Expectations are high for Elizabethtown's men's basketball team

From today's Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era:

Expectations are high for Elizabethtown's men's basketball team

Intelligencer Journal
Lancaster New Era
Nov 13, 2009 09:32 EST

Elizabethtown
By JASON FULGINITI, Sports Writer

In recent years, the Commonwealth Conference men's basketball preseason coaches' poll has been about as accurate as a drunken sharpshooter — at least where Elizabethtown College has been concerned.

Picked to finish last in the conference two years ago, Mike Schatzmann and Chad Piersol powered the Blue Jays to a 13-1 start, earning E-town a spot in the NCAA Division III Top 25. Sure, the Blue Jays mysteriously dissolved after that, losing eight of their last 10 games to miss the conference playoffs for the second straight year. But still … last in the CC?

And then there was last year, when E-town — despite being picked to finish sixth out of seven teams in the Commonwealth Conference — rallied to earn one of the conference's four playoff spots before advancing to the CC title game, in which it lost a 67-65 decision to Widener.

That said, as E-town starts its season by hosting Manhattanville Saturday at 3 p.m., the question is what to make of this year's coaches poll, which has the Blue Jays ranked first?

"Going in, we figured us or Widener (which has won the last three conference titles) would be picked (first)," said Bob Schlosser, who is entering his 20th season as the Blue Jays' coach. "But you can always look at it a couple different ways. It's such a long season, and it's a league that really makes you or breaks you … mostly in the second semester. So, what people decide in October or November doesn't have a whole lot of bearing on what happens in February and March.

"Still," Schlosser added, "I'd rather be picked first than last."

E-town guard/forward Joe Flanagan, a junior from Lancaster Mennonite, agrees with the double-edged idea of the ranking.

"It's definitely nice to be recognized," Flanagan said, "but we realize that it puts a target on our back, and that everyone's going to give us their best game now. So we realize we have to come out and play hard every game if we want to reach our expectations."

With everyone but graduated point guard Phil Schaffer returning to E-town's lineup — and another year of experience in understanding Schlosser's constantly-active flex attack — those expectations are obviously high.

"It helps a lot," senior center Mike Church, a Solanco product, said of the Jays' experience. "I'm just now getting every little read of the defense in the system we have. We have a basic flex system, but you have to be able to read the defenses … because (the opposition) obviously knows what's coming. But it takes those four years really to even gather most of the information."

Flanagan — a 6-foot-3 small forward whose 14.3 points-per-game and 53 3-pointers led the team last year — and Church (12.8 ppg, team-high 6.5 rebounds per game), a 6-foot-4 presence in the lane, again figure to be key offensively; along with junior No. 2 guard Keith Fogel (12.7 ppg, 42 treys), whom Schlosser called the team's "most improved player" from last year.

Forward Josh Houseal (6.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg), a 6-4 senior from Hempfield, should also provide an impact once he fully recovers from an injury.

While Flanagan, Church, Fogel and Houseal are all returning starters from last year's 14-12 team (7-5 Commonwealth), E-town has its usual batch of blue-collar workers to back that unit up.

Among that clan are Bryan Harrity, a 6-5 junior center who's filled in for Houseal in the early going; 6-3 sophomore forward Dan Silver, whom Schlosser describes as "your typical undersized big guy, but a banger in the paint"; 6-7 sophomore center Brian Allport, a Solanco grad who will play the first two weeks of the season in a protective mask due to a broken nose; and 6-3 freshman forward Travis Mettler, whom Schlosser projects will get a lot of early playing time while Houseal and Allport recover from their ailments.

"I think a number of guys at the No. 2 and 3 spots … shooting guard/small forward … " Schlosser assessed. "I think we're pretty deep that way."

The concern, on paper, would be at point guard, where Schaffer — a fiery, hustle-obsessed, vocal sparkplug who ranked third in the conference in assists last year (4.35 per game) — is now being replaced by Cedar Crest grad Kyle McConnell, a sophomore who averaged 14.3 minutes per game as Schaffer's backup last year and is the only new member to the Jays' starting five.

E-town's players, though, hardly see an emergency.

"Kyle and Phil both kind of have the same style," said Church, one of the team's three captains, along with Jones and Houseal. "They push the ball, they're fierce defenders and they're both very vocal. So we have someone who can push the ball and deliver."

Junior guard Brady Haughney could be asked to deliver behind McConnell as a backup at the point, while guards Chris Jones (3.3 ppg last year) and Hempfield grad Mark Vogel (2.5) will be relied upon for perimeter help off the bench.

Meanwhile, as for the defensive approach? Same as it ever was. Constant baseline-to-baseline pressure most of the time, all of which leads to playing 10-12 guys a game.

The biggest agenda at this point, as it is every year, Schlosser said, is building that bench — piece by piece, game by game.

That's Blue Jays' basketball, corny and cliché as it is.

Work your way to the top.

E-town — which has qualified for the conference playoffs 13 of the last 15 years under Schlosser — has mostly done that, despite preseason prognostications.

"We believe if we out(work) the other team we can put ourselves in a position to win games," Flanagan said.

They appear to be in a great position now. What they do with it is the question.

"I think we do have the potential to have an outstanding year," Schlosser conceded. "But it's always the little things, and for us, chemistry is pretty critical I think.

"You can talk about the Xs and Os, but in the college game, it's a more physical game. And having experienced players helps you in that regard because they know what they're up against and they know what it takes."

This group, especially, having the experience it does.

Now, it's a matter of proving it.