Eagles back for more

Eastern Washington sailed through uncharted waters last year and the Eagles have no intention of turning back.

The Eagles won their first Big Sky Conference men’s basketball championship, hosted the conference tournament and went to the NCAA Tournament for the first time.

Then they flirted with history, battling seventh-ranked and second-seeded Oklahoma State to a standstill in the first half before falling 75-56.

“One game and done,” junior point guard Danny Pariseau said. “Nobody wanted it to end, everybody wanted to play one more game. Hopefully that will carry over.”

The Eagles believe they can return to center stage but it won’t be easy.

Pariseau, who started the final 11 games at point guard, senior forward Marc Axton, a two-time All-Big Sky pick, and sophomore forward Matt Nelson are the only returning starters. Sophomore Paul Butorac is the only other player who appeared in all 30 games and averaged more than 10 minutes.

“We have some great young players in the program, we have a chance to be pretty good in the coming years,” first-year head coach Mike Burns said. “We have to have some people step to the forefront on the perimeter. You don’t lose an Al Snow, Brendon Merritt and Josh Barnard and expect to be good again if you don’t have some people who can fill those roles. We think we have some guys.”

That means replacing three of the top four scorers, including Eastern’s first Big Sky MVP (Snow) and first conference tournament MVP (Merritt), not to mention coach Ray Giacoletti, who parlayed Eastern’s run into the head coaching job at Utah.

The leaders to fill two wing positions are junior college transfers Deuce Smith and Tim Scheffler, sophomore Eric Henkel and redshirt freshman Henry Bekkering.

“We don’t know how that’s going to evolve and I think it will continue to evolve as the season unfurls,” Burns said. “They’re all going to be relied on at different times. The first guy is Deuce Smith. He can play both the one and the two, he’s a very, very good defender, he can score. He’s played in probably 65 or 70 college basketball games so far. He’s the guy we’ll look to step to the forefront.”

Smith, 6-3, averaged 11.4 points, 3.6 assists, 3.8 rebounds, 2.8 steals and shot 58.5 percent at Tyler (Texas) Community Junior College.

Scheffler is a late addition from Northwest Junior College in Powell, Wyo., where he averaged 11.4 points. Henkle played in 27 games last year and Bekkering is a Canadian who can jump out of the gym.

“They’re different,” Burns said. “Henry brings an athleticism and explosiveness you very seldom see anywhere. Sheffler is a prototypical shooter, 6-4 with a great stroke. Eric is kind of a jack of all trades, he shoots, he can penetrate, he can pitch, he’s that guy we’ll count on to do many different things. That’s the great thing, they bring three different things, all of which will be very useful to this team.”

Axton, the unquestioned leader, averaged 12.9 points last year, and Nelson added 7.9. Both averaged five rebounds. Butorac, seniors Khary Nicholas and Jeremy McCulloch and true freshman Jacob Beitinger provide depth.

“We’ve got depth and experience up front, probably as good as has ever been here,” Burns said.

With expectations there is pressure.

“But I believe the pressure is put on us by us,” Burns said.

“There is definitely more confidence,” Axton said. “We know what we did last year and we know what we’re able to do. We know we have to work on it, that’s something we have to strive for.”

There won’t be many changes under Burns, who was an assistant under Giacoletti for three years before assisting at Washington State last year.

“A lot of things are different but we know what is expected,” Axton said. “A strength of this team is our toughness. We’ll just try to out play people every night, the same standard we’ve had the last four years.”

Burns said, “Our identity has been and the plan is for it to continue to be defense. We have to be very energetic and very solid at that end of the floor. If we are, that is the first step.”

That helps the Eagles negotiate its traditionally tough non-conference schedule that only includes four home games – plus a meeting with Gonzaga at the Arena – before the conference starts.

“It has been our philosophy that those games are challenges that toughen you for your conference schedule,” Burns said. “Our kids want to play those games, they look forward to the challenge of playing those games, we have won some of those games. That’s always been how we approached it. … I think that’s just how you get better. Playing against good people you learn really quickly what your weaknesses are and you can go to work on them.”

A highlight game is against Arizona at the Fiesta Bowl Classic on Dec. 29.

“This is a closer team than last year,” Pariseau said. “We’re so tight and the guys are so competitive, that’s about all you really need.”