New class gives Kirkwood chance to repeat
Bryan Petersen is not satisfied with winning just one national title with the Kirkwood men's basketball program. He wants another title this coming season and perhaps more championships after that.
It's not that Petersen is greedy. And he certainly understands how tough it will be to repeat as the NJCAA Division II national champs after hoisting the trophy in March.
It's simply a statement of fact at Kirkwood: All their teams want to compete at the highest levels and winning titles.
"That's what we're here for and that's what I talk about," Petersen said Wednesday in his office at Johnson Hall. "I think there's going to be a good amount of pressure on this team and on me, and that's fine, because we accomplished something great last year."
The Eagles return six players from their championship team and a seventh (Chris King) who joined the club at mid-year and was red-shirted. Now Petersen has signed eight new players for the 2016-17 campaign and probably will have a ninth newcomer in the fold in the next few days.
As it turned out, winning the national title was a two-edged sword on the recruiting trail this spring and summer. Lots of talented players wanted to join the Eagles, but Petersen had only a limited number of spots with seven guys returning.
"This was probably the hardest recruiting year, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense since we just won the national championship," he said. "I probably had to tell kids "no" more than ever, which is not a fun part of this job, because they really wanted to be at Kirkwood. Read more...
