Warner, OK- For the third year in a row Muskogee will host the NJCAA Region 2 basketball tournament starting Wednesday at Rougher Village and the Connors State Cowboys come in as the tournament's top seed — an outcome that only a few months ago seemed improbable.

In coach Bill Muse's 33 years at the helm of the Cowboys, this season was one of his most challenging. With no returning players from last year's team that went to the national semifinals, Muse had to recruit 11 new players and mold them into a team. Then tragedy struck during the Christmas break as Muse's wife Connie passed away unexpectedly which put the veteran coach in a tailspin.

"Even though I sit in the big chair with the title head coach, most of the credit for the success of this season has to go to (son and assistant coach) Bill (Jr.)," said Muse even now searching for the right words to talk about his loss. "I had hip surgery last summer and so Bill had to do most of the recruiting and since my wife passed, I've just been in kind of a fog and Bill has done almost all of the preparation and a lot of the coaching on top of losing his mother. This season and my very first year when I didn't know the league, or the players are probably the hardest I've had".

The efforts of the younger Muse paid off as the Cowboys became a team and went 25-3 and dominated the conference race by four games with a 14-2 mark. Their first-round game will be against Northern-Enid 6 p.m. Wednesday as they battle to return to the national tournament for the second straight year. Other first round matchups for the men will see NEO and Eastern State kick things off at 1 p.m. followed by Seminole State and Redlands at 3 p.m. Murray State and Western will play at 8 p.m. following the Cowboys game.

"I think anyone is capable of winning and whoever plays the best on those three days will take it. Even though we won the regular season, I've been around enough of these to know that's not always indicative of who will go on," said Muse.

 

Tickets for the four-day event can be purchased at VisitMuskogee.com or by calling (918) 684-6202.