expected to help inside along with versatile returning sophomore forward Corbin Dozier.

Sweany said the Spartans’ style of basketball won’t differ much from the past two seasons.

“The system is very similar, but we’ve definitely added some different things,” he said. “We’re giving the guys a little more freedom offensively, playing more four out and one in motion offense. We were a lot of five out the last two years, and we will still do some of that at times. We’re just trying to find something that fits this personnel. It’s still early. There’s a lot of teaching and learning to do yet.”

The Spartans were 9-21 overall last year, finishing tied for seventh in the conference at 5-11. Iowa Lakes won the league at 13-3 and advanced from the regional tournament to the national tourney. Kirkwood and DMACC each finished 11-5 in league play.

Sweany hopes for an improvement this year as the Spartans host this season’s regional tournament from March 1-3, 2024.

“It should be fun to host the tournament,” Sweany said. “A good goal for us would be to finish in the top four of the league and get a good seed for the tournament, in hopes of getting the automatic bid or an at-large bid (to nationals). This year they are adding four at-large berths in the national tournament. Just from word of mouth and what people have coming back, DMACC is kind of the team to beat in our league this year. Kirkwood has some good players back and Ellsworth and Iowa Lakes should be good again.”

Tipoff for the men’s game Wednesday is 7:30 p.m after the Spartan women open their season at 5:30 against Southeast Community College. The Spartans host Graceland JV at 7 p.m. Friday. Graceland’s varsity coach is now former SWCC coach Todd Lorensen, who coached the Spartans to a national title in 2017.

Roster

Sophomores — Kyren Angelo, 5-8, Kansas City, Kan.; Joseph Bell, 6-5, Little Rock, Ark.; Patrick Worrell, 6-4, Douglas, Ga.; Justin Bussey, 5-10, San Antonio, Texas; Fatih Huyuk, 6-7 Antakya, Turkey; Corbin Dozier, 6-5, Olathe, Kan.; Bogdan Cret, 6-4, Oradea, Romania.

Freshmen — Rickie Wright, 6-2, Jeffersonville, Ind.; Gerlouis Tokody, 6-6, Baden Wuerttemberg, Germany; Donnary Fontenot, 6-3, Atlanta, Ga.; James Braddy, 5-9, Kansas City, Mo.; AJ Doctor, 6-4, Elizabethtown, Ky.; Andrew Scroggins, 6-7, Minneapolis, Minn.; Callum Colclough, 6-1, Gold Coast, Australia; Orkun Karahan, 6-2, Ankara, Turkey.