Roybell Baez begins his second season as the coach of the Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team and this year's team has plenty of talent as they just finished up two weeks of official practice.

                The Cougars will wrap up the scrimmage season on Friday (Oct. 17) and then will have a couple weeks to get ready for the upcoming season when they open at home Halloween afternoon at 3 p.m. against Snow College.

                Before that, the Cougars will have a Cougar Madness, a meet and greet basketball season on Wednesday, October 22 at 6:30 p.m.

                Noah Jones, a redshirt sophomore from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, said this team has been putting in plenty of work to get ready for the season.

                "Practices have been good. We compete often," Jones said. "We have a lot of competitive players. Coach started us off early on with like getting everybody on the same page. We have a lot of guys, a lot of camaraderie all throughout the team, all 15, and practices have been going good."

                The Cougars have been hard at it with several scrimmages and Jones has seen a marked improvement after all the scrimmages.

                "The scrimmages have been good. Obviously, we are flowing as a team," Jones said. "I think we won our first two and lost against Southwestern Illinois. That was just figuring out how flowing as a team. The jamborees have been fun. It's been fun getting on the floor with our full team against other guys. We are looking forward to that and having a big show Friday (in the Colorado jamboree)."

                Jones added that the team is getting excited for the season opener against Snow and Dodge City Community College Oct. 31 and November 1.

                "The entire team is excited. Our coaches are excited. We've been putting in a lot of work and we are excited and we are ready to get out there."

                WNCC has nine sophomores on the team this year, seven of which played a year ago. The seven that saw action a year ago include Jones, the 6-5 guard from Louisiana; Kellon Harris, the 6-2 guard from Scottsbluff; Isaiah St. Preux, a 6-1 guard from Miramar, Florida; Witold Czerenkiewicz, a 6-5 forward from Poland; Toms Linis, a 6-7 forward from Latvia; Kendrick Preston, a 6-8 center from Miami, Florida; and Dorin Ngerma, a 6-6 wing from Spain.

                The other two include Max Orchard, a 6-4 guard from Loma, Colorado, who red-shirted last year, and Willie Wilson, a 6-2 guard from North Minneapolis, Minnesota. Wilson played two seasons ago and took last year off, but came back to school this year.

                The freshmen include six talented players. They include Xavier Kirkpatrick, a 6-3 guard from Ocala, Florida; Melchi Egbeyemi, a 6-2 guard from London, England; Viktor Lukic-Gavric, a 6-3 guard from Sweden; Amare Jackson, a 6-3 guard from Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Nehemiah Jean Charles, a 6-6 forward from Hollywood, Florida; and Ocean Brobbey, a 6-6 forward from London, England.

                Jones said there is plenty of talent on the team this year as they look to improve upon last year's 14-17 record.

                "We have a lot of talent," Jones said. "The entire team, honestly, is very talented. Like I said, we are just excited to get out there, show the world who the Cougars are."

                And, the public can get a first look at the Cougars at next Wednesday's (October 22) Cougar Madness that begins at 6:30 p.m. with a meet and greet session and fun activities.