Basketball starts off strong for men

The Panthers’ quick and dominant start to the season — four wins against non-conference teams in one week — has been characterized by large margins of victory and an impressive depth from the injury-plagued team.

“Sweep the week,” said Bill Greven ’10, one of the team’s senior players, when asked to comment on the team’s most recent victory against Johnson State.

It was clear from this response that he was far too focused to provide any further insight. Regardless, any worries that the Panthers would struggle out of the gate, playing without injured co-captains Kevin Kelleher ’10 and Tim Edwards ’10 and losing three starters from last year’s team, were quickly put to rest.

The Panthers began the season with two wins at the Equinox Classic, where both Nolan Thompson ’13 and Jamal Davis ’11 received All-Tournament honors. Since then, the team posted a blowout victory at home against St. Joseph’s before the equally impressive 28-point win over Johnson State to round out the first two weeks of the year.

“We have faced adversity this year so far with injuries, but our first-years have really stepped up,” said Ryan Sharry ’12. “We look to get stronger as the year moves on and are excited to defend our NESCAC championship.”

Undoubtedly, Sharry was referring to the backcourt duo of first-years Jake Wolfin ’13 and Nolan Thompson ’13, who have already made strong contributions to the team. Sharry currently leads the squad with 12.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, and is part of a talented starting front court along with Ryan Wholey ’11 and Davis that also features the 6’11” Andrew Locke ’11 coming off the bench. Locke finished the first four games with 11 blocks, establishing himself as a defensive presence in the paint reminiscent of a young Manute Bol — the legendary 7’7” Sudanese NBA player who scorched the courts in the ’80s and ’90s.

Indeed, the squad seems to be faring well despite the considerable setbacks of having both captains out of commission. The team, which completed a record season last year, taking part in extensive post-season play and capturing the NESCAC title, seems fully capable of living up to its recently-minted reputation this winter. From the number of fans packing the Pepin bleachers to Davis’s recent dunk at Swarthmore, it is clear that Panther basketball has become a team to watch this season, giving hockey a run for its money as the crowd-pleasing winter sport.

In the upcoming week, the Panther team has home games tonight at 7 p.m. against St. Lawrence and Saturday at 3 p.m. vs. Union, who are 2-2 and 1-2, respectively. Both teams should present a worthy challenge, however, as St. Lawrence showed in its last outing with a momentum-grasping 71-41 win against a hapless New York City Tech team. Following the St. Lawrence game, Middlebury won’t play another game until the end of the month, when they play Rensselaer on Dec. 30.