HUDSON, NC (By Colt Jensen)…A year after the Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute (CCC&TI) Cobras earned their first ever division I NJCAA tournament berth, the Cobras are anxious to return to the national tournament.

“Making it back to the national tournament is definitely the ultimate goal,” transfer guard Trevor Willis said. “We also want to win our conference, and beat every team we lost to last year.”

Those lofty goals will certainly look to build on last year’s very successful season. However, last season’s success did not come without its challenges.

The principal challenge the Cobras faced last season was in transition, but not the type of transition most basketball fans are familiar with. After many successful years at the NJCAA division III level the Caldwell Cobras made the jump to division I last year.

The transition was daunting, but in the end, turned out to be an excellent move for the Caldwell Cobras.

“Last year in our first year as a division I program we only had one returning player. I definitely thought it would be very tough for us to make a run to get to Hutchinson, Kansas for the national tournament,” head coach Matt Anderson said. “But, that’s always our goal at the first of the year and we had a really special group who bought into our system and really exemplified the identity of Caldwell basketball.”

The Cobras really did have a “special group” of players that excelled against the new level of competition. Last year’s squad played well enough to earn a 24-9 mark in the regular season.

That high win percentage was fueled by good defense and excellent rebounding. The Caldwell Cobras ranked fifth in the nation in offensive rebounding and ninth in steals.

The good news for the Caldwell Cobras is that a lot of that quality rebounding and strong defensive presence is returning to the court this season. This season, veteran leaders Chase Byrd and Brandon White will continue to help crash the boards and slow down opposing offenses for the Cobras.

“Chase Byrd is one of the best rebounding guards I have ever coached, and Brandon White is a big man who really helped us defensively last year,” Anderson stated. “Brandon was a big key to our success pressing teams last year as he played our most important position on the front of the press.”

It was that same superb defense and great rebounding that helped the Cobras find success during their first season in a new conference. Despite being newcomers, the Caldwell Cobras came within one point of winning the Region X conference tournament, and finished second in the regular season conference standings with a 10-4 record in league play.

However, last year’s success doesn’t seem to have been enough for the Cobras.

“I want to be the regular season conference champs, and win the conference tournament,” returning guard Michael “MJ” Phifer said.

To help the team achieve this goal and their goal of returning to the national tournament, the Caldwell Cobras brought in a lot new talent.

“We have many new players who are all going to be a major part of what we do this year,” Anderson said. “We were very excited to get two, high-level transfers, who will bring us some more experience and leadership.”

One transfer, guard Trevor Willis, is particularly exciting. Willis shot over 40 percent from the field and from three-point range last year at Cape Fear Community College.

“Trevor is a big-time shooter, tough as nails and plays extremely hard,” Anderson said. “Trevor has definitely been one of our leaders in the preseason and has brought an element of toughness to our team.”

New players aren’t the only exciting new addition to the Caldwell Cobras basketball program.

“We are also very excited about hosting our own tournament this year, the Caldwell Chic-Fil-A Classic,” Coach Anderson said. “We are hoping that this becomes an annual event that will continue to grow.”

The tournament will take place on November 17-18 on the Caldwell campus.

With all the new talent, last year’s success and a brand new, home tournament it’s hard not to be excited about Cobra basketball. With the new season starting this week, everyone will soon be able to see if the Cobras can live up to the preseason hype and their own high expectations.

www.cccti.edu/gocobras

Cobras 2017-2018 Men’s Basketball Schedule