LEWISTON — The Bates College men’s basketball team is out to prove this season that it’s not about the size of the Bobcat in the fight, but the size of the fight in the Bobcat.
That is to say, the Bobcats will be lacking size this year.
Among the six seniors that Bates graduated last season were twin brothers Malcolm (6-foot-8) and Marcus (6-7) Delpeche, as well as 6-7 Max Eaton. This year’s team has just two experienced frontcourt players, in 6-7 junior Nick Lynch and 6-10 sophomore Areohn Harrison.
“Our style of play is going to be a lot different, on both sides of the ball,” 10th-year Bates coach Jon Furbush said. “On offense, we’re going to try to play — and I thought we were pretty fast last year, but we’re going to be exponentially faster, just because that’s going to be our advantage.
“Defensively, this is where I’m going to have a learning curve not having the Delpeche twins. We’re going to do a lot of switching, and so we’re going to be asking all of our guards to guard multiple positions, and potentially be on the block at times. So I think there will be some growing pains with that, but I also think that it may create some mismatches that we want, and teams will stop running their offense and try to isolate people in the post.”
The Bobcats have just two seniors this season — guards Justin Zukowski and Shawn Strickland. Furbush said their experience playing in big games (including the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament two years ago) will help keep a young team together.
With a switch in style of play to a faster pace, Furbush will look to go to a deeper bench to keep fresh legs on the court.
“This is the first team I’ve had where we have like 13 healthy guys right now, and I feel comfortable injecting anybody into the lineup,” Furbush said. “That’s good, but it also makes my decision a little more difficult. But it also applies pressure on guys. Like practice is more meaningful, because if you’re not practicing well there’s somebody right behind you that can get an opportunity to play.”
Bates has six freshmen on the roster this year, and many of them will get plenty of chances to play. Guard/forward James Mortimer is expected to get big minutes for the Bobcats, and 6-foot-8 stretch forward Sunny Piplani “can really shoot it,” according to Furbush. Guards Malik Velmar, David Akinyemi and Billy Lahart will all get opportunities to play as well.
The team will be young overall, with junior Max Hummel and sophomore Nick Gilpin the only returning starters.
“I’ve told the guys this, and this is still in play, that as a coach I always know I can get a team from A to B. Right now I have no idea where A is,” Furbush said. “I think after this weekend, once we play Trinity … we’ll know a lot more about where we are.”
Bates’ season-opening clash with the Bantams won’t count as a NESCAC conference game, despite being conference rivals. It will give the young Bobcats a glimpse of what to expect in a conference that Furbush said provides no easy games.
The Bobcats are hoping to give opponents no easy games as well with their new style.
“I think that we’re going to pose some issues for some teams,” Furbush said. “You may not see that effect in November, December, but I think come January, February, when we’re really starting to play the way that I have a vision for, I think we could be very, very dangerous.”
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
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