Tops Emphasize Need for Championship Effort at Media Day

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — WKU Hilltopper Basketball head coach Rick Stansbury said he can understand why his program was picked sixth Friday in the Conference USA Preseason Coaches' Poll, but more importantly, he said that's not where they ever plan to end up.

In fact, Stansbury said he never wants anyone in his program shooting for less than a championship.

"That's what I hope everybody comes to work for every day," Stansbury said at Friday's media day at WKU. "I hope that's what everybody comes to practice for every day. I say this all the time, if it's not a championship effort, it's not good enough. We won't let any type of thing that has happened be a distraction or be a reason for us not to go compete for a championship."

The Hilltoppers were selected behind two-time defending C-USA champion Middle Tennessee, UAB, Louisiana Tech, Old Dominion and UTEP.

WKU will look to move its way up the standings into championship contention throughout the year with a roster that features nearly all newcomers.

The only returning scholarship player is senior forward Justin Johnson, who was named to the All-C-USA Preseason Team for the second straight season. Johnson, the team's only four-year player, was a second-team all-conference selection last year after leading WKU with 14.5 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.

"My main goal is to try and win a ring this year," Johnson said. "That's the one thing I don't have here. I'm trying to go out my senior year with a ring. If I do that, my career will be set here. That's all I care about at this point is a ring."

Helping with that pursuit will be several new faces with experience at the highest level, including graduate transfers Darius Thompson and Dwight Coleby.

Thompson, a 6-foot-4 guard, previously played for Virginia and Tennessee and has played in three NCAA Tournaments. Coleby, a 6-9 forward, played for Kansas and Ole Miss and has played in the tournament twice.

Redshirt junior guard Lamonte Bearden also previously took Buffalo to the NCAA tourney twice at Buffalo.

"I think we have the chance to be really good," Thompson said. "We have a lot of talented pieces, a lot of talented players. We're really athletic for pretty much every position, we have athletes who can get up and go. To say how many wins we can get, nobody really knows that. It's the effort and energy we put in every night. Hopefully we play hard and to the best of our ability we'll get a win. … I think we have a chance to compete every night and put ourselves in a situation to win games."

The roster also features four freshmen in a nationally recognized recruiting class and sophomore junior college transfer Moustapha Diagne.

Stansbury and the seniors were complimentary of what the freshmen bring to the table, and Coleby said it's the veterans' job to continue to set the tone.

"We just show the younger guys how they should work and how they should compete to win every day, whether it's in practice or in games or off the court," Coleby said. "We just try to give them what they need to be successful."

The Hilltoppers will open their season with an exhibition game for hurricane relief at Samford at 1 p.m. Sunday in Birmingham, Ala. WKU will then play home exhibitions against Campbellsville (Nov. 1) and Cumberland University (Nov. 7) before opening the regular season at home against Missouri State on Nov. 10.

Conference USA Men's Basketball Coaches Preseason Poll
1. Middle Tennessee (8)
2. UAB (4)
3. Louisiana Tech (2)
4. Old Dominion
5. UTEP
6. WKU
7. Marshall
8. Charlotte
9. UTSA
10. Southern Miss
11. North Texas
12. Florida Atlantic
13. Rice
14. FIU

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Players Mentioned

Lamonte Bearden

Dwight Coleby

Moustapha Diagne

Justin Johnson

Darius Thompson

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