Coach Cooley’s tough schedule, fast-paced offense, hard-nosed defense, and emphasis on the fundamentals, should have the men’s basketball team well prepared to dominate the MAAC.
At Saturday’s Red-White scrimage, the team showcased their new up-tempo attack from the moment they stepped on the court, even the warm-up drills were fast-paced and full of furious dunks.
The crowd went wild every time a player rose up and slammed the ball down. The cheers didn’t end with the warm-ups either. The game was full of quick cuts and drives into the lane with the game ending in the white team’s favor, 25-18.
Senior guard Danny Oglesby was impressive scoring a game-high 7 points, overshadowing some equally impressive performances by freshman Rich Flemming, 6 points, and Greg Nero, 6 points.
The game was full of electric plays. In one sequence, guard Herbie Allen, drove into the lane and made a shot, which he was fouled on. What was impressive was his shot itself. Falling backward, he threw the ball like a baseball into the net, drawing applause and cheers of “and one!” from the crowd.
Allen, the diminutive 5-11 sophomore guard, admitted that this year would feature a more fast tempo team with a lot of dunks. He even claimed that he might throw a few down.
However, he was first to admit that they looked sloppy on defense and had too many turnovers, he himself being one of the causes.
This sentiment was shared with new Head Coach Ed Cooley.
“We have a long way to go,” Coach Cooley remarked after the game. He stressed that they need to be able to produce stops defensively and that fundamentals were the key for success.
Senior forward Michael Van Schaick, the top-returning scorer, agreed as well saying that he thought they played well considering it was their first time together, but observed that they still have a lot of work to do.
Practice is even more important this year with the loss of the team’s top two returning scorers from last year due to graduation, losing a total of 28.4 points per game. Coach Cooley wasn’t sure who would step up to fill that gap.
More importantly, he wants for his players to focus on defense and fundamentals. Through the practice, he will be able to find his rotation and with specialty players, he thinks it could be a good team.
Coach Cooley also felt that the team’s tough early schedule would provide another opportunity to improve.
“We’re looking to get better every game,” he said while noting that the team’s record might not reflected their growth due to the tough schedule.
Even if they were to lose the majority of their opening games, the exposure to these top programs, such as Georgetown, UConn, and St. Joe’s just to name a few, should force Fairfield to improve their own play.
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