San Marcos is a suburb of Austin where many a young film maker goes to make their beloved gems.  Ask Richard Linklater about this cozy little small town that fits the Texas reputation so well.  After all there really is no Dillon Texas!   Even with the competition of the Longhorns playing just up the road (San Marcos is only sixty miles away from Austin) with their faithful (and we all know those hookem horns have a lot of faithful) Strahan Coliseum is still filled to the brim on a regular basis.  And no it was not named after the gap toothed one (he is from Texas but went to Texas Southern).  The Bobcats have no issues with support in this town and Jowers understands that last year was a stepping stone season jumping into the fray of D-1 basketball and the Southland.  He also knows he has a group of seniors that have tasted glory at the lower levels and wants nothing more to send them out as champions at this entirely new level.   

Coach Jowers has for years in NAIA dominated with great coaching and working his kids to the point that they were on the brink of death sort of like his compadre Bear Bryant.  There was never a better named coach than Milton Jowers who is infamous for berating his kids (and whoever else gets in his way) and does not seem to like anyone.  He went to Southwest Texas at the same time as LBJ and claims not to have liked him much but voted for him anyway as Class President only because he was a Democrat.  This old school roughneck has built a team based on fundamentals, his double post offense and being in great shape.  He gets as tough of kids as you can find but does not get many blue chippers wanting to come and play in the Texas Heat even this close to Austin maybe due to his reputation.  Still, there are some standout players on the Bobcats team coming into this season.  These kids have an incredible work ethic and are tough as nails but they are not very big. If someone wants to take a gamble one a pair six five post players then this is your team. 

By far the best player ever to play for Texas State is Senior Charles Sharp.  This six five post player epitomizes the kind of player Jowers loves.  Not big at six five and skinny as a pole, Sharp gets the job done with his great work ethic and his uncanny knack for being in the right place at the right time.  Don’t get me wrong this is not luck.  Sharp understands the game and knows how to get position with the best of them.  He also understands that to be able to get his shot off he better have a quick trigger.  Sharp uses his skinny frame to get his quick shot off by positioning at the absolute right angle every time.  He easily led the team in scoring with over 15 a game but is far from a selfish player.  He knows that in Jowers double post offense that the role of the post player is to score when he gets the ball and that is what he does.  To be honest Sharp is not a great board guy and he gets outjumped or outmuscled way too often but man does he understand Jowers offense and there could be no better player to implement it.  Sure, he might not get a shot at the next level (six five post guys that are rail thin and don’t board or defend well are not in high supply up there) but Sharp is a legend here and will never be replaced.  Now, can he prove that he can carry a team to glory at this level as he did in the NAIA when he led the Bobcats to a national title? 

Fellow Senior J. C. Maze is an old school player who is a huge part of the success of this program.  But in the words of SE Hinton ‘that was then and this is now!’  His consistency and leadership have kept this team balanced.  Maze is a banger inside.  Not huge by any standards, he still loves the work underneath and grabs more than his fair share of errant shots.  As tough as they come, Maze does not back down from anyone.  His rivalry with James Lister of Sam Houston has become legendary.  Their near rumble in December led to some bad feelings between these two teams.  Still, Maze did not give in to anyone even if there were more talented players opposing him at his position.  Jowers loves Maze’s style but even he realized after last year that this team must get bigger up front and has recruited a couple of monsters to change all of that.  And he already has one behemoth on his roster though he has been hesitant to throw him in while he is still ‘developing.’

Junior Bruce Featherston is a viable option up front if he ever gets on the court.  Featherston is a big kid (six eleven 225) who takes up space and can board but has a limited offensive game and at times during the last two years has become Jowers whipping boy.  He did dominate on the JV squad averaging well over 13 a game and Jowers cannot hide him down there for another year while he seasons. He is still a project but you can’t teach size. Featherston will play this year but will Jowers pull the trigger to replace either Sharp and Maze?  

Besides Featherston, Jowers has several other solid big men to choose from for next year to supplement Maze and Sharp.  Seniors Gary Mullen and Bill Banks have held the role as primary backups to the two vangaurds for three years but that might not last with the new kids coming in and the juniors to be who are just flat better athletes.  If Jowers wasn’t so old school he might have (and should have) given these third year players more of a chance in the past but Lord, Jowers is a stubborn man.  He did play them the second half and they made a huge impact. Travis Cornett, Willie Terrell and Steve Frontz seem to be at the top of the food chain for now or at least are next in line to eat.  Cornett, a junior, started the season as the first option off the bench and kept that role for most of the year.  He is tough on the boards and can really score but like many of Jowers boys is not big enough (six five) for even the Southland though he can jump for a white boy.  Still, he has some game as his patented hook shot highlights a solid low post game.  Terrell, also a junior, has the same issue but is further down the food chain and played most of last year next to Featherston on the JV.  He has some game as well and he too can score and board.  Frontz is another solid big man but could be lost in the shuffle moving up from JV.  The sad thing for the juniors is that they have bided their time in line behind the two stalwarts but as Jowers feels the heat after an average first season in D-1 to get much bigger, these kids might be left in the dust by some new recruits one supposedly coming all the way from Oslo via a JC.  Featherston is the only one big enough to hang at this level but might be the first one without a chair as Jower’s goes younger albeit kicking and screaming. 

The team leader going into the season is no doubt Senior Lewis Gilcrease.  He has that knack that makes other players around him better.  He did not lead the team in any single category except he was the main man.  Lewis, as Jowers calls him, was a huge part of the team’s national success in the NAIA as he has a much more diverse game than he is given credit for.  He can handle Jowers duel posts but can also swing it out a bit and swish jumpers.  Gilcrease missed some games during the season due to injuries and others had to step up and take over the leadership role and they did.  Gilcrease was part of the front court that dominated Bobcat basketball but at six two had to transition to back court.  Coach Jowers is adept at teaching big men the skills that help big men grow into better players but if you think Sharp was undersized than Gilcrease is a midget.  He was one of the players Jowers (unwillingly by the way) cut back on minutes as the season went on as he was getting some younger (and bigger) blood on the court.  Gilcrease accepted this and by the end of the year was barely playing but his status as one of the building blocks of this team’s program is in tact.  He is still penciled in to start for Jowers this year but that will almost assuredly change with some of the athletic wings the old school coach is bringing in. 

Assistant Coach Vernon McDonald, himself a recent graduate and a protégé of Coach Jowers and his heir apparent, has tried to shape a decent backcourt together.  He has seniors Rudy Davalos, Boonie Wilkening, Jimmy Littleton, Henry Garcia and Juniors James Patrick and Mike Fitzhugh to man the guard positions.  Davalos is the catalyst and the captain of the team. A great defensive point guard who shuts down the other team’s best Davalos is also a good set up guy who gets the offense going.  Davalos is a very cerebral player who gets by on smarts and talent.  Nobody questioned his leadership or his ability to perform in the clutch. But like most of the Bobcats, he is undersized (5’9) for his position and though quick is not exactly athletic.  Wilkening and Littleton are wiley old veterans of the Jowers world who started the year getting minutes but were soon demoted to the end of the bench as the team obviously needed more speed on the perimeter.  Littleton was the first star here so that was tough on the fans and Jowers and Wilkening can flat shoot his patented jump shot but he has a hard time guarding at this level. Garcia should battle for a starting spot as this combo guard can really get to the hoop.  He can pass as well and is a solid defender but his best asset is his ability to slip through the defense and score.  He might not start but this kid will play. Patrick is a terrific scorer as well who played better as the season increased.  By the end of the year he was a primary option and his ability to produce was a huge factor in the improvement of the Bobcats the second half.  He is no Joe Dumars but is clutch and might be the best offensive player on the roster.  He will almost for sure start at one wing like he did the last 10 games last season.   Fitzhugh is a true point and the best assist man on the team but is stuck behind Davalos and Garcia.  He has run the JV team for two years and did a good job but does not score and might not play much until his senior year if at all on varsity. 

The Southwest Texas State Bobcats may not have burned up the basketball world.  AS a matter of fact they were about as average as a team could be.  And in a smaller conference like this that is not all that impressive.  Still, the Bobcats did give ultimate effort every night and they did entertain the faithful of San Marcos with their incredible desire on a nightly basis.  A team can have all the heart in the world but it must have a little bit of talent mixed in to make a difference.  Coach Jowers can only do so much magic as this is not the NAIA anymore as talent almost always wins out at this level.  Jowers did seem to have been coasting a bit as there are rumors he will take his patented old school authoritarian style to the football program next year.  Heaven Help us All!