MARQUAND REBUILDS UNDER NEW HEAD COACH

Marquand's first-year basketball coach, Ed Ikemeier, is optimistic about rebuilding the team after graduating seven seniors from last year's 15-12 squad."We're young," said Ikemeier. "We have an awful lot of young players. There are only four seniors on the varsity roster and two of those are foreign exchange students. The majority of the team will be made up of sophomores and freshmen."Ikemeier feels that the youth of the team will be beneficial to his future success."I think it will be a positive thing," said Ikemeier. "This will be a rebuilding year. They need to learn a lot, but the kids are working hard. I think they believe in what I'm trying to do. As long as they believe in my efforts, then we should have a pretty good year."The Tigers have won their conference the last two years, and one of the team's goals is to repeat that outcome. Ikemeier believes they should win more than half of their games this season. The biggest challenge to attaining that goal will be an overall lack of veteran playmakers.

One returning starter from the last two seasons will be Scott Emmett, a 6-3 senior forward/center. Emmett should be a force for the Tigers in both scoring and rebounding. Dusty Homan, a 6-0 forward, is the only other returning senior. The Tigers added some size in foreign exchange student Chris Michel, a 6-6 center. Exchange student Bruno Cabanas (5-11, Sr.) rounds out the senior class. The other players on the varsity roster are junior guard Doug Rehkop (6-0), sophomore guard/forward Heath Stephens (6-1), sophomore guards Ryan Stephens (6-1) and Alan Stevens (5-5), sophomore center Jared Kunz (6-6) and sophomore guard/forward Jason Thomas.

Ikemeier intends to deploy an offensive scheme that includes two guards and one small forward.

To be successful, Ikemeier said the Tigers will need to play tight defense and focus on the fundamentals, including good physical conditioning.

Marquand opened its season Nov. 23 against Kingston.