Defense The Key To Offense For Men's Basketball In 2007-08
DEFENSE THE KEY TO OFFENSE FOR MEN'S BASKETBALL IN 2007-08
CHICOPEE, MA, Nov. 14, 2007 - The past three seasons have been nothing short of sensational for the Elms College men's basketball program.
During that span, the Blazers have gone 62-25, won three consecutive North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Tournament titles, posted three straight 20-plus win seasons and earned three straight NCAA Division III Championship berths.
It's no secret that Elms College's success during that time can be directly attributed to its high-powered offense.
In the past three seasons, the Blazers have averaged 83.7 points per game and have been among the top 50 nationally in Division III in scoring offense. Last year, Elms College ranked 16th nationally as it poured in 83.3 points per contest.
Though seventh-year head coach Ed Silva still expects his team to produce plenty of offense, the way they do so will be different this season.
"Our goal is to limit our opponents field goal percentage to under 40-percent," Coach Silva said. "There are three pieces to our identity that we talk about every day - to defend, run and play together."
The Blazers, who went 20-9 last season and are this year's preseason coaches poll favorite to defend as NAC champions, return nine players, including three starters. The team, however, did lose starting guards John Ancrum and David Williams - arguably the most talented backcourt tandem in the program's nine-year history.
Ancrum, the team's starting point guard for each of the last four years, finished as the program's all-time assist leader (617) and second all-time leading scorer (1,162 points), while Williams poured in 858 points in just two seasons.
Here is how the Blazers will take the court this season:
BACKCOURT
Sophomore Juan Galdon (Holyoke, MA) takes over at the point following an extremely impressive postseason stretch that saw him earn NAC Tournament MVP honors last season.
In the Blazers' conference tournament title win over Husson, Galdon netted a season-high 20 points in just 26 minutes. In the team's four postseason games, he averaged 12.8 points and shot a sizzling 53.8-percent from 3-point range.
"His fitness level was better at the end of last season and that allowed us to play more minutes down the stretch," Silva said of Galdon, who averaged 9.0 points and 2.4 assists in 17.8 minutes.
The Blazers also have experienced depth in the backcourt, with senior guard Randy Hite (Hartford, CT), 6-2 junior Ellis Jones (Roxbury, MA) and 6-3 junior Joe Esile (Milford, CT).
Hite averaged 7.3 points in 20 minutes per game off the bench; Jones provides athleticism and decent size, while Esile developed into a lethal outside threat, as he shot 37.8-percent from beyond the arc a year ago.
The Blazers also welcome junior guards Aswad Thomas (Hartford, CT) and Matt Luneau (Enfield, CT) - both junior college transfers.
Thomas was an MCCAA All-Conference selection at Wayne County Community College, while Luneau, who led Enfield (CT) High School to a Connecticut State championship his junior year, played at Dean College during the past two seasons.
"Aswad is a playmaker and excellent on-the-ball defender and Matt is an explosive slasher who gets to the basket," Coach Silva said. "Both may be new to our program, but not the game."
Freshman guard Nate DiSessa (Westfield, MA), a 2007 First Team All-Western Massachusetts selection, will also see playing time this season along with sophomore Darrin Kelley (South Dennis, MA) and freshmen Wayne Waite (Hartford, CT) and Dan Gonzalez (East Windsor, CT).
FRONTCOURT
The Blazers have solid size and depth in the frontcourt with a pair of players each standing 6-5 and 6-6, including 6-6 senior forward Nate Hawes (New Hope, MN) and 6-6 sophomore forward Austin Sylvia (Seekonk, MA).
Hawes comes into this season just 105 rebounds away from becoming the program's all-time leader.
The Blazers also return 6-4 junior forward Malakie Berry (Enfield, CT), who averaged 7.0 points and 4.9 rebounds in 15.5 minutes per game.
"Nate and Malakie did a great job rebounding for us over the last 8-10 games last year," Coach Silva recalled. "Our expectations of them will be even greater this season."
Junior forward Ronald Thomas (Chicago, IL) transfers in after having played at Eastern Arizona College in 2004-05.
"Ron is a long, lefty that is smart and gets to the rim," Coach Silva said.
He is joined in the frontcourt by 6-5 freshman center Juan Alverio (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico), 6-5 freshman forward Ed Roman (Brooklyn, NY), 6-6 sophomore forward Chris Hartmann (Canberra, Australia) and 6-2 freshman forward Sam Batista (Carolina, Puerto Rico).
SCHEDULE
Elms College's 2007-08 non-conference slate is once again among the toughest of any team in New England.
After hosting the season-opening Blazer Invitational that includes Maine-Machias, Newbury and Bowdoin on November 17-18, Elms College faces a powerhouse stretch of 12 games that includes home contests against defending NCAA Division III national champion Amherst (30-2), as well as NCAA Tournament qualifiers WPI (22-4) and Brandeis (20-7).
In all, the Blazers play 10 of their first 15 games at home.
"This year is going to be really exciting for our fans," Coach Silva predicted. "They'll have the opportunity to see three of the most respected programs in the nation today play in our gym, including defending national champion Amherst."
Following the January 15 meeting with, the Blazers play 10 of their final 11 games against conference opponents, with just three of them at home.
WRAP-UP
Coach Silva, who is five wins shy of 100 for his collegiate coaching career, has his team's sights set on a fourth consecutive conference title, and with it, a fourth straight bid into the NCAA Tournament.
To get there, however, won't be easy.
"I think our conference won't be nearly so top-heavy," he predicted. "There will be much more parity overall than there was last year."
"With that said, I believe we have the potential to be a good scoring team, but we're hoping for a lot of those points off our defense. The challenge for now, though, is to create good chemistry between our returnees and newcomers."