WACO ? For the fifth time since the 2004-05 season, the Tarleton Texan basketball team will take on a NCAA Division I squad on its home floor. The Texans travel to Baylor in Waco to open the 2007-08 season with an exhibition game Friday, Nov. 2.

Tarleton is coming off a 18-10 season, missing the NCAA Division II playoffs for the first time since the 2001-02 season.

Tarleton played an exhibition game at the University of Texas in 2004 before traveling to Lamar and Texas Christian University in 2005. Tarleton won at Lamar on Nov. 9, 2005 with a 65-62 win in an exhibition game before taking a regular season game from TCU on Nov. 19, 68-59. The win in Fort Worth ended TCU's 24-game home opening winning streak. Tarleton also played New Orleans on Nov. 5, 2005.

The Texans return a strong nucleus from last year's team, but it may be the new faces on the Tarleton squad that will help define the 2007-08 season.

Three NCAA Division I transfers will join a young Tarleton State University men's basketball team for the 2007-08 season as the Texans look to return to the NCAA playoffs for the sixth time in seven seasons.

Last season, a young Tarleton Texan squad fought injuries and inconsistency, missing the program's first NCAA Division II South Central Regional since the 2001 season. The Texans, who had the longest streak in the region for consecutive appearances prior to last season, are looking to build upon the youthfulness while adding six transfers to the 2007-08 roster.

"We are looking forward to the 2007-08 season and we feel we may have had the best recruiting class in the nation in Division II," said Tarleton head coach Lonn Reisman. "Last year was a year where we struggled injury-wise, losing two starters at the beginning of the year was a blow to us because they would have been major impact players for us. This year, we hope to rebound and return to the national playoffs where we belong, and we feel we have the players to do so."

The Texans will welcome Avery Patterson from St. John's, Limar Wilson from Minnesota and Jeffrey Henfield from New Mexico to the 2007-08 squad.

Patterson, a 6-4, 195-pound guard from Kannapolis, N.C., will transfer after starting 27 of 31 games for the Red Storm in 2006-07. Patterson averaged 10.4 points and 3.7 rebounds per game this year while knocking down 35.7 percent of his shots from the floor, including a 32.7 percentage from beyond the arc. He also averaged .714 from the charity stripe his junior season.

Wilson, a 6-0, 160-pound guard from Orlando, Fla., started 15 of 26 games played at Minnesota last season. He averaged 24 minutes per game last season. Wilson transferred to Minnesota from Northeast Community College in Norfolk, Neb. He was a Preseason Junior College All-American by JucoJunction.com. He was rated the 23rd-best player in the country by the web site. Wilson was named one of the top performers at the Mullen's Roundball Review by Basketball Times and he was named one of the top JC players in the nation by prepstars.com. Wilson averaged 16.7 points, 6.9 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game as a sophomore in 2005-06. As a freshman, Wilson averaged 10.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 5.4 assists despite missing 15 games due to injury.

Henfield, a 6-4 forward from Nassau, Bahamas, transfers to the Texans after seeing action in 31 games for New Mexico in 2006-07. He was second on the team from behind the three-point arc with a .424 percentage. His season was highlighted with a 12-point outing against Texas Tech on Jan. 1 and an 11-point performance against Abilene Christian on Nov. 10 of last year.

"The Division I players bring immediate experience of playing at the highest level: Big Ten, Big East and WAC," Reisman said. "We are talking about two players that started in NCAA Division I. The three of them bring tremendous playing experience in a high level of basketball. They bring leadership and great skill that will make other players that are playing with them better as well."

The Texans have also added quality transfers in Matt Akins, Eric Williams and Marlin Cloudy.

Akins, a 6-9, 225-pound center from St. Louis, Mo., transferred to Tarleton from Western Nebraska Community College. Akins averaged 10.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game as a sophomore at WNCC while shooting .470 from the field and .330 from the three-point arc. He scored 24 points, grabbed 17 rebounds and had five steals against Otero College in the regional tournament to highlight his sophomore season.

Williams, a 6-6, 215-pound forward from Long Beach, Calif., transfered to Tarleton from Long Beach City College. Williams was the Co-Most Valuable Player of the South Coast Conference this season while leading his team to a 21-11 record. The squad won 14 games in a row from Dec. 21, 2006 through Feb. 14, 2007 and claimed the South Coast Conference Championship, going undefeated in conference (8-0). This season, Williams averaged 21.3 points, 12.2 rebounds, 2.2 blocks and 2.0 steals per game while shooting 47 percent from the floor and 35 percent from the three-point arc. In conference play, the Texan averaged 23.0 points, 12.3 rebounds, 3.3 blocks and 2.0 steals this season while shooting 53 percent from the floor and 38 percent from the arc.

Cloudy, a 6-3, 185-pound guard from Center, played the last two seasons for Trinity Valley Community College. In the last two seasons at TVCC, Cloudy averaged 10 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals per outing. He led the team to 19 wins in his sophomore season while leading the squad to the regional quarterfinals. Cloudy hit seven or more three-pointers in four games last season and hit eight three-pointers against Kilgore College when he scored 27 points.

"Our other three transfers will be immediate impact players as well," Reisman said. "Williams could have played in the WAC, and don't take anything away from Matt Akins and Marlin Cloudy. These are Division I-quality basketball players as well."

The Texans have also added four freshman to the roster to help solidify another run to the national championship. Wale Ogunoye, a 6-6, 215-pound forward from Cedar Hill, turned down offers from Division I schools to play for Tarleton while Warren Webb, a 6-2, 190-pound forward from Houston passed up two or three Southland Conference schools to become a Texan. Also scheduled to join the roster are freshmen Ted Washington, a 6-2, 185-pound guard from Arlington, and Anthony Wells, a 6-8, 195-pound freshman from Mesquite.

"We are very pleased with our freshman class as well," Reisman said. "Between the newcomers and the returning players, we could have something very special."

Returning for the Texans are Kenneth Cage, Mike Daniels, Dan Eichel, Terrence Gamble, Effran Bryant and Nic Cantrell.

Cage, who suffered a knee injury twice last year, is coming off surgery, and the Texan coaching staff hope he will be ready to go for this season. The 6-1, 190-pound guard averaged 7.9 points and 2.5 rebounds per game last season with 33 assists and 16 steals in his 11 games played.

Daniels, a 6-3, 180-pound guard, started all 28 games at point guard last season, averaging 5.5 points and 3.0 rebounds per outing. He had 133 assists and 13 steals along with a .362 three-point field goal percentage.

Eichel returns as the Lone Star Conference South Division Freshman of the Year after averaging 4.7 points and 2.8 rebounds per game with a .455 shooting percentage. The 6-7, 210-pound forward also averaged .732 from the charity stripe as a freshman.

Gamble, a 6-11, 260-pound center, started 18 of 28 games last season, averaging 5.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest. He also averaged .518 from the field and had 40 blocks.

Bryant, a 5-6, 155-pound guard, saw action in all 28 games off the bench as a true freshman. He averaged 4.1 points per game and had 43 assists with 10 steals.

Cantrell, a 6-4, 195-pound guard/forward, played in 12 games last season and had limited time on the floor.

"I don't think there is any doubt that we will get back into our winning ways this season," Reisman said. "We have a great mix of people returning. Cage returns from a very bad knee injury, and we hope he is ready to play. Daniels returns after starting last season at point guard. Terrence can only be better because he showed glimpses of what it means to be an inconsistent player coming out of junior college with no high school basketball experience into playing at the NCAA level. He showed flashes of being outstanding last year.

"Eichel was Tarleton's first ever LSC Freshman of the Year and he started the game when we beat Findlay," Reisman continued. "Effran and Nic were great role players for us last season, and we look for them to continue to contribute this year."

Tarleton hopes the injury bug that bit the Texans several times last year stays away.

"If we have the same number of injuries we had last year, we will be in the same shape we were last season," Reisman said. "In NCAA Division II, you only have 10 scholarships and when you start losing two or three starters, there is no way you are going to be good enough to win a national championship. Those years we went to the Elite Eight, we just didn't have many injuries, and we were blessed with a good basketball squad. I think you have to base last year on the injury bug."

The Texans were left hungry after narrowly missing the playoffs last season after being bumped from the eighth seed due to an automatic bid to the Heartland Conference, and the coaching staff hopes the competition for a starting job in 2007-08 will propel Tarleton back to the Elite Eight for the third time in four years.

"We have three starters returning that are going to have to fight high quality basketball players, including NCAA Division I-caliber athletes, to start this year," Reisman said. "We have worked hard to get our program at a national level, and we think this roster will help us remain competitive nationally.

"We feel this could be the top team we have had," Reisman said. "On paper, even though we went to the Final Four and the Elite Eight, I think this team can be the best we have had. We have a big-time three player and probably the best set of guards in the country. If there is any better tandem of guards, I don't want to face them.

"Every year, we feel we are one of the top five to 10 programs in the nation," Reisman said. "We have proven that over the last several years, and we have consistently been there.

“On paper, we have the same goals we have every year,” Reisman said. “If we don't win the national championship, we feel we haven't accomplished our goals."

The Bears, led by head coach Scott Drew, return all five starters and nine lettermen from last year's squad. Seven players on the Bear's roster are multiple-year lettermen.

Returning to this year's team for the Bears is over 90 percent of last year's point totals, 87 percent of the rebounds and 94.5 percent of the assists. Guard Curtis Jerrells returns after averaging 15.0 points and 4.7 rebounds per contest while forward Kevin Rogers (12.8), guard Henry Dugat (11.7) and guard Aaron Bruce (11.3) also averaging in double figures in scoring. Rogers had a 7.6 rebounds per game average last season to lead all returners while Mamadou Diene averaged 4.7 rebounds per contest as well.

The Bears finished the 2006-07 season 15-16 overall, but Baylor did shock Missouri in the first round of the Big XII Championships last season (97-83) before falling to Texas late in the second half of the second round (74-69).

The Texans won't have long to rest after Friday's contest. Tarleton will travel to College Station Monday, Nov. 5 to play at Texas A&M at 7 p.m.

Both games can be heard on Mandatory FM (100.7 FM and 98.5 FM) and online at www.MandatoryFM.com. Pregame will start at 6:45 p.m. on both days, and a special presentation of the Lonn Reisman 20th Anniversary Reunion will be broadcast from 6-6:45 p.m. on Monday prior to the game with Aggies.