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ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - For just the fourth time in school history the Missouri Western men's basketball team will start a season with a new coach. Brett Weiberg beging his 1st season at the helm of the Griffons replacing long time coach Tom Smith. The Griffons will participate in the Sanford Pentagon Showcase in Sioux Falls, S.D. The Griffons take on Augustana (S.D) on Saturday, November 9 at 6:00 pm and the Northern State Wolves on Sunday, November 10 at 2:00 pm. 

Griffon Notes
• This marks the 44th season of Griffons men's basketball
• This marks the first season in 25 years that the MWSU basketball team will be playing under a new head coach. Brett Weiberg enters his first season at MWSU and 8th season overall. He is 129-87 as a head coach with the previous seven seasons being at Northeastern Oklahoma College. He is just the 4th head coach in MWSU history and had  a 27-4 record last season at Northeastern.
• Record in Season Openers: Since basketball started in 1969-1970 the Missouri Western men's basketball team has been outstanding in season openers going 34-10. The Griffons have won 18 of the last 19 season openers which included a 75-44 victory last season against Sterling College on November 13, 2012.
• The Griffons are 25-3 in season openers which are played at home and 5-7 when they play games that are on the road. Missouri Western is 4-0 in season openers which are at a neutral site.
• MWSU went 9-4 in season openers under its first head coach Gary Filbert and 8-1 at home.
• Under Skip Shear the Griffons when 4-2 in season openers and were 3-0 at home and 1-2 on the road.
• Under Tom Smith the Griffons have compiled a remarkable 21-4 record in season openers. Coach Smith is 14-2 in home season openers, 3-2 on the road and 4-0 at a neutral site.

Record against NSIC Teams since 1988-89
Date  Opponent  Location  W/L Score
1991-92 MSU-Moorhead St. Joseph, Mo. L, 83-75
Since 1988-89 the Griffons have played just one NSIC team which was Minnesota State University-Moorhead. The Griffons fell in that game 83-75.

Up Next
The Griffons return home for a busy home week as they take on NAIA Midland University on Wednesday, November 13 before hosting the 22nd annual Hillyard Tip-off Classic. The Griffons open up the Classic on Friday, November 15 with a game against William Jewell at 8:00 pm before closing out the classic on Saturday, November 16 at 8:30 pm against Midwestern State University.

GRIFFONS IN THE HILLYARD TIP-OFF CLASSIC
The Griffons will be hosting the Hillyard Classic for the 22nd season. MWSU has a 36-6 record in the classic and are 26-4 while playing in the MWSU Fieldhouse. During the first seven years of the Hillyard Classic's existence, MWSU Fieldhouse served as the site where the Griffons posted a 14-0 record. The Griffons moved the Hillyard Classic to the Civic Arena from 2000-2005 and posted a 10-2 record there. Missouri Western went 1-1 in the tournament last year, beating Rockhurst and falling to William Jewell.

Griffon Wins Against Top-25 Ranked Teams:
Since 2001-2002 the Griffons have defeated 14 teams that were ranked in the top-25 which includes their biggest upset yet on Dec. 7 in the fieldhouse when they defeated No. 1 Missouri Southern 75-67.
02/06/13 @ #17 Washburn - 79-74
01/12/13 vs. #24 Northwest Missouri State - 71-58
12/7/11 vs. #1 Missouri Southern - W, 75-67
12/11/10 vs. #6 Fort Hays State - W, 78-77
02/01/10 vs. #3 Fort Hays State - W, 75-69
02/24/09 vs. #2 Central Missouri - W, 55-49
12/18/09 vs. #12 Drury - W, 91-84 in High Desert Classic in Las Vegas
11/21/09 vs. #17 Central Oklahoma - W, 83-79 in Hillyard Tipoff Classic
2/19/05 @ #6 Central Missouri - W, 70-68
12/29/04 vs. #6 Washburn - W, 73-70
1/29/03 @ #18 Washburn - W, 68-67
1/23/02 vs. #13 Missouri Southern - W, 80-73
1/2/02 @ #4 Washburn - W, 95-92
1/30/02 vs. #11 Washburn - W, 73-71
2/4/02 @ #3 Northwest Missouri State - W, 64-59

Season Openers since 2000-2001
Date  Opponent  Location  W/L Score
11/17/00 vs. Abilene Christian NA W, 92-65
11/17/01 William Jewell St. Joseph, Mo. W, 125-99
11/23/02 William Jewell St. Joseph, Mo. W, 101-61
11/17/03 Central Bible St. Joseph, Mo. W, 111-75
11/15/04 Northeastern State Talequah, Okla. W, 56-55
11/15/05 Manhatten Christian St. Joseph, Mo. W, 107-59
11/17/06 Missouri-Rolla St. Joseph, Mo. W, 98-49
11/16/07 Upper Iowa St. Joseph, Mo. W, 76-69
11/21/08 Arkansas Tech St. Joseph, Mo. W, 99-70
11/17/09 Quincy St. Joseph, Mo. L, 73-65
11/19/10 Avila University St. Joseph, Mo. W, 95-85
11/12/11 Fontbonne St. Joseph, Mo. W, 69-55
11/13/12 Sterling College St. Joseph, Mo. W, 75-44

GRIFFONS ON THE RADIO
Missouri Western basketball cam be heard live on KFEQ 680 AM in St. Joseph. The game can also be heard on KMRN 1360 AM Cameron. You can also heard the game on the internet at www.gogriffons.com by going up to Fan Zone at the top of the page and going to Live Webcasts (680 AM KFEQ). This weekend Bob Orf will have all the action in Sioux Falls, S.D.

THE COACHES
Missouri Western Head Basketball Coach Brett Weiberg
• Tom Smith begins his 25th season at Missouri Western and his 38th season overall
• Smith has compiled a 618-462 record, a .575 winning percentage that ranks him among the 5 top active coaches at the Division II level.
• Smith was inducted into the Missouri Western State University Athletics Hall of Fame in September of 2006 and is also a member of the Missouri Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame
• Smith has coached 49 All-MIAA selections in his 24 seasons at Missouri Western, six All-Region/District picks and three NCAA All-Americas.
• Smith is the winningest head coach in MIAA history with 533 wins under his belt at both the University of Central Missouri (1975-80) and Missouri Western (1989-present). In 36 seasons as a collegiate head coach at three different schools, Smith has compiled a 618-462 record, a .579 winning percentage that ranks him among the 20 top active coaches at the Division II level. Smtih coached his 1,000 career game against the University of Central Missouri on March 13, 2010 in the 2010 NCAA Division II Men's National Tournment. Only one other coach has taken a MIAA team to the same number of NCAA tournament appearances than Smith since the Griffons joined the league in 1989.
• He became the 11th coach in NCAA Division II to win 600 games
• Smith is 448-278 at Missouri Western.

Augustana Head Coach Tom Billeter
• Recognition as the top Division II basketball coach for 2013 surprised Augustana's 11th year head coach Tom Billeter. But then his Vikings' accomplishments in 2012-13 were shocking to some.
• Billeter emerged from a field of 15 candidates as the winner of the 2013 Clarence "Big House" Gaines National Coach of the Year Award. In addition, he was a finalist for the John McLendon Coach of the Year honors.
• The Vikings' 22-9 record for 2012-13 marked the fourth time in the last six seasons a Billeter team produced 20 or more wins. And, for the seventh consecutive year, Augustana posted a winning record. Augustana also has four consecutive top four finishes in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference regular-season standings.
• Billeter has taken the Vikings to the NCAA tournament five of the last six seasons. In 2012-13 the 24th ranked Vikings reached the semifinals of the Central Region showdown for the second time during his tenure.
• At Augustana he has mentored three players who were voted NSIC Freshmen of the Year – Cody Schilling (2009), McCaffrey (2010) and Daniel Jansen (2013).
• Billeter notched his 200th career coaching win in 2009-2010 and approaches the 2013-14 season with an overall record of 263-174. Over the last seven seasons his Vikings have logged a 140-67 record.
• Billeter's 29 years in coaching includes experience outside the United States. In 1996 he coached Team America, a squad composed of NCAA Division I players ages 22-and-younger. His squad participated in the Turgut Atakol Tournament in Istanbul, Turkey.

Northern State Head Coach Paul Sather's
• 2013-14 will be Head Coach Paul Sather's fourth year at the helm of the Wolves. Sather, who is the 22nd head men's basketball coach at Northern State, is a 1996 graduate of NSU.
• Sather has compiled a 45-38 record while at Northern and in 2012-13, led the Wolves to a 20-11 season, Northern's first 20-win season since 2007-08. Northern's 14 conference wins in '12-'13, was the first time since 2008-09 that the Wolves had double-digit NSIC victories.
• In his short tenure with the Wolves, Sather has also coached two 1,000-point scorers at NSU in  Collin Pryor and Dustin Tetzlaff.
• Prior to arriving back in Aberdeen, Sather spent five years as the head coach at Black Hills State, guiding the Yellow Jackets to a 94-62 record during his time there before returning to NSU.
• Sather was instrumental in turning the BHSU program around from a 10-19 season in 2006-07 to an NAIA Final Four contender in 2008-09. The Yellow Jackets also qualified for the national tournament in 2009-10 and compiled an overall conference record of 46-25 in the five years under Sather, including winning two Dakota Athletic Conference championships.