Seniors leave behind transformed program

They have combined for over 6308 minutes of playing time. They have scored 1884 points, they have contributed 550 assists, 222 steals, and 593 rebounds. And the numbers are just the beginning of the story of the outgoing men’s basketball class of 2010.

Kevin Bulger, Patrick Foley, and Niko Scott have left an indelible mark on the Columbia program with their efforts both on and off the court. In the two years before they came to Morningside Heights, the Lions were a combined 7-21 in Ivy League play. Now they have a chance to be the first group of seniors since the class of 1979 to finish in the top four of the Ivy League standings all four years. Only their final two games in the Light Blue jersey stand in their way.

Laying the foundations

The legacy that these seniors will leave behind started when they were just juniors in high school, being recruited by head coach Joe Jones and his staff. Though all three came from different backgrounds, they all knew that Columbia was the right choice for them.

“It’s just one of those things where you can’t necessarily pinpoint it on any one thing,” Bulger said. “I was really comfortable and kind of knew this is where I’d want to end up.”

Bulger made his first visit to Columbia when he was beginning his junior year of high school, and even though he also looked at Brown and Yale, he knew that Columbia was right for him early on.

Part of the reason why Bulger was drawn to Columbia was because coach Jones was working on building a much more successful program.

“I remember when Coach was recruiting me, he was talking about how he wanted players that wanted to help build something,” Bulger said. “He didn’t want guys that just wanted to come in and not take pride in the program.”

Scott was also pursued by Columbia coaches during his junior year, and was drawn to Columbia because of the opportunities it offered outside of basketball and because of its location in New York City.

“I never really thought about the Ivy League until going into my senior year, when I thought, ‘Wow, there’s so much more to offer in the college experience than just basketball,’” Scott said. “So that grabbed my attention and got me to commit in my senior year, midway through.”

Foley was first contacted after his junior year, and though he was being recruited by other schools, he knew almost immediately that Columbia was right for him.

“I was lined up to visit a few different schools—I was going to see Davidson, Harvard, and Yale—and I came here to visit early September. That was my first one, and I just committed right away,” Foley said.

Baptism by fire

Once they arrived on campus, Bulger, Foley, and Scott had to perform right away. When they joined the Lions in the 2006-07 season, the team was very young, with no seniors and eight freshmen or sophomores, giving the freshmen plenty of opportunities to make their mark.

“We were always looked at as the kids that were going to have to bring some sort of change to the game, to lift the level of competition from years past, before we got here,” Scott said.

As freshmen, all three saw significant playing time and made sizeable contributions. Foley, who came off the bench in 24 out of the 25 games he played as a back-up point guard for then-junior Brett Loscalzo, was the second on the team in scoring with 8.9 points per game. Averaging 21.4 minutes a game, Foley was also second on the team in assists with 63 and steals with 20.

Scott, who started in an impressive 18 games his freshman year (playing in 26), was fourth on the team in scoring with 6.8 points per game, and also tied Foley with 20 steals. In the 19.2 minutes he played each game, Scott pulled down an average of 1.8 rebounds.

Bulger played an average of 14.9 minutes in 25 games in his first season. Averaging 3.8 points, Bulger also had an impressive 1.85 assist to turnover ratio.

Even though their stats were impressive, they were still adjusting to college-level play.

“Looking back, I didn’t know what I was doing out there as a freshman,” Foley said. “My head was spinning a lot of the time. The jump from high school to college was just so significant—you have no idea.”

“I think what I really just tried to do was come off the bench and provide some energy and just play hard, and I think that’s something we did well as a freshmen class together,” Foley added.

Bulger too talked about their energy as freshmen and the mental challenge college basketball posed.

“Like Pat said, you’re playing mostly on adrenaline [as a freshmen], whereas now its much more of a mental game—being a senior, kind of understanding how things work,” Bulger said. “A lot of times when you’re younger, you’re just playing off effort and adrenaline.”

Though the challenges of adapting from high school basketball were great, the triumvirate was not eased into college basketball, as they played their first game against perennial powerhouse Duke.

“That was crazy,” Foley said of playing at Duke. “I’ve been a Carolina fan all my life, so it was kind of one of my dreams to go play in Cameron, and it came true.”

Though the Lions ultimately lost to the Blue Devils 86-43, all three freshmen saw time, with Scott putting up eight points, good for second-best on the team.

“I think the weirdest thing was looking at Coach K on the sidelines,” Foley said about the game.

“Growing up, I was always kind of designated as the shooter for whatever team I was on,” Scott said. “Hearing Coach K say, ‘Don’t let him get open! He’s a shooter!’—that was just like whoa.”

While the game was special for all three freshman, it was even more special for Bulger.

“For me it was a little extra special because I’m friends with Jon Scheyer, who plays at Duke,” Bulger said. “We played against each other in high school a lot—we went to rival high schools. It was great to play our first college game against each other, because we had played in the summers and played against each other in high school and had some great battles.”

The freshmen, and the team as a whole, only continued to improve after that game, eventually finishing with an overall record of 16-12—the Light Blue’s first winning record since the 1992-93 season—and a 7-7 Ivy record, the team’s first conference record of .500 or better since 2000-01.

Finding their footing

In their sophomore year, Bulger, Foley, and Scott all saw an increase in playing time. Bulger, who played in 28 contests (starting once), averaged 19.3 minutes a game, contributing 3.0 points and 2.6 rebounds a contest. Bulger also led the team in steals with 23, and had the third most assists with 54.

Scott started in 19 of the 29 games he played in, averaging 23.2 minutes. He was second on the team in scoring, with 7.7 points and second in assists with 64.

Foley played in only nine games his sophomore season, starting four, due to a shoulder injury. In those nine games, he averaged 6.6 points and 1.6 rebounds while dishing out a total of 28 assists.

Foley has been plagued by health issues his whole career, missing time in his sophomore, junior, and senior seasons due to a myriad of injuries.

“It’s been a rough stretch,” Foley said. “It’s frustrating to not have had that time to develop as a player. It seems like I’m constantly on the mend and coming back from something rather than building on something, which is tough, because obviously you have high expectations coming into college about what you want to do.”

Sophomore year, it was a shoulder injury that sidelined the point guard. Junior year, it was his foot. This year, it was his shoulder again. Though Foley has consistently put up strong statistics while wearing light blue, he has constantly been battling injuries that have hindered his development as a player.

“I don’t really know how I feel about it yet,” Foley said of his injury-filled career. “It’s just kind of been a whirlwind in the past four years in terms of constantly getting hurt and trying to hurry back and play, and then mending over the summer, and then playing and then getting hurt and then coming back. I think my feelings will kind of set in the next couple of weeks when I look back on not playing college basketball anymore, and I’ll kind of have a better grasp on it.”

Exceeding expectations

The three’s junior year was supposed to be defined by the loss of John Baumann and Ben Nwachukwu, two marquee post players who were expected to leave major vacancies under the basket for the Lions. Expectations for that year were deflated by such a substantial loss down low.

Injuries added to the Lions’ concerns, with promising transfer Brian Grimes blowing out his knee during preseason and Foley suffering a foot injury and missing a large chunk of games in the middle of the season. Scott was also limited by an injury to his shoulder late in the season.

At the end of the year, however, Columbia found themselves at 7-7 in the Ivy League, the same conference mark the Light Blue had in the previous two campaigns. The credit, the seniors agree, goes to class of 2009 star Jason Miller and his emergence as one of the league’s premier big men.

“I don’t think you can talk about that year without talking about Jason, and how much he stepped up,” Foley immediately responded when asked about his junior season.

“Jason Miller,” chimed in Scott. “I mean when you lose two big guys and you don’t lose anything really in production up front, there’s nothing else that can be said.”

“But I mean, that year,” Foley added, “not where we wanted to be, but still, I think considering we had a lot of injuries, we all felt good about how we finished that year considering what we had been through. It was a testament to our fortitude as a team and to Coach keeping us on the right track that we were able to finish that 7-7, and come away, not satisfied, but proud of what we were able to accomplish despite all the adversity.”

Foley and Scott pointed to the contributions of Joe Bova, another post player who also was forced to play at less than 100 percent due to nagging back problems. This year’s seniors pointed to the example set by Bova and Miller as leaving a lasting impression on their approach to the game.

“They played like their life was on the line,” Scott explained, “and that’s something that I’m always going to appreciate because I was out there with them, next to them, doing it as well. They were basically the reason why we were able to overcome so much that year.”

Lost in the three seniors’ efforts to credit Miller and Bova is their own performance that year. Bulger, after all, shared team MVP honors after the 2008-2009 season with Miller. His stat sheet gives an idea of his vast contributions—Bulger finished that year the team leader in assists, second in steals, and fourth in rebounds, despite being listed at only 6-foot-3 on the roster. Not known as a scorer, Bulger stepped up when called upon, hitting a jumper in the lane with 4.2 seconds to go to give the Lions an exhilarating one-point win over Harvard at home.

Foley and Scott made sure their classmate was not the only big time performer in the backcourt that year. Despite the extended absence caused by his injured foot, Foley had his most productive season, averaging 10.9 points a game along with 2.5 assists. He was the team’s floor general, creating shots both for himself and his teammates. His 1.33 assist to turnover ratio, as well as his 82.2 percent free throw percentage, both indicated his maturation as a point guard. Tellingly, his return helped to spark the Lions on a 6-1 run in league play and cemented his position as one of the premier point guards in the Ivy League with a particularly strong conference season. It was no coincidence that when Foley went down once more with an injury at the end of the year, the Lions went on a 1-3 skid.

Scott, by now in his third year as a starter, continued to punish teams anytime they gave him a look at the basket, scoring in double figures nine times that year. Playing his best when the stakes were the highest, Scott found his rhythm in Ancient Eight play even with his shoulder troubles, scoring 24 against Brown, 20 against Princeton, and 19 against Penn.

One last time

Looking back, the seniors see a maturation process in their play. As they grew older, Bulger, Foley, and Scott point to a greater recognition of their respective roles and to a greater appreciation of the mental side of the game as central to their development on the court.

Scott explained that from the start Jones has emphasized their importance to the team, whether it’s being “the guy that would stop their [the opponent’s] best player, like Kevin has done for the past four years, or to be the kid that comes off the bench [in his freshman and sophomore years] or starts [the last two years] and runs the team like the point guard that Pat is.”

Realizing those roles has been an ongoing process, one that has coincided with a greater understanding of what it takes to win and what it means to be part of a team.

When asked what he hopes the underclassmen will learn from his example, Bulger pointed to this learning process.

“What I’m hoping they can learn or take away is the idea that to be successful and to be a part of the team, a key component, you don’t necessarily have to be the best player, the best shooter, the strongest guy,” he explained, citing his own growth as a player as an example.

“If you can find your niche along the way, which is kind of something I feel like I’ve done a little bit, just in terms of defensively and being an energy guy or whatnot, you can definitely contribute and help the team win.”

Bulger has embodied this idea as much as anyone, filling any needs the Light Blue has been faced with in the backcourt. When Foley re-injured his shoulder this season, Bulger was forced to take a larger role on offense, one that he has embraced.

“We ask so much of him,” Jones said of Bulger. “Point guard is not his natural position, and he’s done a great job all year filling in that void.”

Freshman Mark Cisco echoed this sentiment. When asked what he would miss most about the seniors, Cisco responded, “Their overall commitment. They were willing to do anything to help the team.”

That type of attitude has been present throughout the entire senior class, and has distinguished the three as tri-captains of this year’s squad.

“I think they did a great job leading, and I think they did a great job especially leading by example,” sophomore guard Noruwa Agho said. “On and off the court they definitely do everything that coach Jones talks about and they definitely do everything that yields a successful program and a successful basketball team.”

Jones cannot say enough about his senior class.

“They’ve been unbelievable. They’ve been as important to this program as any seniors we’ve had. They’ve just meant so much.” Jones went on, saying, “They’ve epitomized what this program’s all about, how hard you need to work, the type of person you need to be, and the type of teammate you need to be. We’re going to miss those guys quite a bit.”

This season they’ve shown why, as Scott and Foley have once again proven to be dangerous offensively. Scott has averaged 9.0 points per game, including 43.9 percent shooting from 3-point land, even as the offense has shifted its focus towards breakout star Agho. Foley, when healthy, has averaged 9.1 points per game, good for second on the team. He is also third on the team in assists, despite missing 11 of 26 games and making only a brief appearance on Senior Night.

Bulger has answered the call, adding point guard to his responsibilities as the team’s defensive ace. He leads the team in assists and is second in steals, but it is his leadership and his energy that make his efforts so vital to the Light Blue. All three have shown maturity in accepting smaller roles offensively with the emergence of Agho, the team’s scoring leader and the nation’s leader in 3-point percentage for a large part of the year.

Despite the fact they have not lived up to expectations this year, Columbia has turned in several marquee wins, including a dramatic 56-55 win at Levien to complete the first sweep of Ivy-rival Penn for the first time since the 1967-1968 season. At Penn’s famous Palestra Gymnasium, Columbia pulled out a gritty 66-62 win in front of a raucous crowd.

The Legacy

It is a sign of the progress the program has made that this year’s (10-16, 4-8 Ivy) record is considered a disappointment. In the two years before this year’s seniors arrived on campus, Columbia went 3-11 and 4-10 in conference play. After going 7-7 in their first three seasons, with two wins this weekend the triumvirate would become the first class at Columbia to finish in the top four in the Ivy League in over thirty years.

“The expectations are higher when you finish 7-7 in three consecutive years,” Jones pointed out. “We have high aspirations,” he went on, explaining that after the seniors showed up on campus, “we started to be really knocking on the door [in the Ivy League]. Last year, on Feb. 24, we’re one game out of first.”

Talking about their record in Ivy play, Foley commented, “Obviously that’s not where we’d like to be, but it feels good to come into the program and kind of see it progress to a point where we’re a respected program in the league now. We have an identity now, whereas we were kind of the whipping boys I think in previous years—we were 2-25 or whatever. I think a lot of credit’s got to go to Coach for helping to turn this place around a little bit and just instilling a new sort of culture into Columbia basketball.”

Scott agreed, adding that although “we didn’t get our ultimate goal of winning the championship, we are still making the strides that we need to make in order to develop. We’re trying to change the whole pattern of Columbia basketball into an upswing.”

It hasn’t been easy, as Bulger acknowledged when asked about the strides his class has made during their time in Morningside Heights. The process has been long and arduous, but there is a sense of satisfaction in the respect Columbia now draws from around the league.

“Looking back, I’ve started to realize how difficult it is to turn a program around because along with getting in better players and guys that fit into what you’re trying to teach, you need support from alumni, from fans, from the other coaches,” Bulger explained. “I think getting to the point we’re at now, like Pat was saying, teams aren’t just putting a W on the scoreboard before the game even starts.”

It hasn’t just been conference rivals who have acknowledged Columbia’s progress. The student body has appreciated the basketball team’s improved play, and it has shown at home games at Levien.

“I’ve got to say, it’s been great—the turnouts we’ve gotten at games this year. It’s really surprised me actually, because we’ve kind of been struggling this year,” Foley said. “I think, since I’ve been here, it’s been the best fan support we’ve had around here, and it’s really nice to see that. There’s nothing like playing in front of a packed house and even just getting a comment from someone walking by like ‘Hey, great game last night.’ I don’t think there’s a much better feeling than that. It’s definitely added incentive to play for your home crowd and for your school when you got something behind you.”

Bulger added that it’s not just students who have gotten behind the squad. Last year, he and Foley took the History of Higher Education with Barnard history professor Robert McCaughey. McCaughey took a special interest in the basketball stars, including them on a list of famous Columbia and Ivy League athletes when the class studied collegiate athletics.

“People always joke about how the Columbia community is pretty apathetic towards sports, and it’s difficult to bring people out, and obviously winning is the only thing that’s ever going to truly change that. We’ve really seen a change,” Bulger said, pointing to the McCaughey anecdote as an example. “Just things like that, where people are having a renewed interest in and support for basketball and athletics in general, has been really great.”

And so when Bulger, Scott, and Foley leave campus, they will not just be leaving a hole on the basketball court. It will be their impact in the classroom, around campus, and on the entire Columbia Athletics Department that will be missed.

Discussing their chance of becoming one of the premier classes in school history, Bulger explained that change is just beginning, saying, “It’s obviously not our goal to be .500 or get six wins in the Ivy League, but if we can keep building it, eventually I think it’s going to turn around and break loose here.”