Headed West

You may recall Mt. St. Mary's basketball season started with a trip west. Back in the middle of November, the Mount headed to Oklahoma to take on the Sooners and there were a lot of folks who were very excited about this bunch. Since then, the Mount has dropped six of nine games, including a pair of conference games, and much of that optimism has faded.

But this is still the same group that we were excited about six weeks ago. Or is it?

Will the additions of Raven Barber and Jacolby Wells and the return of Will Holland from a knee injury be enough to jumpstart this team. The answer remains to be written. But one thing is for sure, there seems to be a little hop back in the step.

The fact that the 16 individuals who went through preseason conditioning are all available together for the first time seems to have ignited this bunch - and we'll get our first look at the rejuvenated bunch on Saturday.

Obviously, Pitt is a tough team to try to get back on track against. The Panthers defensively have the ability to cause some problems. In addition, Jamie Dixon hasn't been happy with the play he's gotten this season and practices at the Pete this week have apparently been highly contested. That could lead to some good things on Saturday. The Panthers will also have the offensively talented Gilbert Brown returning tomorrow.

But as the Mount heads into the second semester, it seems that there again is some excitement about this team. Maybe that will take some pressure off of Jeremy Goode, Kelly Beidler and Jean Cajou. Maybe that will help the Mount to make some of the jumpers that haven't been falling.

This team still has a lot of good basketball in front of it.

It starts on the road at Pittsburgh tomorrow.

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