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Basketball season is right around the corner, and one of the players you should have your eyes on is Cooper Wilson, a 6'3 wing and captain of the De Anza Men's basketball team.

Wilson is one of those players that can do it all. In De Anza's most recent game against City College of San Francisco (ranked #2 in the state), Wilson scored four points, had eight rebounds, and four assists.

So far, after 5 non-conference games, Wilson is averaging 12 points a game, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.6 assists.

He describes himself as not being great at any particular aspect of the game, but a good all around player.

He can score in a variety of ways, prides himself on his hustle, and head coach Jason Damjanovic says that intangables and leadership are two of the most important qualities that Wilson brings.

"He is respected from his work ethic. He is not the best player we have, but he is probably the most respected player we have," says Damjanovic.

Wilson picked up basketball in middle school, when he was captivated by the Golden State Warriors and their astonishing '06-'07 "We Believe" season.

"I loved watching Baron Davis, he was so explosive and everyone loved watching him. I loved watching Stephen Jackson, all those guys, and now obviously who doesn't like Stephen Curry?" says Wilson.

Wilson attended Willow Glen High School, where he was captain during his sophomore and senior years, and where his team made the CCS finals during his junior season.

Last year, Wilson only averaged 2.1 points as a freshman, and struggled to find his role.

Wilson says that this year he knows his role, and the team is more motivated and focused during practices.

Coach Damjanovic says that the team has the potential to do better than last year.

"The goal every year is to win conference and make the playoffs. Every single year out of the eleven years I've been here. Win conference and make the playoffs. That's the only automatic bid, is to win conference," says Damjanovic.

Damjanovic says that Wilson epitomizes what it means to be a community college athlete, and praises him for how well he balances classwork and athletics.

Wilson is a kinesiology major and currently has a 3.2 GPA.

"You've got to go to practice, go home, get something to eat, and start your homework. You can't go home and lay around and you can't screw around," says Wilson.

He chooses to do kinesiology because he wants to be around the sport of basketball as he gets older, and he hopes to continue playing basketball at the college level after transferring from De Anza.

"We really want to go somewhere this year and we're trying to get everyone on this team scholarships. We want to win our league, we want to get a conference championship, it hasn't been done in a long time, and we feel like this is the year to do it," says Wilson.

Basketball is back in session, and this season is shaping up to be an interesting one for the Dons.