2005-06 Men’s Basketball Outlook

The Swarthmore men's basketball team would prefer to forget about their disappointing 2004-2005 season, fraught with injuries, inexperience, and the inability to win the close games, and concentrate on the upcoming year in the knowledge that the team will have more experience and depth. Swarthmore will certainly feel the loss to graduation of all-time leading career scorer Matt Gustafson (1671 career points), the only male player in school history to amass over 1500 points and over 500 rebounds. But the Garnet remain optimistic about their chances this year, as they return eight of the top ten scorers from last season.

Running the show this year for the Garnet will be junior co-captain Chris Casey, team leader last season in assists (2.75 per game) and steals (1.75 per game). Sophomore post Ian McCormick had an outstanding freshman campaign as one of only two Swarthmore players to play in all 25 games. He averaged 11.6 points per game and 6.0 rebounds per game, placing him among the top twenty players in the Centennial Conference in both categories.

The other three starting positions are open for competition. Last year's starting shooting guard, junior Dillon McGrew (9.3 ppg), is studying abroad in England the first semester and will rejoin the team in late December. Sophomore Matt Kurman (7.9 ppg) averaged over 20 minutes per game as freshmen while starting a number of games, and will be the likely starter at the off-guard. Returning sophomore Chris Nana-Sinkam and Noam Fliegelman, a sophomore transfer from Ithaca College (NY), will compete for playing time in the backcourt.

A host of players will compete for playing time in the frontcourt; senior co-captain Eric Williams, junior Mark Rohde - who played in all 25 games last year, junior Alan Walsh, sophomore Steve Wolf- the most improved player on the team during the off-season, and freshmen Jon Tundel and Raul Ordonez all figure in the mix.

Coach Lee Wimberly stressed very emphatically to each of his returnees, during their individual post-season meetings, that stronger, tougher, and more versatile and complete players is what he is looking for on the first day of practice in October. "Every one of our returning players, and our new players, has more than one area of the game that has room for significant improvement. I felt that last year's team, though it had excellent team chemistry, lacked some determination and toughness that hurt it in close games. We need to do a better job in this area in 2005-2006. But it doesn't just happen; our players and coaches need to make it happen. It needs to be transformed from hope to reality if we are to reach our ultimate goal of qualifying for post-season play."

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