It's now or never for men's basketball

The men's basketball team faces a precarious situation this weekend: win, or the season is over. In its last opportunity to find a way into the postseason, the men's basketball team will host conference competitors Middlebury and Williams this weekend.

"We are trying to stay loose and not put any added pressure on ourselves," junior guard Andrew Kaklamanos said. "Everyone knows we have to win this game."

Middlebury travels to Medford tonight, for what is a must-win for both teams in order to make the playoffs. Currently, the fight for the last two playoff seeds is up for grabs between Middlebury (2-5), Tufts (1-6), and Colby (2-6).

Had Tufts defeated Colby on the road last Saturday, the Jumbos would have been guaranteed a spot in the postseason. In that case, Colby would have at best tied Tufts' record. Ties in the NESCAC standings are determined by the winner of head-to-head match ups during the season.

What ifs, however, are useless, and unfortunately for the Jumbos, last weekend's two conference losses to both the White Mules and the Bowdoin Polar Bears have complicated the team's playoff picture to include the outcome of other conference games. There are only two ways this team can make it into the playoffs and both require a victory against Middlebury on Friday. If Tufts loses, at best it can only land in a tie with Colby for the last spot, giving the edge to the latter.

However, the Jumbos can stay alive, if they manage to beat the Panthers.

"We know we have to win and we have been going hard in practice," Kaklamanos said. "However, we played the last two games as must-wins and I don't know if that had anything to do with the way they turned out. There isn't really much added pressure on us because we have played every NESCAC game as an important game."

This is a winnable game for the team, as Middlebury has struggled this season, including suffering routs by Williams (104-71), Amherst (91-67), and Bowdoin (72-48) -- all teams that served Tufts a similar fate. What will also help the Jumbo cause is that the game will be at home in Cousens Gym. However, this team has learned not to take anything for granted.

"We can't afford to take anyone lightly," Kaklamanos said. "We have to play every team like it is a top ten team and be ready to go."

In preparation, Tufts has been focusing on its defense this week in practice, in response to the recent string of high scoring games -- giving up 80 points to Colby in particular.

In particular, the Jumbos will have to focus on containing the Panther big men, namely 6'5" senior forward Nate Anderson. Anderson currently leads his team in both points per game, with 15, and rebounds per game, with 7.1. Most notable is that this forward became the 14th player in Panther history to reach a career 1,000 points, a feat which he accomplished in the team's loss to Bowdoin the last weekend in January. Most dangerous for Tufts, is that many games this season have been double-doubles for Anderson (including one against Colby where he scored 23 points and 10 rebounds).

In order to beat Middlebury, Tufts will also have to contain 6'8" junior middle man Clark Read, who is the second-biggest contributor to the squad, averaging 11.6 points per game and 5.6 rebounds. Right behind him will be 6-3 junior point guard Mike Salek who also averages points in double digits per game (11.5).

Even if Tufts defeats Middlebury, one of two things needs to happen before the Jumbos are assured entry. Tufts can control their own destiny by defeating Williams, Saturday afternoon, guaranteeing the team the seventh or eighth seed depending on how Colby does against Bowdoin.

However, if there was ever a team you wouldn't want to play in this scenario, it would be the Purple Ephs.

"Williams is a great team, they are well-coached and are like a machine," Kaklamanos said, "But we know their guys. I wouldn't say that it is probable [that we will win], but it is possible."

Williams currently sits atop the NESCAC with a perfect 7-0 record, 21-1 overall. The number one ranked division III team in the nation has easily beaten the rest of the teams it has played in the NESCAC -- by fifteen points or more. The only NESCAC team to challenge the Ephs this season has been nationally ranked Amherst (5-2, 20-2), in a January 24th game that went into overtime. The next weekend, Amherst dished Tufts its worse loss of the season, a 99-54 rout.

Barring any uncharacteristic play by either team, the Jumbos will most likely have to hope that Middlebury goes on to lose against Bates on Saturday. Bates (4-3, 16-6) is currently in fifth place in the NESCAC and is slightly favored to win.

As for the Brown and Blue, all the team can do is show up on Friday and execute. Talent-wise, Middlebury should not be a problem for the team, but many teams like that have been able to get the better of the Jumbos.

"Hopefully there will be a big crowd [this weekend] because we play so much better at home," Kaklamanos said.