Though the men's basketball team's 70?47 loss to Trinity in the first round of the NESCAC tournament occurred nearly two weeks ago, for most of the Jumbos it feels as if the final buzzer just sounded.
"I would say that there's definitely still a sour taste in the team's mouth because that's not how we wanted to go out," senior tri?captain forward Sam Mason said. "I don't feel that it was one of our better games, considering the way we had been playing going into it. ... You always hate to lose when you don't put together your best game."
The wound was deepened when the team watched at home as Trinity put up an admirable performance in a 79?69 loss to top?seeded Williams in the NESCAC semifinals this weekend, only furthering the wonder of what might have been.
"We saw how they did against Williams and saw that they really competed against them and felt that we could have had that opportunity," sophomore forward Scott Anderson said. "We definitely know that we had the potential to be in the spot that Trinity was in."
Still, when the Jumbos (13?12 overall, 4?5 NESCAC) put the whole season in perspective, it's easy to find many positives in a campaign that marked Tufts' first overall winning record since 2006?07, as well as the team's first playoff appearance since 2007. The team knew that fresh faces would have to step up and fill an offensive void left by the graduation of six seniors.
Anderson, a solid freshman role player last season, emerged as the team's leading scorer at 11.9 points per game, while also averaging 5.9 rebounds. He started every game, along with junior guard Amauris Quezada, who scored 10.5 points per game and garnered two NESCAC Player of the Week awards during the course of the season. Sophomore forward Alex Orchowski averaged 9.0 points and a team?high 7.4 rebounds in his first season at Tufts since transferring from Div. I Lafayette.
"I think it was a big step forward," Mason said. "I was proud to be a captain with [senior guard] Matt Galvin this year, kind of setting the younger guys up for the season ahead ... while we didn't have an excellent season record?wise, it was a big step for the Tufts program compared to our underclassmen years."
For Anderson, the progress made this season resulted from two facets of the game that haven't been Tufts' forte over the past few seasons: chemistry and defense.
"We might not have had as much talent, but without those five or six seniors [who graduated last year], we thought that we could be a better team," Anderson said. "We stopped thinking about personal things like 'who's going to score the most points,' and stuff like that. It all started on the defensive end. We played a lot better defense than we had [in the past]."
Anderson also emphasized the team's tight?knit nature.
"There was no off?the?court stuff going on," he said. "Everyone got along so well. The freshmen came in and everyone loved them. It showed on the court. During the fall, we were putting things together, with Alex Orchowski, a transfer, coming in along with the freshmen, but we came together really well."
The season began, however, as the past few have: with an up?and?down non?conference schedule that left Tufts at 6?6 heading into NESCAC play - those six victories matched the team's 2009?10 win total - followed by two losses in the first weekend of conference play at home against Williams and Middlebury. While the season may have appeared to be headed down the same lowly road, the team refused to hit the panic button.
"It was disappointing to start 0?2 in the conference, but those two teams [had] just played for the conference championship, so they were the best two teams in the conference, which we knew going in," Mason said. "At the same time, though, we were up 15 against Middlebury at halftime and against Williams we didn't really lose until the very end of the game, so we knew we were able to play with those teams. We knew the season wasn't over just because of those two losses."
Unlike past seasons, when a two?game losing streak would quickly snowball into a four?game slide, these Jumbos showed resiliency and bounced back the following week to win conference bouts at Bowdoin and Colby. And while a home loss on Jan. 28 to cellar?dweller Conn. College slowed down the Jumbos' momentum, a comeback win the next afternoon against Wesleyan marked their third conference win, evened their NESCAC record at 3?3 and all but ensured the team's first playoff appearance in four seasons.
Even with losses to both Trinity and Amherst on the road the following weekend, Tufts found its way into postseason play because of losses by Wesleyan and Conn. College. But the Jumbos, not wanting to back their way in, put their stamp on the season with an electrifying Senior Day win over Bates on Feb. 12, a victory that ensured the fifth seed in the playoffs and set a date with the Bantams.
And while the loss to Trinity is all the Jumbos can think about right now, both Mason and Anderson believe the team's experience in close games - in both wins and losses - is the biggest positive to take away this season.
"We played in a lot of tight games this year," Mason said. "I think this year we learned how to win some close games. There were a few games that we let slip away, but nothing like in years past. I think the experience of learning how to win in different ways in close games is probably the returners' biggest strength."
Those who will suit up next season returners are already preparing for the 2011?12 campaign.
"A lot of us have been in the gym already," Anderson said. "Even two days [after the Trinity loss], more than half the team was in the gym playing and lifting."
