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SPORTS

The Norwich Guidon
Nov. 13, 2003

Men's basketball team stresses conditioning for upcoming season

By Dave Armeson
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

Last season, a much-improved Norwich men's basketball team fell to Southern Vermont in the GNAC semifinals at Western New England College.

With tough pre-season training and a little more fan support, this season should prove to be even more exciting.

"Last season, we ended on a good note, making it to the semifinals of the conference tournament, but this year we are definitely going to look for winning the tournament and going to NCAAs," said Geoff Hensley, 19, an international studies major from Cincinnati, Ohio.

Coming off of the tough loss in last season's semifinals, the men's basketball team is working hard to make sure they continue to improve.

Practice began at the beginning of the school year with optional open gyms and other unsupervised team workouts. The goal of these captain-run practices is to develop team cohesiveness and conditioning before practice with the head coach, Paul Booth.

"The team needed to get in shape before Oct. 15, when we began actual practice with coach. We have the open gyms so we can hit the season running," said Andrew Miller, 22, an environmental science major from Ft. Collins, Colo.

The NCAA will not allow coach-run practices before Oct. 15, so the Cadet men's basketball team officially started their season that day, and really did hit the court running.

"That first practice was exciting; everyone had a great attitude and was ready to play and physically ready to start the season," Miller said.

Pre-season practice has stressed conditioning, defensive work and team identity even more than last year's workouts. Daily practices consist of a slew of tough individual and group drills as well as running plays and scrimmages. Team members know there are some tough games ahead, but also feel that they will be prepared for the challenge. Being members of the GNAC, the Cadet men's basketball team does have plenty of formidable competition; Western New England College and Southern Vermont are in the conference, as well as national competitors.

"We have nine returning players and some solid freshmen coming in, so we should be pretty good, surprise some people and win a lot of games" said Steve Chambers, 21, a communications major from Springfield, Mass. "I think just by looking at how hard we've been working this year in pre-season, we'll definitely be improved as a team. One thing I thought about last year's team was the team didn't have the long-term stamina we needed to be great. If we have the conditioning, that will make us a step or two ahead of the competition.

While this year's team has started on the right track for an impressive season, they realize that it cannot be done alone. The common complaint is not having enough fan support.

"One thing we would definitely appreciate is more fan support. With a greater crowd there, we definitely play a lot harder," said Hensley. "Beware, because we are going to win the tournament."

The Norwich Guidon is a twice-monthly student newspaper distributed at Norwich University. It provides laboratory experience for students in the Communications program. Claims asserted by letter writers, editorials and other articles do not represent the positions of Norwich University. The Norwich Guidon welcomes signed letters to the editor. They should be no longer than 300 words. Unsigned letters will not be printed, but names may be withheld upon worthy request. All letters are subject to editing for length and good taste. Mailing address: The Norwich Guidon, Communications Center, Norwich University, Northfield, VT 056632. www.norwich.edu/guidon. If you have any questions or comments about the paper, please contact Professor Ken Bush at kbush@norwich.edu.