Coming into the 2016-17 season, the CWU men’s basketball team will have large shoes to fill in order to remain one of the better teams in the GNAC.

Last season, CWU (18-8, 13-7 GNAC) placed third in the GNAC in scoring offense at 83.3 points per game, just .8 points behind Western Washington University.

This season the Wildcats will have to do that without their three leading scorers Joseph Stroud, Gary Jacobs and Joey Roppo. Also the team lost their fifth-leading scorer in Devin Matthews who all combined for 51.4 points per game 61 percent of the team’s total.

“That’s why guys graduate: to get the younger guys ready to go,” head Coach Greg Sparling said.

Transfer students will be filling the void for the Wildcats this season.

Alaska Anchorage transfer senior guard Dom Hunter will be the biggest addition to CWU after averaging 13.3 points per game coming off the bench in 17 games during the 2014-15 season.

“He’s proven he can score in this conference; we just got to get him to pick up our defensive concepts a little bit better,” Sparling said.

Junior guard Jawan Stepney, a transfer from Cochise College, averaged 11.9 points and 3.9 rebounds per game.

During the team’s’ last spring open gym, junior forward Drake Rademacher was injured and had to have season-ending surgery.

Sparling had to go out and recruit junior center Fuquan Niles from North Idaho College to replace him.

“This is a big man,” Sparling said. “We got to use that to our advantage. I think he’s the type of guy that can score around the basket but also to pick up a lot of fouls so we can get to the free-throw line.”

Size will be a problem for the Wildcats, with everyone on the team 6’7 or under besides the 6’11, Niles.

“Everybody is going to put a couple inches on their roster size,” Sparling said.

This will be extremely important for guys like senior Terry Dawn, who has been playing the stretch forward position for a couple years now.

“Having to guard bigger guys, you just have to be more physical,” Dawn said.

Dawn started in 25 of 26 games, averaging 6.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game for CWU, and was the only returning starter from last season.

Sophomore guard Naim Ladd will be the highest leading scorer from last years’ team, averaging 10.2 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.

“I feel like, with my teammates, I have to get everyone else involved,” Ladd said. “I’m going to try to do more this year by assisting more and getting everyone else involved.”

Even with the team lacking size, Dawn believes that this team will be armed with a strong defense, which will help other areas of the game.

“We’re going to be really good defensively,” Dawn said. “It’ll be able to spark our offense and we have a lot of good shooters, lot of good scorers. I think we’ll be able to get up and down the floor pretty well this year.”

The Wildcats are ranked third in the GNAC preseason poll, while receiving one vote for first place. Alaska Anchorage and Western Washington ranked above the Wildcats in the preseason poll.

“We’re aiming for first [place], of course,” Ladd said. “We should be ranked [first], in my opinion, but we’re the underdogs—we’re coming for everybody.”

Sparling noted some tough challenges early in their nonconference schedule, including two games against California State San Bernardino and Monterey Bay, Pac-12 school Washington State University, Dixie State and Minnesota State University Mankato.

“We get thrown right into the fire right away,” Sparling said.

CWU’s first game of the year will be against D-III Pacific Lutheran University on Friday, Nov. 4.

“We got a lot of good new players coming in; we got a good group returning as well,” Dawn said. “I’m excited for the first game November 4.”