The north wall of Lefrak Gymnasium could serve as a reference guide to the success of the men's basketball program in its 30 years under Coach David Hixon. There are four NESCAC Championship banners, two NCAA Elite Eight banners and two NCAA Final Four Banners. Pretty soon, a 2007 NCAA Championship banner will trump them all.
On Friday night, with last year's entire national title team in attendance, the championship banner was unveiled in Alumni Gym.
"We're celebrating last year's National Championship team tonight, but that National Championship started a long time ago," Hixon, 2007 NABC National Coach of the Year, told the audience of parents, fans and past players. "I've sat and watched 30 years of terrific, hardworking, intelligent young men come through here, and I can't tell you how proud I am to be sitting in the position I'm in."
All of the players from last year's team, including the four recently graduated captains, were introduced by Hixon before the banner was unveiled. The ceremony was followed by an alumni game.
"The banner ceremony was really great for everyone involved. Having the alumni back, including last year's seniors, was a lot of fun and it was a great way to segue into our 2007-08 season … The ceremony reminded us of how great it feels to win it all and how badly we want to do it again," said Brian Baskauskas '09, the starting small forward on last year's team.
"It is always good when former teammates can make it back. We were a close-knit team last year, so it was great to see [last year's seniors Dan] Wheeler, [Dan] O'Shea, Timmy [McLaughlin], and Mike [Salerno] again," said Kevin Hopkins '08.
"It did make us realize however that we are a new team this year, and we will have to find a new team identity for ourselves. We will miss the leadership and the talent that those guys brought to the team, but we are all excited about the talent and experience that we have coming back."
The championship team will be honored on a national scale on Nov. 11 at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. "Amherst College Day" at the Hall of Fame will include a center court ceremony, a clinic for children and an autograph session. According to Hixon, no Div. III team has ever had such a celebration at the Hall.
Just five days after that, the quest for another championship banner will begin when the D3hoops.com number-two nationally ranked Jeffs hit the court at the Amherst College Ken Wright '52 Invitational. "We are going to have a very deep team again this year, and that is going to make it even harder for other teams to try to match up with us. Many of the guys who will be coming off of the bench will be just as good as the guys who are playing ahead of them," said Hopkins. "I know that everyone on the team is thrilled with how well we did last year, but everyone is looking forward to the chance to get back to Salem and possibly win another Championship."