“In all honesty, I think we are going to win a championship.”

This is how Bret Wilson feels about the Penn Valley Scouts' chances in men's basketball this year. Even though this is Wilson's first year at MCC-Penn Valley, he is a sophomore who played last year at Truman University.

Wilson is a native to the Kansas City area, having grown up in Lee’s Summit and played basketball at Lee’s Summit High School. Wilson once scored thirty points in a game during his senior year in high school. As a senior at Lee’s Summit, Wilson was named to Rivals.com's Suburban Big Seven all-conference team and had very high hopes after high school.

He continued his education and basketball career at Lincoln University. Lincoln is a Division 2 school in Jefferson City, MO. At Lincoln Wilson had a very strong freshmen season, even cracking the starting line up several times. He played significant minutes in multiple games and scored in double figures several times.

Wilson was runner-up for the MIAA conference freshman of the year. Although Wilson had such a strong year, he decided to leave the program and find a new home to play basketball. Wilson wasn’t completely happy with the direction he felt the program was going. "I just didn’t think it was the right program for me to play in,” he says.

Wilson decided to come to PVCC for his sophomore year. He had great hopes for the Scouts, a team that went to nationals last year and returns many of the players from last year's squad. “Along with winning a national championship, I think our team will return to nationals, win our region, and win 20-plus ball games this season,” says Wilson.

After Wilson and the Scouts make their run at this year's national championship, he is faced with yet another difficult decision. Wilson wants to go to a Division 1 school to finish his two years of eligibility. All college athletes only have four years of eligibility, meaning that they can compete in four seasons. Like most community college players, Wilson will be transferring after his sophomore season, even though it is his first with the Scouts.

“I would really go anywhere that would give me the opportunity to prove I can play at that level," says Wilson. "It has always been my dream to play D-1 basketball.”

Copyright 2006 Metropolitan Community College