MONTGOMERY — An old nemesis will visit the Neal Baisi Athletic Center Saturday to help WVU Tech launch the 2008-09 basketball season.

Bob Williams’ Golden Bears will tangle with former West Virginia Conference foe Glenville State at 7 p.m. to tip off another year on the hardwoods. The Bears’ schedule will feature 19 homes games and a road slate highlighted by an exhibition game at Marshall Nov. 16. They will play at Mountain State University Saturday, Jan. 17.

“We’re excited to have Glenville coming to Montgomery,” said Williams, whose coaching résumé includes a five-year stint at Glenville.

Williams says practice for his seventh season at the helm in Montgomery has gone well, and the program is anticipating the coming campaign as the Bears seek to improve on an 11-16 effort last season.

“Our players and coaches are very optimistic about the 2008-09 basketball season,” says Williams, who will be joined on the sideline by new assistant coach Brett Rector. “We have put together a favorable schedule, with 19 homes games and 11 on the road.

“With only one returning starter, Sam Robertson, we have put together a very young, but talented, team.”

“(They) are working very hard in the preseason and are very coachable and eager to learn. I believe this will be a very intense, hungry group. I know they are very excited about the upcoming season.”

Robertson, a 6-foot-6 senior from Jacksonville, Fla., was a first-team all-Mid-South Conference player last year. Other strong returning players include captain Victor McGee, a 6-1 senior from Jackson, Tenn., and Darryl Slack, a 5-11 junior from Atlanta who redshirted in 2007-08. Top newcomers include junior college transfers Robby Marshall (6-6, first-team all-American at Herkimer, N.Y., CC) and Zack Thomsen (6-1). Also expected to make solid contributions will be sophomore Josh Stricker and freshmen Rickey Young, Vinny Coleman, Parker Grove and Ben Shannon.

The Golden Bear roster also includes local players such as Riverside’s Chuckie Erby, a member of the Tech football team who will join the basketball squad in mid-November, ex-Riverside and George Washington player Randal Thornton and former Woodrow Wilson cager Chris Rhodes.

Tech will host a second game this weekend as it plays Maryland Bible at 2 p.m. Sunday.

In addition to the Marshall game, another highlight of the first-semester portion of the schedule is the annual Baisi Classic, set for Dec. 5-6 in Montgomery. Joining Tech in the field will be Rio Grande, Tennessee Temple and Cincinnati-Clermont.

“... the Mid-South Conference will be extremely tough again, with Georgetown, Campbellsville and Cumberlands all making trips to the NAIA Division I national tournament in Kansas City a season ago,” Williams said. “In fact, Georgetown and Campbellsville advanced to the Final Four and Cumberlands lost in the Sweet 16.

“I also look for Pikeville, which won 22 games a year ago, to be loaded with Division I transfers again. Year in and year out, the MSC is perhaps the best small-college basketball conference in the country.”

Admission to this weekend’s games will be $5 for adults and $3 for students and seniors.

Under new coach Jim Fout, the WVU Tech women will open their season Saturday at Bluefield State.

“Things have gone rather slowly due to (having) a new coach and to the fact that we only have seven players at this time,” said Fout, the veteran DuPont/Riverside coach who helped Williams with the Tech men’s squad the past few seasons before taking control of the Lady Bears. “The young ladies have picked up the pace in the past week.”

Lack of numbers will dictate how play unfolds on the court, Fout says.

“We will play mostly zone defense because of the lack of depth,” he pointed out. “We won’t be able to press like I would normally like to.”

Yahkesha Robinson, Sharnage Young and Ashley Blaney return from last year’s squad, but 15 other players don’t. Brenda Harris is a junior college transfer from Atlanta Metro who hasn’t played for two years. Three freshmen on the roster are Amanda Gray, Jessica Johnson and Kayla Munsey.

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