Steve Carpenter
Hutchinson CC Sports Information Director

Twenty win seasons are normally the magic marker for a successful season for college basketball teams.

Finishing 20-12 last season, the Hutchinson Community College men's basketball team felt like it underachieved and look to an almost entirely new cast of players to make its run for third-year head coach Tommy DeSalme.

"I'm really excited for this season," said DeSalme, who is 45-21 in his first two seasons on the Blue Dragon bench. "I think we have a team that has lots of room for growth and is versatile."

The all-time NJCAA leader in program victories with 1,894 opens its 92nd season on Friday with North Idaho in the BSN Sports Tip-Off Classic at 7:30 p.m. at the Sports Arena.

The 2022-23 Blue Dragons were the second-highest scoring team in the NJCAA last season at 97.2 points per game. Leading scorer Aaron Franklin, the Jayhawk Conference's leading scorer from last season, moved onto Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Returning players for DeSalme this season are guards Kernan Bundy, Landon Wagler and forward Dadrevius Weathers.

Bundy (6-foot-3, 190, Overland Park) started in 29 of 32 games last season and is the leading returning scorer. Bundy averaged 9.1 points per game while shooting 37.2 percent overall and 29.1 percent from 3-point range. He had a career-high 28 with five 3-pointers against Northwest Tech last season.

Wagler (6-5, 200, Lenexa) battled through injuries in his freshman season and played in 24 games. The fourth-generation Blue Dragon averaged 1.3 points in 4.0 minutes per game.

Weathers (6-7, 180, Phenix City, Alabama) threw down some show-stopping dunks in his freshman season. He averaged 5.8 points per game in just under 10 minutes played per game.

"We have three strong returners," DeSalme said. "All three of those guys have put in hard work and improved and I look for great seasons by them."

The Dragons have xx transfers added to the mix this season.

Guard Dallas Whitney (6-6, 190, Kansas City, Missouri) is a transfer from Benedictine College. J.P. Ricks (6-1, 170, Baton Rouge, Louisiana) played in the NJCAA National Tournament semifinals for Tallahassee Community College last season. Forward Valentino Simon (6-6, 200) played at Southwest Virginia Community College last season. Kamryn Thomas (6'8, 200, Chicago) played at North Idaho last season,

DeSalme is extremely high on freshman guards Zoe Holman (6-0, 170, Camden, New Jersey), guard/forward Jojo Adeoye (6'4, 210, Lagos, Nigeria), Kobe Smith (6-1, 180, Andover Central) and Russell Branch (6'2, 175, Barnwell, South Carolina. The freshmen forwards are Edwin Daniel (6-9, 220, Washington Heights, NY) and Valentino Simon (6-6, 200, Nassau, Bahamas).

"There are lots of new faces," DeSalme said.

"I'm looking forward to watching our lead guard group (Ricks, Holman, Branch and Smith). They all have the ability to play the pace offensively and defensively that we need to have for success.

"We have lots of hybrid players who can play guard and forward positions (Thomas, Whitney, Adeoye, Simon and Daniel). Thomas and Simon are transfers who give us some experience. Daniel and Simon and Thomas can all play well with back to basket as well."

The Blue Dragons were picked to finish sixth in the Jayhawk Conference preseason coaches' poll.