Men's Basketball
2007-08 Preview/Recap

Trinity University Tigers men’s basketball head coach Pat Cunningham will be in a familiar position during the 2006-07 campaign.

When the Trinity Tigers hit the floor, you can be sure that an effort of 1,000 percent will be made by the players.

Coach Pat Cunningham believes that if determination and pride have anything to do with success, than this year’s team has a chance to win a lot of games.  The 2007-2008 Tigers have returned to campus insistent on improving on last year’s results.  A string of four straight regular season or SCAC tournament championships was broken.  In addition it was the first time in five years that Trinity has not participated in postseason play.  This year’s team has worked extremely hard in the off season and the early season practices to get this team back to a “championship level”.

“We pride ourselves on being competitive,” said Coach Cunningham, in his ninth year at the Tigers’ helm. “We have a lot of people who played a lot of minutes last year. It will be an interesting challenge this season.   This group was not part of a championship team and we hope to rebuild the legacy. Our goal every year is to win conference.”

Coach Cunningham and his Tigers have won four Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships since he took over the program in 1999. The best run was at the SCAC Tournament in Memphis, Tenn., at Rhodes College, with Trinity bringing home the top prize from 2003 to 2005 and four straight trips to the NCAA tournament from 2003 to 2006.  

Last season, the Tigers went 16-12 overall and 8-6 in the SCAC. Trinity advanced to the SCAC Tournament final for the fourth time in five years having won their three previous trips to the finals.

Trinity, seeded fourth at the conference tournament, edged No. 5 Oglethorpe 50-49 in the opening round. The Tigers then defeated top-seeded DePauw 77-72 in the semifinals. The No. 2 Centre College Colonels won the tournament with a 72-57 victory over the Tigers.

Three starters return to the lineup, including Charles Houston, a 6-foot-2 junior forward from Seguin (Seguin). Houston, an All-SCAC Third Team honoree, tied for the lead in scoring with 10.5 points per game. He led in rebounds with 5.7 per contest and had 57 total steals. Houston shot 51 percent from the field, hitting 106 of 208.

B.J. Moon, a 6-foot junior guard from San Antonio (Reagan) also was an All-SCAC Third Team performer. Moon scored 8.6 points and 2.3 rebounds per contest. He was second on the squad in steals with 35 and dished out 56 assists.

Mike Gilb, a 6-foot-8 senior center from Mansfield (Fort Worth Nolan Catholic) produced 7.2 points per game and 4.3 rebounds. Gilb made 57.4 percent of his shots, sinking 74 of 129.

Barrett Koch, a 6-foot-3 senior guard from Dallas (Jesuit), will provide leadership on the court. Koch scored 3.6 points per game and had 2.6 rebounds. He also racked up 34 total steals and had 41 assists.

Patrick Robinson, a 6-foot-3 junior guard from Kingwood (NE Christian Academy), scored 6.3 points per game and 1.4 rebounds. Robinson hit 37 of 99 three-pointers (37.4 percent), the best of the returning players. Nick Polidoroff, a 6-foot-5 junior forward from San Mateo, Calif. (Burlingame), had 3.8 points per contest and 2.9 rebounds.

Returning from an injury is Darsh Singh, a 6-foot-3 senior forward from San Antonio (O’Connor).

Also returning are Dwight Lutz, a 6-foot-3 junior guard from Centennial, Colo. (Littleton); Jonathan Lewis, a 6-foot-7 junior forward from The Woodlands (Oak Ridge). Two Tiger sophomores are Michael Tobolowski, a 6-foot-3 guard from Dallas (Greenhill School) and Peter Garatoni, a 6-foot-5 forward from San Antonio (MacArthur).

The Tigers lost three seniors to graduation, Brandon York, Adam Culver and Casey Hill.

Trinity held a slight 63.3 points-per-game edge in scoring, as opponents averaged 63.2 points. The Tigers outshot their opponents by hitting 42.2 percent (616 of 1,460) from the field, to 41.4 percent (614 of 1,484). The opposition led in rebounds, with an average of 35.3 to 32.5.

Two of the four newcomers are from Katy Taylor High School: Luke Caldarera, a 6-foot-5 first-year forward from Houston and Austin Oxener, a 6-foot-3 first-year guard from Katy. Sam Dworkin is a 6-foot-4 first-year forward from Portland, Ore. (Lincoln). Bart Taylor, a 5-foot-9, sophomore guard from San Antonio (St. Mary’s Hall) transferred from Concordia University in Austin.

The Tigers begin their campaign at the University of Chicago Midway Classic Nov. 17 and 18. The first game in the friendly confines of Sams Gym will be Nov. 20 against the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.

Trinity opens its SCAC home schedule Nov. 30 with Austin College and hosts Colorado College on Dec. 2. The Tigers will compete in the Southwestern/Trinity Finals Classic Dec. 17 and 18 at Southwestern University in Georgetown. Turn about is fair play as the Tigers will host the Trinity/Southwestern Holiday Classic Dec. 29 and 30.

Southwestern comes to town Jan. 12, while Rhodes and Birmingham-Southern make the trip Jan 18 and 20, respectively. The Tigers get another crack at Centre, this time at home on Feb. 1. An always tough DePauw team is on the slate the next night. Trinity wraps up its regular-season home conference schedule the weekend of Feb. 15-17. The Tigers will host Hendrix on Feb. 15 and Millsaps on the 17^th.

The SCAC Championship tournament is slated for Feb. 29 through March 2 in Conway, Ark., with Hendrix serving as the host team. The winner will receive the SCAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs.