Dr. V
PhD Student
Posts: 1552
Reg: 11-21-04
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03-22-23 08:13 PM - Post#354914
The men's BB banquet was held at the Smith & Wollensky steak house last night. About 60 attendees including Pilling, Schiller, the coaches, players and some former players, parents and supporters.
Pilling, Engles and the two seniors, Shockley-Okeke and Yarasits, spoke. Each of the coaches was involved in handing out awards, and the recipients were: Rubio De La Rosa (MVP); Noland (team spirit, hustle and determination award); Brown (first year POY); Stankard (outstanding scholar-athlete award); Odunowo ("never gave up on his teammates or himself" award); Mr. Alan Stone (Jerry Sherwin Alumni Award); and Shockley-Okeke (outstanding commitment to the Columbia community award).
Event was congenial and had a positive vibe. Seats were assigned so that tables had a mixture of players, parents and supporters, which was a good idea as otherwise players have a tendency to cling together.
Interesting to see that former players Harding and Nweke attended. Engles spoke about the challenge of losing games with a young team while trying to keep everyone focused on improving and on the process of sticking together.
News tidbit: we are going to Europe in August: Italy and Switzerland for four games.
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cc66
Postdoc
Posts: 2250
Reg: 10-09-09
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03-23-23 02:50 PM - Post#354954
In response to Dr. V
It's surprising that Harding and Nweke attended. It suggests that whatever prompted them to leave the team (and we sure could have relied on Harding), there was no bad blood.
It also sounds as if everyone is supportive of Engles despite the losing record, i.e, that they are all in this together and understand that a team full of first and second year players is not going to beat much more experienced opponents. Let's just hope this attitude begins to pay off next year.
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Chet Forte
Postdoc
Posts: 2997
Reg: 03-02-08
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03-23-23 08:48 PM - Post#354970
In response to cc66
If we had Harding and Nweke play this year we would have been 9-5 or 10-4; at worst case 8-6. We had no credible front court presence.
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