Last year's Ashford University men's basketball team was about rebuilding. With six new faces on Head Coach Andy Eberhart's squad the team was bound to go through some growing pains. And it did, going 6-23 and 3-11 in the Midwest Collegiate Conference, while losing 10 games by 10 points or less.

"We lost some games we probably shouldn't have last year," said Eberhart, "I think that kind of left a bad taste in the mouth of our returnees." This year's squad, picked to finish sixth in the MCC, expects to use that experience as the Saints return eight players who made major contributions to the squad and accounted for 98% of the team's offensive output and 99% of Ashford's rebounding.

"This year finishing will be the key," said Eberhart. "I think that our strengths will be experience that we gained last season and our defense. At times it really kept us in ballgames last year, and we haven't really missed a beat coming into this season."

Ashford will be led by senior captain Cash Bimm. Bimm capped off his best season as a Saint with a MCC First Team accolade and also led the team in scoring (13.4 ppg), rebounds (10.1), free throws attempted (170), and school records broken (1) when he set the career rebounding mark as a junior. Bimm also finished fourth in the nation with 15 double-doubles last year.

Joining him as captains will be sophomore Byron Emerson and senior Justin Jackson. Emerson, who was an honorable mention All-Conference performer last season, was a rock for the Saints down the stretch as he led the team in scoring in five of the Saints' last six games. He finished third in scoring (12.1) and second in minutes per game (26.8). Jackson, who started in 27 of the teams 29 games last year, will be expected to provide depth in a backcourt that is one of the deepest in recent memory. His biggest contributions to the Saints may be his leadership skills and work ethic. Other returnees include sophomore Daniel Joiner (13.1 ppg), senior Somori Mussington (4.5 rpg), sophomore Andrew Weber (2.7 apg), senior Rhennie Phipps (4.1 rpg), and senior Dee Eason (3.2 apg).

Newcomers for AU include junior Josh Pickens, freshman Derek Peplinski, freshman Brandon Wright, and freshman Matt Weber. Pickens, a 5'8" junior point guard from Rockford, Illinois, comes to the Saints by way of Rock Valley Community College. He finished his two-year career there by leading his team in scoring (18 ppg) and with a first team All-Conference nod as well as an NJCAA All-Region selection. Peplinski, a high school teammate of Jackson, hails from East High School in Madison, Wisconsin. He finished his four-year varsity career with All-City, All-Area, and first team All-Conference accolades. Wright joins the Saints from an extremely successful Rockford Jefferson High School program and is a former teammate of Pickens. Weber, who is the older brother of guard Andrew Weber, comes to Ashford by way of the Chicago Cubs. A 2003 draft pick of the Cubs, he spent three years in the minor league system before joining AU. His pedigree on the court though, where he was named Rockford Boylan's Male Athlete of the Year as well as being a two-time All-Conference pick, is expected to make an immediate impact upon the Saints' backcourt.

This year's backcourt will "be defined by its speed and quickness, as well as our ability to hit the outside shot," said Eberhart. The frontcourt will be very deep as four of the five players are seniors.

Eberhart added, "I'm very excited about the upcoming season. We have a hard working group that is playing very well together. If they stay together and continue to improve every day we could be very dangerous come tournament time."