EOU Men’s Basketball slotted to finish eighth
By Paul Hall on Thursday, October 21st, 2021 in Eastern/Southeast Oregon News Eastern/Southeast Oregon Top Stories
LA GRANDE – (Information provided by EOU Athletics)The Cascade Collegiate Conference has just announced its 2021-22 Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Preseason Poll. Eastern Oregon finds itself inside the top-10 at eighth.
As voted on by the league coaches, the Mountaineers find themselves inside the top-10 at No. 8 with a total of 59 points. They were just 10 points back from tying for seventh with Northwest University.
Eastern will look to bounce back from a 2020-21 season that saw the team go 8-12 overall and 3-9 in CCC spring season play. Last year the global COVID-19 pandemic nearly derailed the Mounties season and ultimately forced them to play in the spring. Two players went on to garner All-CCC honors in Max McCullough and Justin Jeske. McCullough was named the Player of the Spring and earned First Team honors, while Jeske was named Honorable Mention. This season EOU will have a new bench boss in Chris Kemp who was named interim head coach ahead of the 2021-22 season. He will be helped by first year assistant coach Que Johnson and student assistant Kobi Gardea who was a member of the team each of the last two years.
Being tabbed as the preseason favorite is Oregon Tech who grabbed five first place votes and tallied 135 points. Projected to finish second is College of Idaho with 127 point and two first place votes. Lewis-Clark State College is third with four first place votes and was two points back of the Yotes at 125. Corban is fourth with 108 points and one first place vote, while Southern Oregon is fifth with 104 points to round out the top-five.
The 2021-22 campaign begins this weekend for the Mountaineers who will head north to Helena, Mont. to compete in the Comfort Suites Classic hosted by Carroll College.
