The Fairfield basketball team that will take the court for Friday’s MAAC game against Rider will not be the same team that took the court for the season opener Nov. 18 at Saint Francis of New York.
That much was expected before the season started. When DeWitt Maxwell ’06 was suspended for the first semester for violating university policy, the Stags knew that they would be without him or 6’6″ forward Mamadou Diakhate ’07, who had to sit out the first semester after transferring from Eastern Kentucky.
But the Stags, who have suffered from an overwhelming height disadvantage throughout the season, might be doing a lot better if they had another low-post option: Marty O’Sullivan ’07, who injured his ankle in practice after playing in just two games.
O’Sullivan, Head Coach Tim O’Toole said, will miss the entire season and will receive medical redshirt status for this season, meaning he will be eligible to play during the 2007-’08 season if he is enrolled in at least one class at the University.
“Marty will not play this season,” O’Toole said. “He knew since December that it would be a long process and if it didn’t heel properly, that he would have to forego this season. I know how much it’s killing him not to be able to participate and help this team. But the ankle hasn’t responded.”
The Stags’ roster took another hit when forward Jeremy Reedall ’09 came down with a respiratory infection shortly after the new year, and did not dress for a game until he suited up for the Stags’ 80-72 loss to Loyola last Tuesday. But the Stags are now without another reserve player: Mike DiStefano ’08, who O’Toole said decided he needed to take some time off to focus on his studies.
DiStefano was rarely used in games, having appeared in only three this year and not recording a point. His primary function is as a practice player, but his departure adds to what has become a long list of roster changes for a team badly needing consistency after losing its last two games and falling to 6-13 overall and 4-7 in the MAAC.
Where are the students?
O’Toole has repeatedly mentioned the student section in his post game comments, and though he hasn’t directly called out the students for a lack of support, a look at the stands during last Friday’s 74-69 loss to Manhattan showed that the student sections were barely half full in the second half.
After a strong showing in the home opener against Saint Joeseph’s, those sections have been largely empty in almost every game. They were relatively full at the beginning of the Manhattan game, which drew 3,167 fans, but it appeared that many students went home after being honored during a half-time ceremony for student-athletes who excelled academically during the fall semester.
With the loss, the Stags dropped to 1-6 at home on the year, a startling reality that can be viewed in two different ways. Are they not winning at home in part because they lack the rowdy student sections that some other teams have, or are students not showing up because the team isn’t performing?
The answer isn’t easy to come to, but O’Toole has repeatedly asked that students “don’t’ give up” on the Stags, a plea he reiterated in an e-mail on Tuesday.
“If the students don’t get down on us,” he wrote, ” it’s going to work out well.”
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The raucous green-clad students and local high school marching band weren’t the only ones in attendance at last Tuesday’s Stags-Loyola game at Reitz Arena in Baltimore. Loyola graduate and syndicated columnist Bob Novack sat in the VIP row behind one of the baskets. Novack may have been the most famous person in attendance, but many in the Baltimore area may be more familiar with Ravens defensive end Anthony Weaver, who serves as a radio color analyst for Greyhounds basketball when he isn’t shoving quarterbacks into the ground. Weaver joined yours truly on the WVOF half-time show.
One more Loyola game
The Stags will play at Loyola University of Chicago Feb. 18 in the annual ESPN Bracket Buster game. The game will be one of 13 in the country, in which teams from mid-major conferences face off against teams from other conferences.
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