Bears optimistic for new season
Steven M. Miller, Jr.
Issue date: 11/16/06 Section: Sports
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The Bears will look for leadership from senior center Derek Thompson and junior guard Tom Cuddihy, who are this year's team captains.
Gone from last year is 1000 point scorer Dave Rukstalis, leading bench scorer Cliff Furtado, and last year's MASCAC leading rebounder, Tyler Lang. With these changes Coach Joe Farroba looks for new faces to start on offense.
"With the depth of players that we have I hope that we can find replacements for Ruckstalis, Furtado, and Lang," said Farroba.
Starting at the point guard position for the Bears will be senior KC Granfield.
Farroba said, "KC is very good at spreading the ball around and plays solid defensive game."
Granfield did not play in the winter because of a season ending knee injury last fall.
Starting at the forward positions for the Bears will be senior Adam Rose and sophomore Bryan Grozier. Rose played in 27 games for the Bears and came off the bench in 21 of them. Grozier played in limited duty as a freshman coming off the bench in 16 games.
"Last year Adam Rose had a great year coming off the bench," said Farroba. "We hope that by giving Grozier the opportunity to start that we can get some quality minutes out of him. With Rose we think he can step in and fill the gap left by Rukstalis."
Off the bench, the team will look to senior guards Damian Shakespeare and Ryan Devereaux. Shakespeare gained experience last season when he was called on to help a point guard corps who lost three starters to injury last year. Devereaux may be called on to come off the bench as the scorer. He could replace the void that has been left by Furtado.
Also coming off the bench, look for sophomore forward Roland Millien to fill the gap left by Lang and Rukstalis in rebounding. Millien will come into the game when either Thompson and/or Grozier are not on the floor. Junior forward Dwayne Wilkerson will also be coming off the bench to fill the same role.
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