Cowboys Open Regular Season on Monday November 3rd

Warner, OK- Hollywood couldn't have come up with a much better script than the one that played out for the Connors State Cowboys in 2024-25. In the words of head coach Bill Muse (803-265) "It was just a remarkable, remarkable season." 

It started with a sense of gloom as for the first time in his 33 years at the helm of the Cowboys, Muse had no starters returning. In fact, there were no players at all back from a team that had just gone to the national semifinals. That meant Muse and his son, assistant coach Bill Muse Jr., had to recruit a whole new team. What could fans expect from a team that was thrown together in just a few months? Then as the season got started and things began coming together, there was tragedy with the unexpected passing of the Cowboys maternal guiding star Connie Muse during the holiday break. 

"After Connie passed, these guys just bonded together," said husband Bill. "I've had teams that were more talented, but I've never had a team with better chemistry than those guys had." 

From there, the Cowboys ran the table, claiming the regular season title, the Region 2 championship and a Cinderella trip to the national tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas. As a lower seeded team, they would have to play five games in seven days to reach the finals. They defeated John A. Logan College in the first round, setting up a showdown with the nation's top ranked team-Snow College. In front of an ESPN national audience, the underdog Cowboys battled the Badgers to a 60-all tie until Snow hit a pair of free throws with five seconds left that looked to do-in Connors. But sophomore DJ Dormu took the inbounds pass, and just inside mid-court launched a 30-foot Immaculate Connection that found nothing but net to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Connors went on to defeat Daytona State and South Plains before playing for the national championship against Trinity Valley. But, unfortunately, they didn't get a happy Hollywood ending as they fell 69-61 to finish 32-4. 

"We established a momentum in the second half of the season that carried us all the way. It had been 35 years since Connors State was in the national finals and I think we just ran out of gas at the end having to play so many games in a short span," said Muse. 

Moving on to the new season, the Cowboys will be without two of the sparkplugs of last season in Dormu, who was the Small Player of the Tournament at Hutch, and big man Edwin Daniels who had several key moments in the tournament run. But they do return six players from that team that got a lot of valuable experience and so they start far ahead of where they were at this time last year. 

"The big job for us will be replacing DJ at point guard. His play in the last 10 games was really a difference maker for us." said Muse. "Jermiah (pronounced Jer-e-mi-ah) Johnson (6-2) will be one of the guys we'll be looking at to do that. He's back bigger and stronger and he just makes winning plays when you need them." Also back is the leading scorer from last year in Kevin Stubblefield Jr. (6-5) along with Aric Walls (6-3), Dashaun Spence (6-6) who has recovered from an ankle injury that kept him out most of the second semester last year, Tito Ramos (6-2) from Okay, Ace Clemons (6-8) who redshirted last year, and Ethan Dietz (6-8). 

"We talked to Ethan at the end of last season about developing his body to be able to play D-1 ball and he did it. He hit the weights, jumped rope, worked hard and looks completely different. He's more explosive and stronger. He should be a big force on the perimeter or inside for us," said Muse. 

New to the Cowboy roster this year will be CJ Lee (6-2), a redshirt sophomore from Maryland whom Muse tried to recruit a couple of years ago and who he hopes will be a serious candidate at point guard, Marcus Britt Jr. (6-3) from Forest City, Arkansas whose dad played at Arkansas, Dashawn Ransome (6-6) from Oklahoma City Douglas who can play multiple positions, and Peter Da Cruz (6-9) from the New Jersey prep leagues who Muse is really high on. 

This year's schedule includes games against Kansas schools Independence and Allen County, Grayson County from Texas along with Dallas-Eastfield and a new school for the Cowboys in Arkansas State-Newport. 

The Cowboys will also welcome back Muskogee High alum and former Cowboy player Xavier Brown who will be a student assistant coach this year. 

"He knows me and our system and will be a big help for us this year as he finishes his degree and eventually goes into coaching," said Muse, who starts his 34th year as the head coach with hopefully great results and less drama than last year.