WORCESTER- Home is where
the heart is, as the old saying goes, and in sports home is where you expect to
win. The home field advantage concept is second only to talent when considering
which teams can win a championship. In fact often times a less talented team
will beat a better team at home, because of this advantage. Said advantage
however, is something Worcester State will be without as they look to improve
on a 12-14 record from a year ago.
Worcester State will for the
second straight year be without a home arena as they await the building of a
new gym, slated to open in 2016. Until then Coach Dave Lindberg, who owns a
246-281 career record with Worcester State, will look to guide his team through
this turbulent time.
“I tell them in the first
meeting in September,” Said Lindberg “That this is the last time I want to talk
about not having a gym, we’re not going to use it as an excuse and we’re going
to move forward.”
The team certainly took that
message to heart at the end of last season, after beginning the season 1-8
Worcester State won 11 of its last 17 overall, and 8 of its last 9 conference
games.
“I expect us to be at least
as good as we were for the second half of last year,” Said Lindberg.
Recruiting has been a tricky
business, due to the handicap of not having a gym. Lindberg knew he wasn’t
going to be able to attract a lot of kids for this year. His solution was to
recruit heavy for last year’s class resulting in a team driven by their
sophomore talent.
This class is led by Center
Paul Brooks, at 6’9 he is the tallest player in the conference, and a real
difference maker for a team in need of positives.
“Paul changed the game on
defense, teams adjust what kind of shots they are going to take when he’s on
the court, he was three blocks away from the team record for blocks in a
season,” an excited Lindberg said.
While not having a gym
will hurt them in recruiting and the short term, Lindberg explained that
building a new gym was necessary, as Worcester State was one of the only teams
in the conference that hadn’t done major work to improve its facilities since 2000.
The biggest challenge is
finding a place for the team to practice, often times they will use middle
school, elementary school, or another college’s facilities. This works until
the teams that belong to the school begin practicing which is after
thanksgiving for the non-collegiate teams. From then on it will be only at
night or early in the morning.
“We’re going to go early in
the morning or anywhere from 9 (pm) to 9:30. We had many practices last year
that we started at 9 and ended at 11:30,” Said Lindberg “99.9 percent of the
time everyone shows up on time, I set three alarms today because it’s such an
odd time (4:30 am) I think they are doing great I think their attitudes have
been great.”
As far as games go, Worcester
State will be looking to other colleges around the Worcester area to play at
for home games. These include home games at Assumption, Nichols, WPI, and
Quinsigamond Community College.
Starting Power Forward
Charles Gunter, a senior, has already dealt with not having a gym while in high
school.
“In High school I didn’t have
a home court, I went to New Mission State, so this is nothing new for me, it
sucks to have it and now not have it, but I didn’t have one then either,” Said
Gunter.
In fact he offers a silver
lining to the ordeal.
“Having a gym and losing it
is pretty hard, it’s kind of frustrating when we have to go from gym to gym
each practice, it’s either early in the morning or later in the afternoon, but
overall I personally think it builds character, because as the season goes on
and you get later in the season most of your games are going to be on the road
and that’s when you really have to stick together,” Said Gunter.
Sophomore Forward Jeremy
Bacon echoes that sentiment.
“If anything I’d say it
brings us more together because we have to adapt to something that a lot of
colleges don’t, but it is a pain,” Said Bacon.
Looking toward the 2014-15 season
Worcester State is in a good position to improve on last year’s mark. What they
lack in stadium stability they make up for in chemistry as they are returning
four of five starters from last year. The four starters are Brendan Rios a
senior guard, Manny Cabral a Junior Guard, Charles Gunter a Senior Forward, and
Paul Brooks a sophomore center.
The perseverance and optimism
expressed in the preseason has rarely carried over to the court in the young
season. The Lancers won their season opener against Becker, but have dropped
their next three games.
Brandan Rios has been a major
contributor so far averaging 13.3 points, while Paul Brooks leads the way in
rebounding with 8.8 boards a game, and Manny Cabral averages 2.0 assists per
game.
Two of their three losses
have been close calls, including a 60-61 loss at Wesleyan University, and a
62-65 loss at home (Assumption).
The good news for the Lancers
is they have yet to play a conference game. Also they have overcome slow starts
in the past (See last year) and have put themselves in positions to win games
late so far this season.
As long as they can come
together as a team they have a good chance at competing for the MASCAC
championship. If they do find themselves in the position to host a MASCAC
playoff game, well things will certainly get interesting for the nomadic
Lancers, who are looking for a place to call home.
