Veteran Core Hopes to Propel Men's Hoops

Author: Dan Russell

The Middlebury College men's basketball team came off its best season in recent memory last year, going 15-10 and qualifying for the NESCAC tournament, narrowly losing out to Tufts University in the first round. While departed senior Eric Bundonis's leadership, size and scoring will undoubtedly be missed, the Panthers return with virtually the same team intact and will likely be a much better team this year. The Panthers are one of the most senior-laden teams in the NESCAC, returning six fourth-year players, joined by five juniors. Coach Jeff Brown returns for his sixth season and is joined by assistant coach Ed Agard. Seniors David Coratti '04 and Nate Anderson '04 will share captain duties this year.

As always, the team will have a fast-paced, high-octane, high-scoring unit who will rely on their superior conditioning and depth to propel them through the season. Last season, minutes were nearly equally distributed, with no player averaging more than 26 minutes a game and with nearly every player seeing a considerable amount of playing time. The team is fluid, multifaceted and streamlined with a number of players who can be plugged into the four, three, two and sometimes even the one-spot. The point guard duties will be shared by seniors John Verzosa '04 and Koby Altman '04, who combined for 140 assists last year. Shooting guard/small forward David Coratti '04, who contributed 67 assists last season, will also help pick up the slack at the one spot.

They are a selfless team that distributes the ball evenly, and in which every player could conceivably step up and have a strong night statistically. They also have good size up the middle this year, with freshman Bobby Marcoux 6'7'' joining 6'5'' Anderson, senior Chris Matthiesen 6'7", and 6'8" Clark Read '05. Anderson will be the go-to player on offense this year and will attempt to improve on an exceptional season last year, in which he averaged 16.9 ppg earning him second team All-NESCAC honors. If they wish to succeed, however, they can't expect to simply run teams off the floor as they attempted to do last year. Although the team shot 42 percent and scored the most points (2,129) in school history, they also allowed their opponents to shoot an equal percentage and surrendered 1,994 points. They will need to reinforce their defense, especially in attacking the defensive boards. If they can contain teams defensively and remain healthy, the team is poised to have a breakout year and emerge as a top-three team in the NESCAC

They will be tested early in the Cardinal Classic tournament held at Plattsburgh State, against a talented Mount St. Mary's team. They will have some time, however, to make necessary adjustments and recover from some nagging injuries before they play their first NESCAC game, against Hamilton on December 4th.

Captain Coratti, commenting on the team's prospects this year, said, "We had a very successful year last year, including setting the school record for total points, but we suffered from inconsistency. We need to set the tempo early this season and make a name for ourselves. As always, we have a good, fast-paced, up-tempo team, we're pretty deep, we have good size up the middle, and we have steady senior leadership. We should continue to shoot the ball well from the outside, but we need to make a commitment on defense and win the rebounding battle. This is our year, the culmination of our careers. Our goal this year has to be to win a championship. There is no excuse for not getting it done this season." Obviously there are high expectations for the men's basketball team this year and it will be up to the players to deliver when it counts. The coaching staff can only do so much because at the end of the day it will be the players out on the court who will ultimately decide the direction and success of the season.