Men’s basketball rebuilds for new season

Following a heartbreaking semifinal loss last season, the Kirkwood Community College’s Men’s Basketball team enters the new season with an opportunity to get back to the finals for the first time since 2019. 

Head Coach Tim Sandquist said he never loses motivation to come and work with his players and it excites him every single day. “I love to work with young people,” he said. “There’s not a day where I’m unmotivated to come into work each day. It’s just somewhere I can let the competitive juices flow and that’s the thing I love the most about it.” 

Sandquist said he believes his team can get back to the finals after a frustrating semifinal loss last season. “We have a lot of guys coming back from a 25-6 win season,” he said. “We are older, we have more experience. We are a winning program with high expectations. Hopefully we can compete for a Division 2 title this season.”   

Sophomore Colby Dolphin, shooting guard, said as a whole the team has improved during the offseason. “We have improved as a collective unit over the offseason. We have improved as a whole so just excited to get going,” he said. 

Sandquist said he believes that his players are getting better with every film study that they conduct. “When you play the game, you are always thinking about your guarding and doing something correctly,” he said. 

He added, “The best players in the world are film junkies and we, as players, have to be able to analyze ourselves in order to get better.”  

As a recruiter, Sandquist requires a certain standard from his players. “We, as a school, demand a certain standard of quality from our players,” Sandquist said. “‘Are they a good person?’ ‘Do they have the skills of shooting, dribbling and passing to be able to make a positive impact on our success?’” 

The Eagles won back-to-back games, 88-72 against Grand View University on Nov. 1 and 100-66 against Madison College on Nov. 4.

Dolphin added his aim is to make the finals. “National Championship, that’s what we all strive for and we will try to achieve it this season,” said Dolphin.