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--> --> By Bobby Heiken Ashland Daily Tidings After being a game away from the Cascade Conference championship game, Southern Oregon University head men's basketball coach Brian McDermott didn't waste any time finding the missing ingredients. McDermott announced the signing of seven recruits today, hoping to improve on last year's 18-13 team. "Overall we've got a good mix of new talent that will blend really well with our strong returning class," McDermott said. Josh Harbert, Moses Olson, Matt Brown, Wil White, Jordan France, Brad Coen and Michael Marek all are ready to star for the Raiders. Harbert is the younger brother of former SOU all-time scoring leader Ryan Harbert. The 6-3 guard from Marist High in Eugene averaged 19 points, eight rebounds and four assists for the 3A state champs last year. He was also named first team all-league, second team all-state and first team all-state tourney. "Josh will help immediately," McDermott said. "He has a wonderful knack for scoring and does so in a variety of ways. He plays much stronger than he appears and is very capable at both ends of the court." Olson may be the crown jewel in the recruiting class. The 6-4 guard will enter the year as a junior after spending time at both Oregon State and Southwestern Oregon Community College. Last year he was at Hawaii Pacific where he sat out because of an injury. At SWOCC, Olson averaged 17 points a game and was named to the all-league team. As a prep, Olson averaged 21 points and led Churchill to an undefeated league championship his senior year and received all-state accolades and finished second in The Oregonian's Player of the Year poll. "Moses will bring a very experienced perimeter game to our team," McDermott said. "Coming out of the Churchill system, Moses is a wonderful defender. He has an inside-outside game and has developed into a very good perimeter shooter since high school. He has a level of toughness that fits with our current crew of returners." Brown comes to SOU from Crater and Linn Benton. At Linn Benton, he averaged 17 points a game before taking this past season off. "Matt is an outstanding shooter," McDermott said. "He's going to give us much-needed help from the outside." The 6-5 Coen will give the Raiders some help defensively. Coen averaged nine points and four rebounds at Roseburg in 1999-2000 and was named the Southern Oregon Conference Defensive Player of the Year. "We love how he defends all three perimeter positions," McDermott said. "He has quick feet and can also fill the lane on the break." Marek, White and France will provide depth. Marek (6-4) was a three-year starter at Glide. White (6-6) averaged 11 points and five rebounds last year at Grays Harbor Community College in Washington. France is a 6-10 center from Centennial High and Umpqua Community College. "We had three goals in mind for this class," McDermott said. "Get at least two quality freshmen so that we can balance our classes, improve our perimeter shooting and improve our size. We feel like we accomplished all of that." McDermott will also benefit from the return of Baron Lacy to the program. Lacy played for the Raiders for two years before taking last year off. "Baron will provide some more speed to help us improve our transition game," McDermott said. "He will also give us more athleticism on the perimeter." Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing