The Saint Mary’s Huskies wanted to get bigger this season and they’re hoping it makes them better.
Huskies head coach Ross Quackenbush has shored up the size of his perimeter positions with the additions of Ryan DeWinter, a 6-foot-6 fifth-year transfer from Dalhousie, and Demitri Harris, a 6-foot-5 freshman from Vancouver.
He also expects more from 6-foot-4 guard Ronald Vanel, a mid-season recruit who never got settled last year.
The hope is the extra size will help the Huskies improve on a 12-8 record followed by a quarter-final playoff ousting.
“We had some shortcomings last season, literally,” said Quackenbush. “We didn’t go out and get King Kong, but we have three guys who make us taller, collectively. We have to defend better, we have to rebound better and those three guys should enable us to do that.”
Leading the Huskies is the first-team all-star backcourt of Joey Haywood and Mark McLaughlin, among the best in the country. Centre Ikeobi Uchegbu also returns, while Jack Gallinaugh and Simon Marr are keys off the bench.
