KCAC has new look headed into basketball season

Oklahoma Wesleyan women’s basketball coach Jason Jeschke looked around the room at KCAC media day Monday in Old Town and it felt like home.

Which made it no less strange to be there.

“Kind of like the ‘Twilight Zone’ effect,” said Jeschke, a Southwestern College women’s assistant from 2009-14. “So it’s a little weird, definitely.”

The KCAC welcomed Oklahoma Wesleyan’s men’s and women’s teams into the fold with its annual preseason news conferences – part of a historical turn for the league as it expands beyond Kansas borders for the first time in its 124-year history and adds a school for the first time since Saint Mary joined in 1999.

And it’s Jeschke’s team, which made it to the NAIA Division II Sweet 16 last season, that could make the biggest debut.

Tabor was picked to repeat as both men’s and women’s champion in both the media and coaches polls, with the Oklahoma Wesleyan women picked second in both polls.

Oklahoma Wesleyan went 27-7 and finished second in the Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference last year. Jeschke returns most of his lineup. The Oklahoma Wesleyan men and former women’s coach Mark Molder were picked ninth in both polls.

“Last year I was in a little bit of shock as a first-year coach,” said Jeschke, who also played for Southwestern. “Now, this year, I’ve already got a file on every team and a file on every coach in the KCAC. It’s a coaching cliche to say we’re going one game a time, but our goal is definitely to end the year as conference champion.”

The Friends men were picked to finish third in the coaches poll and fourth in the media poll.

The Falcons made a surprise run to the NAIA Division II tournament last season, finishing fourth in the regular season and winning the KCAC Tournament behind a surprise star turn from Kapaun Mount Carmel product Toby Baxter, a junior guard who averaged 17.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists on his way to All-KCAC honors.

“We’ve got a chance to do some very positive things this season,” Friends coach Dale Faber said. “How we’re responding right now I’m not real pleased with. I still need them to show me some things.”

The Friends women were picked fourth in the coaches poll and fifth in the media poll. The Falcons, ranked No. 9 in the country last December, had a streak of three straight NAIA Division II tournament appearances snapped last season as they struggled down the stretch.

“There was a lot of frustration last season, but our returners had a great postseason, a great preseason and now they’re having a great in-season,” Friends coach RaeAnne Boothe said. “The standard of the program is to compete (for the KCAC) and go to the national tournament. Last year, we didn’t do that and we’re hungry to get back.”

This story was originally published October 13, 2015 at 6:16 PM with the headline "KCAC has new look headed into basketball season."