It’s never too early to start previewing the winter sports season, especially in the summertime. Both of Montana State University-Northern’s basketball programs have been refurbishing the roster talent from the end of conference tournament play in February until now.
New Media Broadcasters got the chance to speak with both head coaches during their respective summer basketball camps. First for Lights basketball coach Shawn Huse, his roster is going to be virtually night and day when his team takes the court later this year. He said he’s been pleased with the progress made and is excited for what is to come in the future.
“I really like the direction our recruiting is headed,” Huse said. “I’m really excited about it, especially after last year with what we went through.”
“Guys did great stepping up and all that, but we could be a little bit deeper,” Huse continued.
“It should be a real healthy environment with lots of competition,” Huse said. “A lot of guys (should teach) each other and learning from one another and pulling for each other and competing against each other. All of those things make you look good going into a weekend.”
On the flip side for Skylights coach Chris Mouat, his squad will be thinned out because of the loss of five seniors from one season ago. Still, he likes the talent that was brought in over this recruiting class cycle and wants that chemistry to develop over the course of these next few months to put a product out on the floor that fans can be proud of.
“It’s exciting news for our program,” Mouat said. “I think the recruitment of some of the kids we’ve gotten (has been) a challenge, but I think we’ve got some kids we’re really excited about. We had some of them here last week and some here this week.”
“We’re going to have a shorter roster than we’ve had in the past, so being healthy and staying healthy is going to be really important for us,” Mouat continued. “I think as far as talent, we’ve got some really nice pieces coming in to go with some really good players returning.”
The MSU-Northern basketball schedules have historically been released in the month of July, so stay tuned to New Media Broadcasters when that information drops.