PLENTY OF POTENTIAL

Sometime in March, Oklahoma Baptist University could be capping off a masterpiece of a season, but the weeks before the season tips off, the canvas more resembles a jigsaw puzzle that may or may not have all the pieces.
OBU was 28-5 last season and reached the second round of the NAIA Tournament as the No. 2 team in the nation. With two key elements still working through college and immigration requirements, what could be another terrific team is now best described in the word ‘potential.’
“I don’t know for sure yet, how this group fits together,” said Bison coach Doug Tolin. “We’ve got a chance to be a really good team, but we’ll see as we get into the season. I like all of our parts, but we’ve got a long way to go as a team.”
One thing that is known is that OBU is expecting a lot out of returning All-American Nate Brumfield. Brumfield, a 6-5 bruiser from Rochester, N.Y., averaged 20.2 points and seven rebounds last season.
“The best player in the league, in my opinion, is back here,” Tolin said. “People know how good Nate Brumfield is. What will be interesting to see is if he’s better this year. A lot of times in that senior year, the player either works at it and get a lot better or he’s just not quite as good. I think he’s got a chance to leave here as one of the best players we’ve ever had.”
If all works out, he’ll be teamed up with Kevin Swinton, Ibou Fall, Mirko Vojinovic and at times Danny Derry in a menacing front court.
Swinton, a 6-8 transfer from Wake Forest, and Fall, a 6-7 freshman from Senegal, are two pieces Tolin can only hope become options. Swinton must gain eligibility this fall and Fall is awaiting clearance from immigration.
“Kevin is very, very talented,” said Tolin. “He is as talented as anyone we’ve had here. But he still hasn’t played in a game in a long time. He has a lot of potential. If we have him on the court with Nate, defenses can’t gang up on either one of them.”
“Ibou is a freshman and I think he has a chance to develop into a very good player for us,” Tolin added.
While the scoring in the post could hit new heights, it could come at an expense on the other end of the court.
“We’ve got better options on offense this year, but I don’t know if we really have guys that you can call lock-down defenders or guys you can call great rebounders,” Tolin said, noting the loss of shot-blocker Charles Carter and defensive stopper and rebounder Al Moore.
Vojinovic, like guards Tyler Parker and Heath McKay, have shown themselves to be solid contributors off the bench.
Derry, a 6-6 transfer from Chemeketa College, has made a strong impression already.
Danny is really a versatile player. He can be a perimeter guy and shoot threes or you can put him inside. He’s just a good, solid player.”
The question on the guard end is who gets the point guard scoring left by Brent Jones’ graduation from the program? The answer is nobody.
Tim Bowman is the probable starting point guard. The 5-11 transfer from Ohlone won’t be scoring Jones-like points, but he is a solid distributor
“Tim’s’s a tough defender and he’s a good ball-handler. That’s just who he is. He isn’t as flashy and he might not score as many points as Brent did, but he’s going to be a big asset to us.”
OBU also has Jarrod Tillman ready to go at the point or at a wing, depending on what situation is called for. McKay is also there to contribute.
“Jarrod can play the point or the wing,” said Tolin. “He gives us some options on how we look on the floor. We could play four guards at times and be hard to defend. But I’m not ready to say Jarrod is our back-up point guard. Heath is a really good shooter and I can see him making a contribution there as well.”
OBU may be most dangerous on the wings, where Tolin has a plethora of talent in seniors Garrett Steinmetz and A.J. Hawkins and sophomore Emmanuel Wilson.
The 6-6 Steinmetz shot 41 percent from three-point range last season and averaged 13 points per game. “The difference this year with Garrett is that he’s had time to work,” said Tolin. “Last year he was coming off that shoulder surgery and didn’t get as much work in has he would have liked. There were nights last year when we could see how good he really was and he can really ignite us.”
Wilson came off the bench in all 33 games last season and averaged 15 minutes and 7.2 points.
One of the most exciting additions has been Hawkins, a 6-5 transfer from Wichita State and the brother of former Bison standout Adam Hawkins.
“I see so much of Adam in A.J.,” said Tolin. “He’s a good player, he knows about OBU and he’s a hard worker. He understands what we’re trying to do and he’s a good defender. The only downside on A.J. is we lose him after March.”
Tolin said he expects the Sooner Athletic Conference to have a bounce-back year as a whole.
“Looking back, we were probably down a little bit as a conference last year,” Tolin said. “I think you can attribute that to some coaches being in transition. Sometimes it takes a while. But now you’ve got Kevin Morrissey with kids he’s recruited at OCU and Andrew Brown (Northwestern) has gotten his team better every year. Adam Bohac (Southern Nazarene) and Clark Sheehy (John Brown) are just like that, too.
“And I guarantee you Oklahoma Christian is not worried about us. They have everybody back and two kids that could have started for them last year are playing this year. There’s not a big drop-off from one to seven in our league. I think the league’s going to be a lot better this year.”
OBU is the only team to make it to the second round of the NAIA Tournament in each of the last nine seasons.
They open the season Nov. 6 against Dallas Christian.
Note: See the OBU schedule and roster on the Scoreboard page.