On paper, it might not seem likely that the men’s basketball team will be able to repeat last season’s National Championship performance. Skeptics will point to the graduation of the winningest class in school history—Dan Wheeler, Tim McLaughlin, Dan O’Shea and Mike Salerno, all ’07, won 111 games, three NESCAC regular season titles, two NESCAC Championships and one National Championship in three trips to the Div. III Final Four. So, needless to say, there are some pretty big shoes to fill.

That being said, by now the Amherst men’s basketball program has gotten pretty good at filling even the biggest of shoes. A quick look at the record book will show that in the last five years, the team has graduated all-time leaders in blocks, steals, assists and points. Fantastic players like John Bedford ’06, Andrew Schiel ’05, Adam Harper ’04, John Donovan ’04 and Steve Zieja ’03 have all had to be replaced. The results? In four of the last five years, the team has set records for all-time wins in a season, and that one year they didn’t set the record, they fell only one win short.

Thus, needless to say, the team is not worrying about how they can possibly live up to last year’s incredible accomplishments, but instead trying to find a way to one-up the previous year once again. That will be difficult, as the ’07 edition of the Lord Jeffs lost a grand total of two games on their way to the National Championship. They lost to Trinity College on the road by three points in the final game of the regular season and by one point to Williams College when a last-second shot came up mere centimeters short in the NESCAC Championship.

They will also be without the services of the aforementioned four players who were crucial to that success. Wheeler led the team in scoring and was a finalist for the prestigious Josten’s Award, given to the top player in the country. McLaughlin also averaged in double figures in scoring and was an excellent perimeter defender. O’Shea was a veteran post player who routinely took on the opposition’s best interior scorer. Salerno was an absolute bulldog defensively, and completely unselfish offensively, amassing as many assists as points in his senior year. But the graduates of ’07 will be missed not only for their prowess on the court, but also for their leadership off of it.

Nevertheless, an incredibly talented cast returns for the ’08 campaign, led by point guard and senior captain Andrew Olson. Olson racked up almost every conceivable honor a Div. III player could win last season. He was named NESCAC Player of the Year, Sectional MVP, NCAA Tournament MVP, D3hoops.com First Team All-American and, of course, NABC Co-Player of the Year.

Also returning from last season’s starting line-up is junior forward Brian Baskauskas, who led the team in rebounding last season and averaged in double figures in scoring. Center Kevin Hopkins ’08, while not a starter, played the lion’s share of minutes at center and led the team in blocks and electrifying dunks, while also scoring in double figures. Center Brandon Jones ’08 was called by one Div. III writer, “the best third-string center in the country,” which was frankly an understatement, as most NESCAC teams would be thrilled to start him. Forward Fletcher Walters ’08, a prolific scorer and rebounder, made sure that there would be no drop-off whatsoever when Wheeler went to the bench, playing significant minutes all throughout the NESCAC Tournament. Those five will make sure that the Jeffs have no shortage of battle-tested veterans this year.

There will also, however, be plenty of new talent ready to crack the rotation. Seniors Matt Goldsmith and Adolphe Coulibaly, who were both slated to start last season before being forced to miss most of the season, will contribute significantly to this year’s roster.

Also, a slew of younger players including Glenn Wong ’09, Marcus Bradley ’09, Mike Holsey ’09, Steven Wheeler ’10, D.J. Carcieri ’10 and Brian Lundeen ’10 have all been waiting for an opportunity to show off their talents. “We are looking forward to seeing the contributions that we can get from some guys who did not get as many minutes last year as perhaps they could have on other teams,” said Hopkins. The team also welcomes first-years Kurt Bennett, Billy Butler and Conor Meehan, as well as junior walk-on Ben Kaplan.

With so much firepower, the Jeffs still believe that they can match everything that last season’s team accomplished and more. Amherst will begin the season ranked second in the nation in d3hoops.com’s national poll, but the team believes that they can end the year one spot higher.