The Colorado Mesa University (CMU) Mavericks enter the 2022 season ranking second in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) coaches poll. The team finished last year with a record of 26-10, and recorded their best NCAA Tournament placement in program history.
The Mavericks made the national tournament as a four seed last season, after being upset by Regis University in the RMAC postseason tournament. CMU defeated Texas A&M Kingsville in round one, and then upset the number one seeded Lubbock Christian University. However, after taking out the top team in their region, they were knocked off by conference rival Black Hills State University during the Sweet 16.
The Mavericks lost longtime starting guards Georgie Dancer and Jared Small to graduation in the offseason, but they are looking forward to having a healthy roster after battling the injury bug last season.
Redshirt sophomore Ethan Menzies missed all of last season after a freak accident during an early practice. The 6’7” forward averaged 15.9 points per game in his redshirt freshman season en route to an RMAC first team selection.
“Losing Ethan [Menzies] disrupted the flow of our offense. We had all these guys who could drive, [but] we need to tweak our offense for guys to get better spacing. Georgie [Dancer’s] and Menzies’ pick-and-rolls worked for us well two years ago, and so losing [that physicality] just made it a little harder. We needed to be a little more diverse with what we were doing offensively, so we spent a lot of the fall trying to clean up our offense to have a better flow, and I think we accomplished that,” head coach Mike DeGeorge said.
Experience will be one of the strengths for the team this year. The Mavericks return seven of their nine leading scorers from last year. Redshirt sophomores Trevor Baskin, Reece Johnson, Blaise Threatt and Mac Riniker all return after playing big roles on last year’s squad.
Baskin is coming off a season where he averaged 13.6 points and over 1 block a game in his first season starting for the Mavericks. The 6’8” forward was forced to play the center role most of the season and had to match up with bigger centers. Baskin was awarded as a member of the All-RMAC team.
“Last year’s success will be implemented into this year’s success. We knew that once our season was over, it was everyone’s goal to become bigger, stronger and better, and we took that to heart and we all pushed ourselves in the offseason. I was pretty frail last season, so I took upon myself to gain weight [this offseason],” Baskin said.
Threatt, who led the team in scoring last season, is likely to return as one of the starting guards. At 6’5”, he has great size for the position, and is a physical driver. Threatt spent the offseason in Australia, training with professional players and with his dad, who was a former NBA player himself. DeGeorge described how practicing with high-level athletes helped Threatt make that next step, which he has already seen in practice.
Redshirt sophomore guard Christopher Speller is another player to look out for. In his freshman season, Speller started 22 of 23 games, and was awarded 2020-21 RMAC freshman of the year. Last year Speller was forced into a bench role, but seems to have found his stride this season.
“He’s been absolutely dominating practice; he’s just a totally different player. It’s kind of back to his approach as a freshman, and he’s added skill and strength, and just really been playing great,” DeGeorge said.
Redshirt sophomore Reece Johnson should also see plenty of minutes as another component of a young but experienced guard rotation. Johnson did a bit of everything last year; he was sixth on the team in scoring, seventh in rebounding and fifth in steals.
This year’s Maverick men’s basketball brings a cohesive unit of young players. While players like Baskin and Menzies are technically only sophomores, they have been in the system for three and four years respectively, giving them vital veteran experience.
“It’s been a cool dynamic in that, yeah we don’t have that clear definitive one leader who’s the alpha dog in the room that everybody’s looking towards but, [the team] has such a strong relationship, and they all have each other’s respect in the locker room. They can all step up to lead and have that vocal presence that will be well received […] They really believe, respect and trust each other,” DeGeorge said.
The oldest players on the team are only redshirt sophomores, so Maverick fans will see these groups of names a lot over the next couple of seasons.
CMU will open their season at home during the D2 Conference Challenge presented by Holiday Inn – Airport on Nov. 11 and 12, where they will take on Lone Star Conference schools St. Edward’s University and Dallas Baptist University at 7 p.m. both days.
