By BJ Laudermilk | Sports Editor

The sound of sneakers squeaking down the hardwood will be prevalent once again throughout the court of the Field House as the Lions men’s basketball team begins their season.

The Lions are in a transitional phase, as in between last year and this year, they had a coaching shakeup. Former head coach Sam Walker was moved into a new role with the university, and after he totaled 285 wins, A&M-Commerce would be led by a new head coach on the bench for the first time in 17 seasons. The Lions would find their right coach and announced not two weeks later that former Lion assistant coach Jaret von Rosenberg had accepted the position.

Without the coaching change, the Lions were already in a tough spot, only returning three players from a season ago. That team went 19-11 and finished fourth in the conference standings, able to make it to the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament before falling to West Texas A&M in the first round. A&M-Commerce was picked to finish seventh out of ten teams in this season’s conference preseason poll.

Men’s basketball is used to exceeding expectations as they finished above where they were picked to finish in the preseason last season. As they take the court once more, there will be plenty of goals and aspirations in their minds that they hope to attain this season.

The men hit the road to start their campaign as they play in Wichita, Kan. against Oklahoma Christian Nov. 10 and Newman Nov. 11. Their home opener will be Nov. 21 as they welcome Oklahoma City University.