CHADRON, Neb. – Chadron State men's basketball will open up its 2024-25 season this weekend, and for the seventh year in a row, they will open by playing two Texas teams from the Lone Star Athletic Conference.

The Eagles will usher in the Chris Francis era with a game against Texas A&M International in Laredo at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, then will face Texas A&M-Kingsville in Kingsville at 5 p.m. on Saturday. 
Francis, CSC's new coach, believes his Eagles will be competitive and says it's time to take the court.

"I've been pleased with our players' work ethic, their talent and their attention to detail during our practices," Francis said. "We're kind of sore and beat up, and we're tired of going against each other. We need to get the season started."

Francis, who previously had a 176-94 record as the head coach at the University of Science and Arts in Oklahoma, put his new team together in a hurry. He moved to Chadron in mid-July and inherited five players from last year's roster along with two existing commits.

Within a couple of weeks, Francis had signed seven players from the transfer portal along with the team's lone freshman, giving him 15 candidates for playing time. All of them remain on the team and are just as eager as their coach to open the season.

 "We've had good competition in practice," Francis said. "I won't be afraid to play any of them. I think we'll have balanced scoring. We'll have a big, athletic, physical team."

Because of the team's size and athleticism, Francis says the Eagles will be capable of "playing above the rim," mixing some lobs and dunks into the offense and hopefully dominating the rebounding. He added that while he likes to play a fast-paced game, the team may slow the tempo at times so "the bigs" can do their thing at both ends of the floor. 

Francis stated a goal of averaging 20 assists per game, which would be an improvement over last year's CSC team, which averaged 14 per contest.

The Roster
Francis says it may take a while to figure out the rotation. He seems equally excited about his starters and the players who will be coming off the bench.

Probable starters could include point guard Zach Smith and forwards Jaylen Davis, Trey Harris, John Jenkins and Darrius Miles. All are Francis's recruits except Jenkins, who was the third leading scorer on last year's team. Smith is 6-foot-3, while Davis, Harris, Jenkins and Miles are all over 6-foot-5, with Miles the tallest of the bunch at 6-foot-11.

The majority of the new additions are junior college transfers. Smith hails from Connecticut and played in Baltimore City Community College, while he put up 12 points per game in just 15.3 minutes per game. 

Davis comes to Chadron from Pratt Community College in Kansas, where he averaged 10.2 points and 6.5 rebounds per game while shooting 56 percent from the field. Harris played at New Mexico Junior College, shooting 46.3 percent from the floor for the Thunderbirds. 

Miles comes to the Eagles with Division I pedigree, previously playing two seasons for the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers of Conference USA and last year for UT Arlington, who competes in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). In 2023-24, Miles appeared in 14 games off the bench for UT Arlington, shooting 44 percent from the field. 

The bench could include a pair of "Treys" who have demonstrated outstanding outside shooting in preseason and could knock down some "treys", or three-pointers. 

Trey Ballard, who was on last year's roster but played in only five games before sustaining a knee injury, and Treyson Neff have both displayed an ability to knock down the outside shot. Treyson Neff is on the team alongside his brother, Tyson Neff. The twins transferred to CSC from College of the Redwoods, a community college in California, and had committed to join the Eagles early last fall. 

Also available is 6-3 senior Dalton Peterson, a full-time starter for CSC last year when he made 68 treys while shooting 40% from behind the arc. 

"He's experienced in our conference and is an outstanding leader," Francis said of Peterson.

The coach also believes 6-foot-5 Julio Phipps, who was a reserve on last year's CSC team, will provide solid help around the basket and inject some energy into the lineup when CSC's starting bigs need a break. Francis also speaks highly of Jalen Thomas, a 6-1 senior transfer who was most recently at Division I's Tarleton State, calling him "a point guard who can score." Francis referred to Gaebreal Perry, a junior transfer from San Diego Miramar College, as "a menace on defense." 

Zy Wright, a highly regarded 6-foot-5 transfer from Lone Star Conference's Texas-Permian Basin, recently returned to practice after preseason health issues and may see limited action on the season's opening weekend. 

The Opponents
Texas A&M International will have already played three games when the Eagles meet them in Laredo on Friday night. The Dustdevils went 1-2 during a classic at Montana State-Billings last weekend, losing 81-58 to Rogers State of Oklahoma, Coach Francis's alma mater, and to the host Yellowjackets 67-55. They defeated Alaska Anchorage 65-51. International had an 18-12 record last season but return only two players from that team on this year's roster.  

Kingsville returns about half of its team from a year ago, when the Javelinas were 6-21. They defeated North American University from Houston 67-57 in an exhibition game Monday night and will host South Dakota Mines on Friday night before the Eagles arrive Saturday night.

The Eagles haven't fared well against either school traditionally, as they are 1-5 all-time against both schools they will play this weekend. In 2018-19, the CSC men, then coached by Houston Reed, defeated International 61-54. Last fall, the Eagles, under the direction of Shane Paben, beat Kingsville 109-70. Both victories were in the Chicoine Center. 

The Schedule
After their Texas trip, Chadron State also will play two games the following weekend, November 14-15, in the venerable Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City. The opponents in KC will be longtime Division II power Northwest Missouri State and NAIA school Ottawa University from Kansas.

CSC's first home game will be on Friday, November 22 against the Sioux Falls Cougars. Only four of the Eagles' 13 games prior to Christmas will be in the Chicoine Center. The others will be against Nebraska-Kearney (Nov. 30), South Dakota Mines (Dec. 5) and Central Christian of Kansas, another NAIA opponent (Dec. 16).  

In a change from previous years, the RMAC will play their conference games on Thursday and Saturday each week, rather than Friday and Saturday.

More highlights from the conference season include home games against two of the league's three projected top teams when the Eagles host Colorado School of Mines on January 9 and Regis on January 11, and a home rivalry clash with Black Hills State on January 30.