MARSHALL, Minn. - The Southwest Minnesota StateUniversity men’s basketball team begins preparation for the 2011-12 season this week as the Mustangs hold their first official practice of the season on Saturday, Oct. 15.

SMSU third-year head coach Brad Bigler will have 15 players on this year’s roster with nine returning letterwinners.  The Mustangs finished the 2010-11 season with a 12-14 overall record and finished tied for eighth in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference standings with a record of 9-13.

SMSU returns four of its top five scorers and five players who started at least 10 games from last year’s team.

Junior guard Jordan Miller started all 26 games last season and is the squad’s top returning scorer after averaging 13.8 points per game and connecting on a team-high 52 3-point field goals.  Miller shot 88.5 percent from the free throw, ranking 18th nationally, and dished out 84 assists, finishing second on the team.

Sophomore guard Vinard Birch started all 26 games last season as a true freshman and racked up a team-high 90 assists, while averaging 7.0 points per game.

Junior forward Lavione West started 15 games and finished third on the team in scoring with 7.2 points per game, while shooting 47.9 percent from the field.

Two sophomores, guard Matt Zager and center Nick Smith, also return after both started 11 and 10 games respectively last season.  Zager averaged 7.0 points per game and tied for fourth on the team with 67 field goals.  Smith averaged 4.4 points, was third in rebounding with 3.9 per game and blocked a team-leading 21 shots as a true freshman.

Senior Trent Carlson appeared in all 26 games a season ago, averaging 6.2 points per game and finishing second on the squad with 44 3-point fieldgoals.

Other returning letterwinners include senior forward Casey Sussenguth (1.0 ppg) and sophomores forward William Giddings (2.3 ppg) and guard DarryJones (1.3 ppg).

SMSU has also added junior guard Tramel Barnes<http://www.smsumustangs.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=1679&path=mbball>, who redshirted last season after transferring from Northern State and junior forward Michael Appel, who transferred from Marshalltown Community College.

As a team, SMSU finished the 2010-11 season ranking 30th in the country in rebound margin (5.3), 40th in free throw pct. (74.5) and 42nd inturnovers per game (12.7).

SMSU is scheduled to host 11 regular season home games plus an exhibition game against St. Olaf College on Nov. 8.

SMSU will open its exhibition schedule at NCAA Division I ColoradoState on Nov. 5.

The Mustangs open theregular season Nov. 12 at NCAA Division I Wisconsin-Milwaukee.  The 22-game Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference schedule begins on Dec. 2-3 with road games versus Augustana andWayne State.