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Cardinal Roster
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Cardinal Statistics
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Cardinal Schedule
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MIAC Standings
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MIAC Statistics
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| 2004-2004 Records: 4-16 MIAC / 5-20 Overall |
| Upcoming Events: Fri., Nov. 18: SMU at Bethany Luth., 7:30 p.m. Tues., Nov. 29: Crown at SMU, 7:30 p.m. Wed., Nov. 30: SMU at Winona St., 7:30 p.m. Sat., Dec. 3: SMU at Augsburg, 3:15 p.m. |
to ruffle more than a few MIAC feathers this season
WINONA, Minn. — When the Saint Mary's University men's basketball team closed out the season a year ago with a 63-57 win over St. Olaf, it was coach Mike Trewick who said, "A win like this helps you forget a lot — and helps you get excited about what lies ahead."
And now, eight months later and with his first season as a collegiate coach under his belt, Trewick can hardly wait until his team's Nov. 18 date at Bethany Lutheran — and the "official" start of the 2004-2005 season.
"I'm really looking forward to getting the season underway," admitted Trewick, whose team finished 4-16 in the MIAC and 5-20 overall. "Last year was a learning experience for everyone — for the players and the coaching staff.
"And I think we all learned a thing or two," Trewick added. "We played a lot of young guys last year. Could we have won more games had we stuck solely to our older players? Maybe. But we knew the future of this program was with our younger guys, and they did a nice job.
"But that was last year — this year, they have that year of experience under their belt, which raises the expectation level a bit."
In other words, for Trewick and SMU, the honeymoon is over — which could prove to be good news for the Cardinals, and bad news for the rest of the MIAC.
"I've told this team that they can be as good as they want to be. They can finish anywhere from first to 11th, depending on how hard they want to work," Trewick said. "I really believe that this team has the make-up to compete for an MIAC playoff spot. If we can finish with the fourth, fifth or sixth spot, that would be a great step forward for this program."
To do that, the Cardinals will rely on the one-two punch of defense and rebounding.
"It's no secret, if we are going to be successful, it's going to be because we play better defense and we rebound the basketball," said Trewick. "We are quicker and deeper than we were a year ago, which is nice, but how this group plays together as a team will go a long way in deciding what type of season we have.
"We've got a good mix of returners and newcomers, so it's going to be exciting to see how it all comes together," continued Trewick. "We don't have any seniors on the roster, so we're looking at this as a two-year project.
"Hopefully we can lay a solid foundation this year, and continue to build on that next year and for years to come."