The Bearkats have a long history of being a solid yet unknown basketball hot bed in the Lone Star State.  This vastly independent state is obviously football country and in Southeastern Texas winter is a time of the year to wait until spring ball starts.  Huntsville is not really a suburb of Houston but it does host the campus named for the first Governor of  the state.  Even in these parts the Bearkats are second fiddle to the Cougars who share their name though their lower Division history is quite impressive.  Coach Archie Porter had a nice little run and was responsible for bringing in a nice group of players including Lister and they dominated NAIA, at least in their region.  But that was then and this is now and the Bearkats have joined many of their brethren (including the hated Lumberjacks of SFA) in the big leagues.  Well, at close as they can get in the Southland conference.  This fledgling conference is an off shoot of the SWC with all of it’s schools located in Texas and Louisiana and most of them happy to get any shot at the big time.  Think of this league as the Colonial of the Midwest. Don’t get me wrong, the Bearkats are extremely happy to be here and the competition is the right level for them but they would not mind getting a little more attention.  When they were dominating NAIA competition and the admin was amping up to be ready for Division One they moved from the little 200 seat Men’s Gym they were playing in to 6100 seat Bernard Johnson Coliseum.  The problem is the only game that it even comes close to filling up with orange clad fans is when the Lumberjacks travel over from Nacogdoches for one of their epic battles.  That is too bad because this team has the talent especially up front to play with anyone on a given night.  Well maybe not the Cougars with that epic front line but anybody else in Texas for sure. 

 Leading the way will once again be stalwart James Lister an All-Confernce selection for the second straight season.  Lister is the Bearkats.  He lead the team in scoring and rebounding once again and at times looked like he was out of place in the lowly Southland Confernce.  If Lister were a little meaner he would be a shoein at the next level but Big James does not worry about such things.  He just likes to take care of business and to him that means being the best player the Bearkats have and probably ever will have.  The shy kid opens up when he is on the court and can flat take over games with his low post domination and superb basketball IQ.  He is one of the best big men in Texas and may be one of the best in the country.  The way this kid got here is almost legendary in these parts.  Lister was a six foot six senior that no one had heard of playing in Dallas.  Assistant Coach Bob Williams saw him and liked him and made 31 trips to Dallas to try to convince him (and his Mama) that the Bearkats would soon be a conteneder with him around.  Williams brought him down to Huntsville to hide him out and put on some weight to his ultra skinny frame.  Of course Williams had to talk his ‘Mama’ into this and this was not easy.  Mama Lister is a single mother who understands how the recruiting game is played and when he came back for an all-star game near the end of the summer she wanted her boy to stay the final week of summer with her before going back down south for the school year.  The problem was that during that game where he was a fillin for an injured player Lister had shown off his new strength and height as he has a late growth spurt and was up to six ten.  He dominated the game scoring 18 points, blocked 12 shots and grabbed 23 rebounds and the game was afoot.  Williams and Porter tried to convince Mama Lister that someone would steal her son away and boy did they try with some a PAC 10 school driving up in a cadillac with title in hand.  But she was a woman of her word and a week later Big James enrolled with the Bearkats.  And the rest is almost as legendary as the man who this University was named for.  Lister is the real deal.  He is an old school post up guy who seemingly can score at will and has that knack for being able to grab every board.  Of course he can also block shots and might be the best player this conference has ever seen.  As a matter of fact Lister has the game that even the mighty Cougars would be  happy to have and the Longhorns would give away the ranch to get a center this talented.  The only thing he does not do well is run as Lister seems to play the game at his own pace in his own little world.  With the fast paced wing oriented shooters game baskeball is becoming slumbering big men who dominate the game are not in vogue so the pros might not be as easy as the Southland has been for big James.  But he does not seem to care about all of  that as for now Lister will be the main for the Bearkats for one more year and hopefully get them to the promised land he so wants to carry them to.  And maybe in the process the basketball world will realize there is a true basketball superstar down in Texas that dominates the key like Billy Joel dominates the ivories.  And his name is not weird like Elvin or Hakeem!  It is James!  With a J!  Perhaps forgettable but never to the people of Huntsville! 

Coach Marlin is counting on a group of seniors to lead the team at this level.  Amongst them are Frank Gates, Murray Mitchell, Tom Sewell and Bill Mehrens.  This group are all local talent who are solid players but last year struggled in their transtion to D-1.  Marlin was looking for someone to take off some of the leadership responsibilites from Lister and first up with Mitchell but he struggled with an early foot injury.  He has some size (6’6) and has had a great career here and might even have an outside of continuing playing if he can come back.  Gates is a natural leader and was projected to be the point guard but also came up with a leg injury that cost him some of his effectiveness and shut down his season entirely a third of the way through the campaign. Mehrens was just too small of a wing that didn’t have a chance at this level.  Sewell is the only one that played the entire year and was bumped from his starting role by an up and coming junior stud who complemented Lister well at the four. 

Marlin went looking for support from his underclassmen and found plenty of guys willing to step up and take on the number two leadership role behind Lister.  Leading the way was the aforementioned frontcourtmate Robert White who has become accustomed to being Lister’s second fiddle.  The fellow junior has ran the court alongside Lister for the last two years at Sam Houston and his tough style is a great support to Lister’s smooth game.  White is a banger who fights for every rebound down low and has the size at six eight to complement his buddy well.  He is the Martin to Lister’s Lewis as there timing down low is impeccable.  White can also score mainly with putbacks and a deft inside touch but like Lister does not get up and down the court very quickly.  Some look at White as the enforcer next to the main guy ala Dave Semenko next to the Great One but he is much more than that though you cannot tell by his missing four games due to altercations and technicals.  Not to worry the Bearkats had plenty of  big guys ready to play next to the legend. 

Sophomore Bruce Allen is another solid low post guy who can score and board and gives the team great depth up front.  Allen played a bunch of minutes at both positions and has a solid game though no one will confuse him with Lister.  At 6’6 240 this Austin product is more of an enforcer than anything but does give Marlin some solid minutes.  Fellow Sophomore Yoomy Songodeyi also showed a great deal of potential in the post for the Bearkats.  Songodeyi is a big man with unlimited upside who cannot help but be motivated by Lister’s work ethic and motivation to succeed.  This Nigerian (he is no nightmare yet) is a true project who has much room to improve and was primarily a backup for Lister and is learning how to play by guarding that smooth oeprator every day in practice.  It cannot hurt anybody to play around one of the great role models in the sport and btw this whole crew could be seen playing some pickup games down in Houston with the Dream himself.  

The real find was first year stud Anthony Carroll at the three.  More of an inside player than outside, Carroll was huge once he got into the starting lineup.  He split time with sneior Johnny Schneer most of the year.  Schneer who is the not the love child of two of the Sex Pistols who actually played near here on thier only US tour is a solid all-around player but is not as dynamic at least on the offensive end at Carroll.  Carroll should start but he needs to improve his outside game and defense if he wants to hang in there with D-1 talent.  Sewell can also play here as well but this is Carroll’s job at least for now. 

The problem was not the front court as Coach Marlin seems to have a plethora of talent to choose from up front.  The issue wsa the backcourt. Sophomore Scott Horstman handled most of the point guard duties after Gates went down and did a solid job of leading the team.  Horstman is not incredibly quick or athletic but is a great passer and understands the game.  He knows one simple thing and he needs to get the ball to the big guys for the Bearkats to win.  He has ample support in Junior Mike Newell and sophomore Bruce Hodges who is similar to Horstman in style.  This duo knows where there bread is buttered and get the ball to the big guys and play defense.  The two guard was even thinner with Mehrens playing along side senior Al Adams, junior Terry Mathis, sophomore Regi Harris for at least the first half of the season.  None of this group is dynamic enough to put the team on their back and are not enough of a threat scoring to take presssure off the big guys. The shooting guard was rotated between Harris and Hodges the final half of the year.  Hodges is solid and could push Horstman next season and is obviously much more of a scorer. Marlin has a large group of players who shined on the JV and will push for more minutes this year including Sophomores Anthony Carroll and Derrick Gilliam on the wings Tracy ‘Tank’ Pearson, Ron Battle and James Holcombe up front and Tim Keyes in the backcourt.  Any of these kids could move up the totem pole quickly as there room at the top besides the top avatar which is all Mr. Lister’s.  But as you can also see there is not much coming up to help on the perimeter as most of last year’s recruits already got playing time on the varsity and Marlin is recruting accordingly including a couple of big time guards who might just start right away.      Overall Coach Marlin used several players and many different lineups trying to get a look at a relatively young team especially after a slew of injuries sidelines most of his seniors.  The Bearkats still had a solid season with all the shuffling and are looking forward to going for the gold next season.  They might not be the Cougars of Houston but this team has an excellent front line who in the Southland conference is as good as it gets and of course has one of the best big men that nobody knows about in the entire country.  When a team has a player as talented as James Lister leading them into battle you know this team will fight until the end of every game of the season.  If the supporting cast improves to the point they are anywhere near Lister’s level especially in the back court the Bearkats could easily get their chance to go dancing next year!