For the men's basketball team, it was a Jekyll and Hyde sort of season.
After exploding to a 12-2 start, with a NESCAC Tournament berth all but a certainty, and an NCAA Tournament invitation a real possibility, the Jumbos season turned sour. Tufts went into a tailspin, dropping seven of its last ten games to finish 15-9 (3-6 in NESCAC) and as a result of that lethal plunge, failed to qualify for the playoffs.
"Everything was going right," senior co-captain Dan Flaherty said of the Jumbos first 14 games. "We were kind of clicking. We had two tough losses to two tough teams (Salem State and Hamilton). Both games could have gone either way. We were gelling and it looked pretty promising,"
After losing on opening night to perennial powerhouse Salem State, the second-ranked team in the Northeast region of Division III basketball as of Feb. 20, Tufts went 12-1 in its next 13 games. The only loss came in a double-overtime thriller against the Hamilton Continentals. The Continentals' Jimmy Driggs drained four consecutive free throws at the end of the second overtime to lead his squad to victory.
Following that heartbreaking loss, the Jumbos bounced back with an eight-game winning streak.
The team was soaring heading into a battle against UMass-Dartmouth on Jan. 24, ranked number one in the Northeast Region all year. Unfortunately for Tufts, ranked number three at that point, this showdown became a breakdown, as the Jumbos lost the game 87-72 after going into the half down by only four. More painful then losing the game, however was losing their second leading scorer, sophomore Brain Shapiro (15.1 ppg).
The UMass-Dartmouth game was the first of three contests in a four-day period that ravished the Jumbos' season.
"The turning point of the season was definitely the UMass-Dartmouth game, when Brian went down with a sprained ankle," Flaherty said. "That was a Wednesday night and then we played Trinity and Amherst [that weekend]. It got us out of our rhythm."
Senior Fred Pedroletti agreed. "I thought we were really hot going into that game," he said. "They were first in the region, and we were third and we were going there to prove something. They were a good team but they were struggling to get over the hump. Having lost that game when so much was at stake, so early in the season was a downer for us."
With Shapiro relegated to cheering from the sidelines, the Jumbos managed to narrowly beat Trinity 79-77 on Friday night, Jan. 26. The depleted Tufts squad was down 77-70 before a 9-0 run in the last 4:15 of regulation, sparked by three pointers from senior co-captain Bobby Mpuku and freshman Phil Barlow, brought the Jumbos within one with 2:58 remaining. Senior Tom Bernier wrapped up the comeback for Tufts, connecting on each of two attempts from the charity stripe with 2:24 left.
The win improved the Jumbos NESCAC record to 2-0 and overall the team upped its season mark to 13-3. Shapiro's absence paved the way for Barlow's first collegiate start and the freshman shined, scoring 17 points and dishing out six assists.
"We won that game against Trinity and then it was downhill from there," Pedroletti said. "We struggled against Trinity and we were a much better team and we should have won by more."
If the showdown versus UMass-Dartmouth was the raising of the guillotine on the Jumbos season, the Saturday match-up against Amherst was the virtual decapitation. With Shapiro still on the bench nursing his injured ankle, Barlow and Mpuku were once again forced to play significant minutes in his place. After shining the night before, fatigue began to set in as the duo combined to shoot 2-16 from the field for a collective total of only five points, and Tufts fell 72-60.
"I thought Amherst was the next best team in the conference behind us," Pedroletti said. "If we had won that game I think we would have been fine. The three games were tough to swallow and we never recuperated."
The fatigue-factor which was apparent in the loss against Amherst became key to the Jumbo's demise in the second half of the season.
"We might have been fatigued," Flaherty said about his team's second half. "I think we might have just run out of gas or got a little ahead of ourselves, thinking we were better than we were."
"I think we just kind of burnt out as a team," Pedroletti said. "Our talent was definitely always there. It was a little mix of mental and physical. It was more physical that we were tired. We just ran out. It really drained on us after that loss [to UMass-Dartmouth]. We were bothered that we really could have made noise and maybe been ranked in the top 25 in the country. We just dwelled on it too much."
Following the loss to Amherst, the Jumbos would win only two more games during the remainder of the season, only one of which was a NESCAC game, a lucky 87-85 victory over Bowdoin on Feb. 3. Barlow was the highlight of that game as the freshman scored a career-high 26 points on 8-15 shooting, including 9-9 from the free throw line. Tufts found itself down by 12 with 9:20 remaining in the game, but the Jumbos went on a 12-2 run to even the score at 64 apiece. After that point neither team managed to take a lead greater than four.
The Jumbos win improved their record to 3-2 in NESCAC play and it still appeared that, despite their slump, they were still a shoe-in for the NESCAC Tournament.
Unfortunately, it was not to be for Tufts. The team ended its season on a four-game losing streak, all against NESCAC foes. After dropping tough games to Williams and Middlebury on Feb.9 and 10, the Jumbos went into the final weekend of the season with a 3-4 NESCAC record, but still in control of their own destiny.
Shapiro did his best to alter fate. After starting off the season red-hot, the sophomore struggled for much of the second half. Luckily for the Jumbos, Shapiro regained his touch when his teammates needed him the most. Just as Barlow covered for Shapiro when he went down earlier in the season with an ankle sprain, Shapiro helped fill in for Barlow in the team's final hour. Barlow had injured his shoulder and slammed his finger in a door in the week leading up to the Jumbos' final two games.
But despite 24 points from Shapiro on Feb. 16 against Wesleyan, the Jumbos fell in a 94-91 thriller, after managing to comeback from a 49-38 halftime deficit. The losing continued the next afternoon, in a game against the Conn. College Camels, with an eerily familiar story line. Once again, Shapiro caught fire putting in 28 points on 11-18 shooting, including 5-10 from downtown.
But Shapiro's efforts were not enough, as it appeared that a higher power came into play.
With the Jumbos holding a tenuous 84-83 lead, Conn. College's junior guard Isaiah Curtis threw up a prayer from the three-point line that was way off. Junior forward Rich Futia propelled himself high above everyone else on the court to tip in the miss and end the Jumbo's season.
"It is a little disappointing just because this was definitely the most talented team that I have been on at Tufts and to have it finish the exact opposite of the way we expected to finish is disappointing," Pedroletti said. "But I don't hold any regrets. I guess it was supposed to happen the way it did. Give us a few bounces here and there and we are right where we want to be."
With five graduating seniors (Flaherty, Pedroletti, Mpuku, Brandon McKenzie, and Tom Bernier) the Jumbos are losing both size and experience. With Mpuku, a point guard, as the lone exception, the rest of the graduating class are all bruising forwards or centers, who keyed Tufts' inside-outside offense.
Without their size, the Jumbos will have to switch to a more speed oriented, run-and-gun offense.
"The focus I think will definitely be Brian and Phil," Flaherty said. "They need some big guys to step in. I think Colin [Wetherill] will step in well. Troy [Palmer] could come off and play well. I think the focus will definitely be a guard oriented team."
"I think the players who are coming back [the guards] are small but really quick and they can all put the ball in the basket," Pedroletti said. "You can do a 1-4 and play around the perimeter and penetrate all the time. I really don't see them struggling. It's just going to be a completely different look. It might be more fun to watch."
