Garnet Men Basketball Preview
SWARTHMORE, Pa. - The 2009-2010 edition of the Garnet should be much improved over last year (3-21 overall, 2-16 conference,) when they suffered from a numbers problem and lack of experience, exacerbated by an unusual rash of injuries and sickness. The loss of its only senior, center Raul Ordonez, will certainly be felt. He finished in the top ten in the Centennial Conference in both scoring (12.7 ppg.) and rebounding (8.3 rpg.), and tied the Swarthmore single-season record of taking charges (22). But the return of four starters and a promising group of freshmen have the Garnet thinking improvement in 2009-10.
Senior captain Matt Allen will look to lead the Garnet to a winning season in 2009-10.
Senior co-captains Matt Allen (Seattle, Wash.) and Danny Walker (Westbury, N.Y.) are the returning starters in the backcourt. Allen averaged 9.1 ppg. and led the team in assists (2.8 apg.), while Walker was second on the team in both scoring (10.6 ppg.) and rebounding (5.1 rpg.). Junior Ryan Carmichael (Portland, ME) is the returning starter at small forward. He averaged 8.8 ppg. while shooting 33% from three and 92% from the line.
Junior Sam Lacy (Jericho, Vt.) is the lone returning starter in the post and averaged 7.3 ppg. and 4.8 rpg. last year. Key reserves, sophomore point guard Andrew Greenblatt (Woodbury, N.Y.), sophomore wing Michael Giannangeli (Potomac, Md.), and sophomore forward Marc Rogalski (Franklin Lakes, N.J).) should all benefit from a year in which they played significant minutes as freshmen.
Everyone in the program is excited about what looks like an excellent recruiting year for the Garnet. Guard Sean Conroe (Santa Cruz, Calif.) averaged 12 ppg., 5 apg., and was named second team all-league. Forward Will Gates (Wilseyville, N.Y.) averaged over 26 ppg. and was named second team all-state. Point guard Jordan Martinez (Oakdale, N.Y.) averaged 12 ppg. and 7 apg. and was named all-tourney in the prestigious Sleepy Thompson Tourney. Eugene Prymak (Middletown, Pa.), a 6-6 post player, averaged 11 ppg. and 6 rpg. and was named a conference all-star. Ramsey Walker (Kuttawa, Ky.) averaged 19ppg. and 9 rpg. as a senior and was twice named All-Region.
“We will have to reduce our turnovers and shoot the ball much better from three and overall if we want to significantly improve our won-loss record in 2009-2010,” said head coach Lee Wimberly, who has pinpointed several areas needing improvement next season. “This team improved a lot as the season progressed last year, and by the latter part of the year, it was a pretty darn good defensive team. We now need to move forward from there.”
Though the Centennial Conference will be among the elite conferences in the country again this year, there were a larger-than-usual number of seniors who graduated in 2009. This fact, the return of four starters, and its promising recruiting class, make the Garnet cautiously optimistic that it can compete for a spot in the Centennial Conference playoffs in 2010.