After last year’s one-point loss to Bowdoin College in the NESCAC semifinals, the men’s basketball team managed to secure a bid to the NCAA Tournament — where they fell again in the semifinals, finishing the 2007-08 season with a record of 27-4.
The Jeffs started their 2008-09 season on Tuesday night with a 73-45 win over Curry College at LeFrak Gymnasium. The players were pleased to see their record rise to 1-0 but acknowledge that they have room for improvement after less than three weeks of official practices.
“We are happy to come away with a convincing win, but we could have played much better. Offensively, we need to be more patient and on the defensive end we need to just work harder,” said senior co-captain Brian Baskauskas.
Baskauskas scored 12 points in the opener, matching his 2007-08 average, and sharpshooter Steven Wheeler ’10 added 16 more to lead the team in scoring. Both forwards, along with their teammates, will look to fill the gaps left by the graduation of Matt Goldsmith, Kevin Hopkins, Brandon Jones, Andrew Olson and Fletcher Walters, all of whom signed to play professionally in Germany.
That talented fivesome led last year’s Jeffs to lead the NESCAC in scoring (81.0 ppg), assists per game (17.9), and steals per game (7.55). Still, the team hopes to match their success from last year. “Our team goals are to win the NESCAC and get back to the Final Four. That is always the goal for this program and this year is no different,” said Baskauskas.
The team will be led once again by five seniors, guards Marcus Bradley, Ben Kaplan and Glenn Wong joining co-captains Baskauskas and Mike Holsey. With just two juniors and three sophomores on the court for Amherst, the six first-years will comprise the team’s largest class. Taylor Barrise ’12, Jeff Holmes ’12, Connor Johnson ’12, Tim Prowitt ’12, David Waller ’12, David Zaitz ’12 hope to contribute to the team in their first season. Barrise, Holmes, and Waller scored their first points as Jeffs in their team’s win over the Curry Colonels, netting nine, six, and seven points, respectively.
Ranked 15th in the D3hoops.com preseason poll, the team will have to stay on top of their game to reach their goal of the NCAA Final Four. Much of this season remains unpredictable because of the team’s youth and inexperience, but Tuesday’s game seemed to assuage any fears that those two traits would be detrimental to the team. Twelve of the Jeffs played at least 10 minutes, pointing to depth that could carry the team far into the post-season.
For now, though, the team is focused on the games at hand — this weekend’s Ken Wright ’52 Invitational will give the team a chance to cement their chemistry before a string of non-conference games in December and NESCAC games in January and February.