The 2018-19 Tommies men’s basketball team just missed the playoffs.
The 2019-20 is a brand-new team with a fresh outlook for the season.
John Hickey has taken the reins from long time coach, Scott MacLeod. Hickey has already put his stamp on the program, bringing in seven new players to join six returners for the year.
Joining veterans Arthur Reece III, Michael Otoo, Almin Dervisevic, Geoffrey Lavoie, Carlo Theriault and Jordan Underhill will be Garan Davies, Daemen Hemphill, Joel Harris, Ian Watters, Zachary Vautour, Colin Loughery and Ted Braden.
“We expect guys to be leaders on and off the court and in the community,” said Hickey. “We expect our players to challenge each other every day to make each other better. We expect our players to hold each other and us, as coaches, accountable. When expectations and roles are clearly defined and we have everyone working toward a common goal great things can happen. This is what separates good teams from great teams.”
The Tommies missed the playoffs last season by one point in the standings, but Hickey is optimistic that that won’t be the case with this year’s team.
“We're definitely expecting a deep playoff run for our group this year. In order to be able to do that, we need everyone to be all in for their teammates. We need to be committed to the defensive end of the court and have all five guys rebound the ball on every possession. Offensively, we need to be disciplined in our action and look to get our teammates great shots. If we learn to play the game for our teammates, we'll put ourselves in a really great spot by the end of the year.”
When asked what Tommies Nation can expect from his team on the court this year, Hickey was quick to answer with “work”.
“Fans can definitely expect us to work our tails off. We're going to compete on every single possession. We're looking to get up and get into teams on the defensive end and we're going to look to push the ball and score in transition on the offensive end.”
The Tommies will continue their preseason schedule with the Ken Gould Invitational, beginning Friday night at 8:00pm when they host the Champlain Lennoxville Cougars. They will open their regular season on November 2nd against the Mount Allison Mounties, at the LB Gym.