The Rensselaer men’s basketball will finally get back onto the court against someone other than each other as the team opens their season this weekend against Haverford on Friday and Swarthmore on Saturday.
After a five month lay-off and three months of intense pre-season condition and weight lifting sessions, Coach Mike Griffin, now in his 20th season as coach of the Red Hawks, is interested to see what his team will bring to the table against Haverford and Swarthmore, two very beatable, relatively weak opponents.
“I think this weekend will be good for the team,” Griffin said. “It is always nice to win some games early to help boost a team’s confidence. These games will give us a real chance to work all the kinks out of the system.”
The Red Hawks certainly have talent this season. They only lost two players to graduation, Bob Cahill and Kevin Moore, from a team that went 13-13 overall, 7-7 in the UCAA, and made the UCAA Tournament in 2002-2003.
However, despite returning most of last year’s team and a number of talented players Griffin is still uncertain whether this team will be able to reach its ultimate potential.
“Going to the NCAA Tournament and winning the UCAA Tournament are both realistic goals for us,” Griffin said. “We also want to win the conference in the regular season. History indicates home court is crucial in the UCAA Tournament.”
The history Griffin speaks of is that three of the last four teams who have won the UCAA regular season crown and then hosted the UCAA Tournament have gone on to win the conference.
Fortunately the Red Hawks seem to have all the talent to achieve the high standards set by Coach Griffin and themselves.
The team’s three captains, Jared Hite, Greg Harrison, and John Van Schaick will all be team leaders on and off the floor for the Red Hawks this season.
Hite has the size and ability to make him a dominating player in the UCAA while Harrison has improved from last year and Van Schaick boasts a deadly three-point shot.
“I expect Hite to be one of the best players and rebounders in the conference,” Griffin said. “Greg Harrison was solid down the stretch for us last year and I would expect him to play his best in his senior season. John [Van Schaick] also played well as a sophomore and he and Paris [Moore] will be play better this year as juniors.”
Paris Moore also will be critical to the Red Hawks success this season as well. His athleticism and strength make him impossible to stop around the basket.
RPI also has a stellar sophomore class led by Tom Snyder, Matt Zepernick, and Paul Halas.
Griffin is eager to see what these three players will do in their sophomore season. Griffin cannot stop praising his sophomores’ talent and work ethic.
“I’m really excited by this sophomore class,” Griffin admitted. “Snyder started last year and has improved while both Zepernick and Halas contributed to the team’s success.”
However, despite the many positives and some certainty surrounding the 2003-2004 men’s basketball team, there are still a few questions the Red Hawks must answer as the season begins.
Corey Massy, along with Halas David Easley and Neil Wesson, will all have to play well as point guards with the departure of last year’s starter Kevin Moore.
“Corey will finally get the opportunity to run the show,” Griffin said. “He has waited for this chance for two years and now he has to prove he can do the job.”
The Red Hawks have also implemented and are trying to perfect both new offensive and defensive strategies.
Rensselaer is looking to create more continuity on offense by running more set plays and using positions that are interchangeable. The Red Hawks are also hoping to take advantage of their athleticism in the post.
“We are hoping to use our mobility to pull the big men out from underneath the basket.” Griffin said. “We want to come outside more and set some more screens.”
On the defensive side of the ball Rensselaer is looking to mix things up more. Griffin is planning on sticking with the traditional tight man-to-man approach, but he also wants to mix in more zones and traps to confuse opposing teams.
The Red Hawks will need to answer these questions and any others that may arise.
After a fairly easy opening weekend against normally weak teams in Haverford and Swarthmore, RPI will face several teams that made it to the NCAA Tournament last year. At the University of Rochester Tournament in late November the Red Hawks will run across Rochester, a team who fell just short of the championship last year among other quality opponents. In early January, Rensselaer will meet the NCAA D-III champion, Williams, at the Williams Tournament.
“We have a very demanding pre-conference schedule,” Griffin admitted. “Rochester is a load and Williams is the D-III champ. We certainly have our hands full and I don’t know how we will fair.”
Griffin is hopeful his pre-conference schedule will get his team ready for the extremely competitive play they will face in UCAA conference play which begins against Hamilton, the team who eliminated Rensselaer from the UCAA Tournament last season, on January 16, 2004.
“The road to the NCAA goes through Hamilton,” Griffin boldly stated. “They are the team to beat until proven otherwise.”
But Griffin is hopeful that this year may be the year that Red Hawks emerge as the team to beat in the UCAA and that by the end of the season the road to the NCAA Tournament will now go through Rensselaer.
