By ALEX ABATE ~ DAR Sports Writer

After the Three Rivers men's basketball team finished last season with a fourth-place finish after they battled through a tough season, the Raiders are hitting the ground running this upcoming season.

The Raiders play fellow National Tournament opponent from last season Chipola (Fla.) in the opening weekend tournament.

"(Chipola) is probably going to be ranked number one," Three Rivers coach Gene Bess said. "It is going to be one of those very tough schedules, typical of what we do every year."

A positive weekend to start the season would be just what the Raiders need, returning guard Allan Spencer said.

"If we beat them, it is going to give us confidence," Spencer said. "We are kind of young, we will have to come out and play hard."

The Raiders play John A. Logan twice in November, in Carterville on Nov. 4. and at the Bess Activity Center on Nov. 18. The Raiders won the road contest last season before losing their first game of the year last season to John A. Logan in one of the last games before the winter break. The last game for the Raiders before the winter break this season will be against Southwestern Illinois at the Meramec Shootout on Sunday Dec 14.

Three Rivers will get into its eight games of Region XVI play against Mineral Area on the road as it battles the Cardinals on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2009. The Raiders lost their road game against the Cardinals last season, 68-45, one of the lowest outputs in Raiders history. Bess knows opening regional play on the road in Park Hills will be tough.

"They will be at least as good or better than they were last year," Bess said.

The Raiders take their State Fair/Moberly trip on Jan. 16-17 as they play State Fair at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and the Greyhounds at 7 p.m. Saturday evening.After two games against MSU-West Plains on Jan. 24 and Feb. 14, the Raiders will face Mineral Area at home on Feb. 21 to round out region play.

The Region XVI Tournament will start on March 3 as the No. 5 seed will play the No. 4 seed and the winner will advance to the Region XVI semifinals which will be held in Rolla on March 6 with the finals being March 7. The winner of Region XVI will play at the winner of Region IV on March 10 for a chance to play in the NJCAA National Tournament in Hutchinson, Kan., which runs from March 17-21.

The Raiders have rounded out their roster for the most part heading into next season, looking to replace the big roles of guard Bryan Sherrer and forward Archie Valov.

"I've said this many times, big men and point guards are the difficult people to bring in," Bess said. We just lost the best big men and plus a great point guard, we are just going to have to see what we got."

The returnees with experience are Spencer, guard/forward Ken Bingham, guard Adam Carpenter and guard Steve Ward. Marquise Carter redshirted last season so he will be starting his first year this fall.

"Yeah (the returning group) is different but they have their uniqueness," Bess said. "When I watched Adam in the offseason with open gym, he's been shooting well and so has Steve Ward, Allan has improved his ballhandling. Ken has got a great attitude and is athletic."

The newcomers are guard Nick Niemczyk, guard Jamarcus Williams, guard Jeff Shelton, guard/forward David Prater, guard/forward Josh Terry, forwards Jeremy Marrs, Aloysius Henry, Marland Johnson and Ivan Sujica.

It will be important for each of the newcomers to find their roles on the team, Bess said.

"Well of course, it is a combination of them finding (their roles) and the coaches showing them their role," Bess said. "It becomes a matter of communication. I have a couple of great assistants that are going to do a good job communicating with the players."

The team next season may be a bit faster than the squad last year seeing as it has a few more players that fit into a big guard or small forward mold.

"Well (we have) a little more speed and a little bit more wing player types," Bess said. "That is going to make a little difference in the makeup of a squad."