2006-07 Men’s Basketball Outlook
2006-07 Season Outlook
Having fielded the youngest team in the Centennial Conference each of the last two years, the Garnet hope to parlay the experience received by its players during those seasons into a CC playoff spot in 2006-07.
Swarthmore returns all five starters from 2005-06, including seven of its top eight scorers. Running the show again this year is returning senior captain Chris Casey (Williamsville, NY), who started all 25 games at the point guard position in '05-'06. Casey led the team in assists (3.28 per game), ranking sixth in the Centennial while sharing the team lead in steals (1.52/g), tied for 13th in the CC.
Junior forwards Ian McCormick (Seattle, WA) and Steve Wolf (Philadelphia, PA) both posted excellent sophomore campaigns in '05-'06. The tandem averaged 14.9 points per game and 14.6 ppg., (ranking ninth and 10th in the league), and averaged 7.4 rebounds per game and 6.7 rpg., respectively, placing fifth and seventh in the conference. Junior guard Matt Kurman (Rockville, MD) started all 25 games, averaging 11.3 ppg. (24th in the conference), 2.64 assists per game, (10th in the conference), and 1.52 steals per game (tied for 13th in the conference). Junior wing Noam Fliegelman (Philadelphia, PA) started 16 games last year, averaging 7.1 ppg while shooting 44% from 3-point range and leading the Garnet in free throw percentage (86.2%). Senior guard Dillon McGrew (Manitou Springs, CO) and senior forward Mark Rohde (Cockeysville, MD) both averaged over 15 minutes per game last year off of the bench. McGrew led the team in fewest turnovers (14) and Rohde led the team in charges taken with seven.
Other returning players for the Garnet are senior forward Alan Walsh (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), junior guard Chris Nana-Sinkam (Lancaster, PA), and sophomore forward Raul Ordonez (Miami, FL). At press time the Garnet had commitments from five incoming freshmen, several of whom are expected to compete for playing time right away.
Head coach Lee Wimberly, entering his 20th season at the helm of the Swarthmore basketball team, has pin-pointed a number of areas in which the team needs to improve if they hope to reach post-season play in '06-'07. Those areas include free throw shooting (both number of attempts and percentage made) and turnovers, in both of which the Garnet finished last season at the bottom of the league, and a lack of toughness that affected the team in close games. According to Wimberly, "for whatever reason, our team chemistry was not nearly as good last year as it has been in prior years. We need to do a much better job in this area in 2006-2007, if we are to reach our potential as a team."