Men’s basketball ready for KU

The Fort Hays State University Tigers men’s basketball team has started practice and is ready to start the 2009-2010 season, according to head coach Mark Johnson.

Johnson enters his ninth season as head coach of FHSU. The Tigers finished last year with a 20-9 record and a third place finish in Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association rankings, also qualifying for the conference championship in Kansas City, Kan.

The Tigers look to have a strong season in the tough MIAA, in which they had a 12-8 combined record last season. The Tigers were picked third in the preseason MIAA media poll and fourth in the coach’s poll to start the year.

Senior Tim Peintner shoots a 3-pointer during practice.

“Obviously you’d like to win a conference championship,” Johnson said. “Your expectations are something that progresses as the year goes on. Right now, starting off the season, we want to be able to play good, solid basketball — play at a high effort with some intensity and intelligence. We want to compete for a conference championship, but we need to worry about those other things before we worry about that.”

The Tigers return three starters this year in senior forwards Tim Peintner and Ryan Herrman and junior guard Corbin Kuntzsch. The Tigers have several transfers and freshman who will try to fill the void left by all-conference guards Tyrone Evans and Terry Jeffries.

“I think we’re going to have to do that as a group,” said Johnson. “I think we have more depth on the perimeter than we had last year. I think we have more guys who can make the perimeter shot. I think we have more guys that we can put on the floor to make some things happen. We’re much deeper in the back court than we’ve been.”

The Tigers lose their leading scorer and leading three point shooter in Evans, so that perimeter depth will certainly help there, Johnson said. They also lose their top defensive player in Jeffries.

Peintner will be looked to as the top man coming back this year. He was the second leading scorer last year, second three-point shooter, blocks leader and rebounds leader.

The other two returning starters, Herrman and Kuntzsch, will also contribute in more ways than last year. Herrman had the best shooting percentage last year and was second in rebounds.

Practice started a few weeks ago and Coach Johnson is working on “finding the teams identity.”

“You’d like think your defense is going to be ahead of your offense at the start of the year,” Johnson said. “You need to find your identity on both ends of the floor.”

The Tigers only returned six players from last year. They have added seven transfers and two freshmen. They have fifteen total players — 10 guards and five forwards.

The Tigers’ first game is against the University of Kansas, which is an exhibition game, Tuesday in Lawrence. The game time starts at 7 p.m.

“We’re going in for the players to enjoy themselves,” said Johnson. “Getting to play in Allen Field house, in front of a lot of people, against the number-one ranked team (NCAA Division I) in the country. We prepare like any other game, but I think really it’s about the players’ getting to enjoy the experience.”