Wildcats Poised To Take the Next Step With Young Blood
DURHAM, N.H. – It’s been a while since New Hampshire was a contender in America East. In fact, save for their fifth-place finish in 2001-02, the Wildcats have been in the second division every season since the conference changed its name from the North Atlantic Conference in 1996. Last season, the Wildcats at times looked ready to make moves into the first division before finishing seventh. This season may finally be the year where they make the move, and in a league full of teams whose experienced personnel help them project to be better this season, the Wildcats have young guys who will give them a big lift.
“We’re a little bit better than we were,” head coach Phil Rowe says of his team after an easy exhibition win over the University of New Brunswick. “(Ben) Sturgill, obviously, is the foundation, with Blagoj (Janev) and Craig Walls, but the younger guys are going to make the difference for us.”
The Wildcats will be counting on freshmen for contributions, and three of them saw plenty of minutes in their exhibition with two of them starting the game. Andover, Mass. native Chris Vetrano, a 5’8″ point guard who can really score the ball, started along with Mike Christensen, a 6’8″ forward from Reston, Virginia who might be the best of the newcomers. Dorchester, Mass. native Brandon Odom, a well-built 6’5″ forward who is very athletic, also played significant minutes and Rowe thinks he “has a chance to be very good”. But Christensen looks like he may be the jewel of the class, as he has the potential to help at both forward spots and Rowe intends to use him that way.
“No question about it, he’s got a chance to be very good,” Rowe says. “He has a lot of talent, skill-wise, he’s gotten a lot better defensively and has light years to go, but he’s working at it.”
Christensen joins a frontcourt that certainly won’t be the question mark on this team, especially as long as team captain Sturgill remains healthy. He has been plagued by injuries during his career, including missing 14 games last season, but when healthy he is one the conference’s top post players and gives opposing defenses fits because he’s aggressive and cerebral on the post. He gets help from Walls, who had five double-doubles last season, and sophomore Janev, who made the America East All-Rookie Team last year and is a threat from long range. Damione Liddell played well towards the end of the season and provides depth.
The backcourt is where the questions are, as several guards have left the program and Marcus Bullock graduated after setting a school record for career three-point field goals. Sophomore Jermaine Anderson, a solid defender, should be one of the starters after finishing last season strong. Vetrano will get minutes there along with junior wing Ioannas Karalis, who will probably play shooting guard more this season. Rowe thinks Karalis, who has had good spurts his first two years but not much consistency, is primed for a good year after not playing well last season. Jeremy Friel and freshman Phil Collins, a native of Australia, add depth.
Rowe knows that the guards likely hold the key to this season’s team.
“As they grow, we’ll continue to be more competitive with anybody that we play,” he says. “They can score a little bit, but defensively they have a long way to go.”
One real positive that Rowe has seen with his freshmen is how they have responded to Sturgill as the team captain. He raves about Sturgill, so it’s only natural that he’s happy to see them following their leader.
“They really have taken to Ben and his leadership ability by demonstration more than verbally,” Rowe says. “He’s really a guy that works hard in the weight room, off the court with his academic pieces, helping these guys get proper work done off the court as well as on it. He’s really a coach’s dream.”
The Wildcats will get a chance to build confidence early on, as their non-conference schedule starts with three early home games and isn’t loaded with high-major opponents, though they do have a few included. They open at Liberty, then come home to play Division III Suffolk before traveling an hour south to play at Boston College. After hosting Army and Harvard, they welcome Boston University for an early America East battle before hitting the road for five games, including West Virginia and Ohio State to give his team two more challenges.
If the Wildcats emerge with some good victories and perhaps an upset or two against the better teams, they’ll enter America East play in good shape to try and jump into the first division. That would be a welcome change for the fans in Durham.
