MT. PLEASANT - The Central Michigan Chippewas men’s and women’s basketball teams held their media days on Thursday. The Men’s team has 10 newcomers, but return their star player, Anthony Pritchard. Chippewas head coach Tony Barbee took over in 2021 and since then the number of wins for CMU has increased each year, and this year he feels like he’s got his most talented team yet.
“When players leave, guess what? I got a chance to go replace them with better players. That’s been the case every single year that I’ve been here, it’s been no different than this year. No offense to anybody who’s left the program over the last two years, including last year, but we think we’ve upgraded every position,” said CMU head men’s basketball coach Tony Barbee.
For the women’s team, they also have a lot of new faces, 11 to be exact. They’re head coach, Kristin Haynie is in her 2nd year as head coach and is looking to build on a tough season last year. This was her first full recruiting cycle as a head coach, and she had an emphasis on what kind of characteristics she wants in her players.
“Character is huge for us. Are you enjoying playing with your teammates? You don’t want to play with players who are selfish, so we really take that into account. Honestly, if a player is a very talented player, but they’re a ball hog and their attitude is bad we’re not going to offer and we’re not going to bring them here,” said coach Haynie.
Both teams play exhibition games within the next week.
