New Blog Look

Hello Warrior fans, as a new season is upon us it was time to give the blog an update so this will be the new look of the blog for the 2009-2010 season. As a team we are thrilled to be starting a new season and look forward to giving you fans another exciting season of Warrior basketball. Many of the players are now back on campus and getting ready for school to start next Monday. Cannot believe it is time! GO WARRIORS!!!

2009-2010 Roster Finalized

Hey Warrior fans, hope everyone is getting excited for the upcoming season. WSU has been busy over the past week as fall sports teams are back and working hard. It is great to see the excitement in the air as each program is expecting great things this season. It will be another great year for Warrior athletics!

Our 2009-10 roster is updated and finalized. (http://www.winonastatewarriors.com/roster.aspx?path=mbball) Click to view
As you will see we have added 4 new players. Zander Culver, Xavier Humphery and Kellen Taylor all signed back during the early signing period last fall and CJ Erickson is transferring in from the University of Evansville after playing a season with the Purple Aces. CJ is originally from Minnetonka High School where he helped lead his team to the 2008 4A State Championship. We are very excited to have all four of the outstanding student-athletes joining an squad which went 24-9 last season with an second round appearance in the NCAA tournament.
Some other changes you will notice to the roster is the numbers that guys will be wearing for this upcoming year. Having ordered new uniforms has allowed our guys to change numbers if they wanted to and many of them did. The new uniform order has been submitted and we soon go to press. The uniforms will be custom made uniforms from Ripon Athletics, which is located in Berlin, Wisconsin. The people over there do a great job coming up with uniform designs and with the help of Eric Malvik we will have another set of uniforms made specifically for Winona State.
Finally, all of the team members will be reporting back to Winona, next week as school get into full swing on August 24th. It is an great time to be back on campus and everyone is ready to get another year in full swing. Keep checking back and hope to see many of you on campus this fall during fall athletic events. GO WARRIORS!!!!

New School Year Almost Here!

Hi Warrior fans!  Hope everyone is doing well and getting excited for another big season from the Warriors.  Here are some updates on our team and former players....congratulations to Jonte' and Jen Flowers who tied the knot back on July 25th in Madison, Wisconsin.  It was a wonderful wedding and very nice to see how happy those to look together.  Nice looking couple!!!!!....Quincy Henderson has made it to the playoffs with his team over in Australia.  His team looks like it has finished in second place in there division and will be taking on the top team in the other division.  Good luck Quincy in the playoffs, bring back the title...The new uniforms are looking very nice and a decision on them will be finalized soon.  All I can say is we are staying with what the voters wanted we will be white for home games and black on the road.  They are going to look very sharp...Finally our guys are finishing up with there summers and getting ready to come back here to Winona in a couple of weeks.  Our freshman will be reporting here on the 18th of August with the rest of the guys coming in during that week.  We will be having a nice squad once again this year and as a staff we look forward to working with all 15 guys.  Well that is all I have for now, check back soon for updates as we are getting close to starting the season!!!  Go Warriors!

Thanks for your support!

Hi, Warrior fans, the basketball program would like to thank all those who supported Warrior Athletics by taking part in the Warrior Club Golf Tournament this past Monday. We had a great turnout and it was fun to see many familiar faces that we see at all Warrior athletic events. Without the support of you Warrior athletics would not be where they are today, thank you!!!! As for the golf I am not sure what team turned in the winning score but I heard it was a 16-17 under par that took home the title. Congrats to all those who took home prizes as well, there were some very nice prizes this year and thanks to all those who donated them to the event. Now we can look forward to homecoming weekend and the Warrior Club auction which will be on Oct. 3rd....As for basketball news not much going on right now, the recruiting period is coming to an end as we only have a 1 1/2 weeks left in the current period. It has been fun going out to watch many of the top players in the Midwest play, the Midwest region is not short on talent this season and I think it just shows that basketball continues to get better in the Midwest. Well that is all for now, but check back next week as we will have another update.

GO WARRIORS!!!!!!!!

New uni's and other items

Hey Warrior fans, time for another update on what is going on with our program. First off we will be getting new uniforms for the upcoming season. We are currently looking at some designs for them so if anyone has a suggestion pass it on. I have posted a poll asking what color our dark uniforms should be. We obviously will have a white uniform but in the past we have gone with black or purple. So should we go back to purple or stay with black?
On a couple of other side notes. Former Warrior John Smith is down in Las Vegas right now playing in a tournament which features some of the top players looking to go over seas to play for the up coming season. A ton of coaches and scouts from all over the world are in Vegas here for the next couple of weeks to watch players play in this tournament and the NBA Summer League....We had a new Warrior join our family a couple of weeks ago when Chad and Lisa Barfnecht had their second child, a baby girl, congrats Chad and Lisa!!!......Quincy Henderson checked in the other day and his team is currently in 2nd place on there side of the region. If his team can hold onto this spot they will continue on into the playoff that start at the end of August....Well that is all for now Warrior fans keep checking back as I will continue to update this more and more with the new school year fast approaching.

GO WARRIORS!!!!

Summer Update

Hey Warrior fans, yes I know it has been a very LONG time since I last blogged but it has been a very busy summer and I finally found a couple of minutes here to give an update on everything that has been going on. Now I just have to figure out where to start.

Updates on our current team. We are pretty much set for next season with everyone signed up for classes now and ready to go. Many of our guys came back to work summer camp and worked out together each day. It was great to see these guys as many went home for the summer so it has had been a while since we had seen them. Our three incoming freshman were also on campus the week of our camp for registration of fall classes, they also had an opportunity to hang out with the rest of the team and workout as well. This was a great experience for them because while they had met many of the players on their visit to WSU last fall this was their first time to really get to know everyone before they come back for school in August.

Updates on our former players. We had a former player get married a couple of weeks back when Travis Whipple tied the knot. It was a wonderful wedding and reception also many of the former players and current players were in attendance for it so it was a little bit of a reunion party. The one great thing many people do not realize about our team is the relationships that were made on the basketball court carry on well past basketball. It was great to see how teammates of the past still keep up on each other and really take interest in supporting other teammates. Also it is great to see how past players go out of there way to talk to current players to catch up with what they are doing and maybe give them a little advice. It was a wonderful day that is for sure.
On to other alumni updates Jonte' Flowers has signed a contract to play basketball over in the top basketball league in France. The team he is going to play for is JA-Vichy. Do not know much about the team yet but here once everything settles down I will be able to give more information for people. Here is the link to the teams website: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.ja-vichy.com/&ei=OCJVSpDyJYeeMLTEwLcB&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.ja-vichy.com/%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

Updates on recruiting. Due to NCAA rules I cannot say much other then we are out watching many great players. We have seen some players we would love to have wear the Warrior uniform and we will continue to watch for others over the next couple of weeks. Trips to watch players play include going to Milwaukee (twice), Chicago, the Twin Cities, Kansas City and who knows where else it might take us. I must admit I really enjoy this time of year even though the travel can get long, seeing so many kids out there playing the game of basketball with excitement and desire is fun to watch.

Well that is all for now, don't worry I will begin to update this more as we close in on another season. Only 6 weeks until everyone is back at school so summer is coming to an end fast.

GO WARRIORS!!!!

Flowers Goes for Championship

Jonte' Flowers has taken his team to the brink of a championship in the Swedish Basketball League.  Jonte' and his team is gearing up for one more tilt on the season as they will take the floor Tuesday morning (our time), in a game 7, winner take all against Sundsvall.  The Solna Vikings were able to send the series into a game 7 with a win in game 6, 77-69.  In that game Jonte' had 13 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals.  After this final game Jonte' will be heading back to the states and eventually back to Winona where he will be finishing up his degree from Winona St. and continuing to work out over the summer.  He also will be holding individual workouts for any young basketball player who is looking to improve their basketball skills.  We wish Jonte' the best of luck once again and hope he can bring home another title.  

Go Warriors!!