Basketball's Senior Class Leaves Big Shoes to Fill

 It may not have seemed like a big deal at the time, but to Lions’ fans, it was a truly poignant moment.

With four and a half minutes remaining in the second half of Columbia’s 80-72 loss Saturday night, seniors Matt Preston and Tim Begley dove for a loose ball. When the whistle sounded, it was Preston—the Lions’ senior, captain, and spiritual leader—who was called for his fifth personal foul, thus providing an ignominious end to the career of one of the team’s more celebrated players in recent memory. Minutes later, the Lions’ most experienced player, Jeremiah Boswell, fouled out as well, also walking off the court in Levien for the final time.

While there is still a two-game road trip that includes the second yearly installment of the “Battle of the Joneses,” the Lions’ (12-13, 3-9 Ivy) recent eight-game tailspin has many fans looking to see what the future may hold for the Light Blue.

As the last players to have seen significant time in the Armond Hill era played their final home game (Boswell and fellow senior Tito Hill), there is little doubt that the men’s basketball program at Columbia is on the verge of the most substantive part of the transition that begin two years ago with the hiring of Joe Jones to replace Hill.

“Going through that 2-25 season [in Hill’s final season, 2002-2003] was good and bad,” Preston said. “Bad, obviously because of all the losses, but we all became very close as a team because of that. [When Jones got here] we decided that we didn’t want to be the doormat of the Ivies, that we were going to be a tough, hard-working team that dove for loose balls, all that stuff.”

While holdovers from the Hill era, such as forward Dragutin Kravic and guard Dalen Cuff, will certainly play key roles for the Lions next season, there is little doubt that much of the burden of replacing the six outgoing seniors will fall upon the this year’s six freshmen, who represented Jones’ first recruiting class.

The class of six received a great deal of attention before the year, and with most of the season over, they have already provided glimpses of what the future holds for Columbia basketball. While Preston and Boswell remained the heart of this year’s team, Columbia’s freshman showed early signs of development. Three Lions took Ivy Rookie of the Week honors and two freshman were in the starting lineup by the end of the season.

The first, point guard Brett Loscalzo (Rookie of the Week in the week ending January 17th), has proved to be an intelligent floor leader who has made strides towards implementing Jones’ preferred up-tempo offense, leading the Lions with 2.8 assists per game. On a turnover-prone team, Loscalzo has not been able to totally establish control, but as Jones commented after the Penn game, the freshman has nonetheless done well in the face of adversity.

“We need to help Brett Loscalzo out [in the backcourt],” Jones said. “A lot of times he’s just sitting out on an island by himself. We need to loosen up the offense and come up with some creative ways to do that.”

The following week saw another starter, forward Mack Montgomery, awarded Rookie of the Week. An athletic forward, Montgomery’s defense has been suspect at times during the year, but he has significant potential on the offensive end. The Lions have even started to look to him for baskets late in games as the season has progressed.

Despite a pair of losses last weekend, power forward/center John Baumann took home the award this past week, with 14 and 17 point efforts against the Killer P’s. After missing much of the season with an ankle injury, Baumann has come on strong in past weeks, displaying a deft touch around the basket and a penchant for drawing contact underneath.

“He’s doing the things I thought he was going to do when I recruited him,” Jones said. “My hat goes off to the kid. He spent a lot of time working hard and watching film, and he’s really starting to understand what we’re trying to do on both ends of the floor. He’s going to be a terrific player, there’s no question about it.”

The Lions front-court will also benefit from the development of Ben Nwachukwu, a 6’9” 250 pound center who showed brief flashes of dominance throughout the year. The raw Nwachukwu gets in foul trouble a bit too often, but clearly has the potential to be an important player for the Lions in the future.

Point guard Kashif Sweet, who is missing the second half of the season with knee trouble, proved, when healthy, to be a change of pace from Loscalzo at the point—a much quicker guard who doesn’t currently have Loscalzo’s shooting touch or court vision. The sixth freshman, Justin Armstrong, did not see significant time during the season.

The Lions will have some big shoes to fill once their seniors don the Light Blue for the final time next Saturday against Yale. However, with an impressive group of underclassmen, a full transition, in keeping with Jones’ philosophy, seems to be the order of the day.