Striving for success

The men’s basketball season is off to a rocky start three weeks into the Fall 2017 season due to team injuries and other complications.

Their record is one win and four losses, with two losses being forfeits against Kennedy King and South Suburban college and their win being against Truman College.

The team’s record took a hit due to the injury of Captain Ahmed Brown and Nicolas Rios. “Both missed game time due to injury which contributed to some losses. However, we are all healthy now,” said Head Coach Edmond Pryor.

However, their record was affected by other factors as well. One factor regarded the National Junior College Athletic Association transfer rule.

“A student athlete that was previously enrolled in college must have completed 12 college credit hours if they were full-time. That requirement is nullified if the student was part-time or under 12 credit hours. The student in question started the school year (last year) full-time but eventually went to a part time status.nullifying the 12 credit hour requirement, and the student athlete was allowed to play in our first 2 regular season games,” said Pryor.

“I wasn't happy about the issue and I'm still not happy. I think overall communication could have been better between the student, myself, and the institution he transferred from,” continued Pryor.

The men’s team will also have to deal with other challenges following this incident, one of those being how they will be viewed as a team.

“There may be some residual negative perception out there regarding the team, but we can't worry about any of that. We just have to keep getting better and let our play speak for us,” added Pryor

This incident will help the team overcome challenges in the future. They have proven that they are moving forward by winning their first game on November 16 against Truman College 105 to 100.

“Moving forward, we will approach new challenges head on. We won't shy away from challenges in the classroom or on the court,” said Pryor

Even though the team has had minor setbacks there is still much to look forward to, especially with team captain Ahmed Brown and Center Nicolas Rios being healthy again.

“I am happy to be the Head Men's Basketball Coach at Wright College - I want to thank our awesome leadership for making me and my team feel at home and being so very accommodating. The students and the fans - we appreciate you all… Go Rams!!”

All the Wright community wishes the men's basketball team good luck, and we wish them nothing but excellence for the rest of the season.