Dodge City stars have strong first half

You do not hear many coaches actually admit they are happy with where their team is at. When a coach does say that, you know things are going well.

"We're fine," said Dodge City head coach Brian Hoberecht. "We let one game get away from us a little bit, but we had a good first semester. Our team really started to play well offensively and defensively toward the latter part of the semester and we really started to find our identity."

The Conquistadors' only loss of the first half came at Northern Oklahoma-Enid. DCCC stands 12-and-1 on the year.

"Eleven of our 13 games have been against Division One junior college teams and very good basketball programs," Hoberecht said. "We think our guys are well prepared and battle tested for the conference season. We feel like we've got a group cabable of making a run at another Jayhawk West Conference title, of winning a regional tournament and getting to the national tournament."

Hoberecht said the main component in reaching those goals will be to keep his team healthy. The Conquistadors are led by four potential high-major signees. None of the players will do much on the recruiting circuit until the season is over, but coaches are very interested in Charlie Coley, Wade Knapp, Angel Santiago and Jaray Matthews.

"Different schools in all the power conferences are calling and trying to get them in there," Hoberecht said.

Coley has interest from the likes of Missouri, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M in the Big 12, as well as Auburn, Arizona and others. Knapp is getting looks from Mizzou, Auburn, Indiana and most of the Missouri Valley. A&M, Nebraska, Kansas State and Houston are among those keeping an eye on Santiago.

Hoberecht also said that Julius Perkins and Brian Marks should be low- to mid-major players. The Conqs start the second half of the season on January 3rd against Seward County.