Following their historic season, the KC Roos men’s basketball is predicted to finish first in the Summit League in the preseason polls, leading with 17 first place votes. The team finished second in the Summit League last season.
This is the first time in school history that the Roos have been selected to end the season in first place. Part of the reason they were selected to win it all is due to the entire starting five returning for the upcoming season, including last year’s Summit League Newcomer of the Year, senior guard Jamar Brown.
Assistant Head Coach Joe Esposito displayed his excitement on this when asked about his goals for this season.
“Our goal is to build off of last year’s second place finish. We are looking to contend for a championship,” said Esposito. “We’ve got six of our top players back from last year, which is unheard of in today’s college basketball.”
Along with Brown, sophomore guard Jayson Petty and senior forward Melvyn Ebonkoli are a part of the returners for this year’s team, and are expected to make a big impact as well.
Graduate guard Anderson Kopp spoke highly of his team members and said that he wants to continue to build on the work they accomplished last year.
“Guys like Petty, Brown, and Ebonkoli really stepped up when we needed it,” said Kopp. “Our unity was so much better in a lot of different ways. We came together at the right time of the year, and we hope to bring that to this season.”
The Roos hope to end off the season with a conference championship and an appearance at March Madness. The opponent they are aiming at is last year’s Summit League champions: South Dakota State.
“I think everybody aims at South Dakota State,” Kopp said. “They’re at the top, and we’re always aiming to be at the top and in order to do that, we have to beat whoever is up there.”
South Dakota State still appears formidable, as they are predicted to finish in second place. However, with the absence of guard Zeke Mayo, who was the MVP of the Summit League last season, the door may be wide open for the Roos to knock them out.
North Dakota State is predicted to finish third with St. Thomas right behind them. North Dakota State finished with 3 first place votes.
Oral Roberts is predicted to finish in fifth place. Guard Issac McBride is expected to have a big year, as he was crowned Preseason Summit League Player of the Year. They received two first place votes.
North Dakota and South Dakota came in at sixth and seventh place. Each team received just a single first place vote.
Omaha and Denver came in eighth and ninth place.
Kansas City’s men’s basketball season begins on Nov. 4 against Hannibal-LaGrange. Single-game and season tickets can be found at this link.
