To other teams in the NESCAC, the impending graduation of senior tri-captain forward James Long may not look like a huge loss for the Jumbos. At 6-foot-5, Long is an undersized post player and has averaged just 4.1 points and 3.9 rebounds per game in his four years at Tufts. But ask Tufts fans — or, better yet, ask his teammates — and they will tell you No. 55 is an invaluable asset to the squad.
In his own way, the two-year captain has helped usher in a new era of Tufts basketball.
During his first two campaigns on the Hill, the Jumbos mustered just nine and six wins, respectively, and were locked in the conference cellar. The team's talents were not translating to success on the court, and the mentality was one of defeat.
"My senior year of high school we were 19-1. … We always won," Long said. "It was an adjustment [coming to Tufts]. My freshman year I don't want to say I was star-struck, but I was just too happy to be here. … Losing became the expectation and winning brought out this massive celebration. [Last year] there was a huge change in culture as winning became the expectation and losses were harder. And that's all about the identity of the team and trying to develop a winning culture."
Last year, under Long's first captainship, the Jumbos succeeded in making the transition to winning basketball, making the playoffs for the first time in the careers of any of the team's players. This past weekend, the Jumbos hosted their first tournament game in six years.
Affectionately called "the best sixth man in the league" by his teammates, Long became a symbol of hard work and fundamental post defense for the Jumbos over the last two seasons.
"I really can't think of another sixth man who has had more of a significance for a team in the NESCAC than James has," junior tri-captain forward Scott Anderson said. "It's going to be tough losing him, especially for myself because whenever James came in the game, I knew we were in just as good of shape as if both of our starting forwards were still in the game."
"The one thing I would take from being on a team with James over the last two years is that he is a natural leader," senior forward Alex Orchowski added. "Without hesitation, I would say he served as the voice of our locker room through the good times and the bad. It was a privilege to play alongside him."
Long's passion is what drew head coach Bob Sheldon to him in the first place.
"We recruited him because he plays so hard," Sheldon said. "Everything he did, he did at 100 percent. He's a little undersized for a big man as far as height is concerned, so we took a chance and thought he would make up for his size with his heart and leadership, and I think he really did that."
But the transition from the bench to a position of leadership was not easy for Long. At Norwell High School, Long served as the first two-time captain in the basketball program's history, amassing 1,421 points and over 1,000 rebounds. Long was also a captain for the football team while rising to the top five in his academic class. In 2008, he was awarded the Boston Globe/Richard Phelps Scholar-Athlete Award, and upon graduation he was elected by his classmates to speak on their behalf.
When he arrived at Tufts, Long had to adapt to a new role outside the spotlight.
"It was a hard adjustment to make sure my teammates respected me when I wasn't going out and scoring 20 points a game," Long said. "I had to learn how to lead when the team needed it, without necessarily being one of our go-to guys."
Where Long was the go-to guy, though, was on defense. In his freshman season, Long emerged as one of the team's best options to guard opposing centers, drawing offensive fouls and forcing tough post plays. Sheldon adopted the much-debated practice of alternating offensive and defensive forwards on late-game possessions.
"I went out with high school friends after [Saturday's loss against Bates] and it's a running joke that now I'm a defensive specialist," Long said. "My friends all laugh at me now that I get subbed out when we're on offense and put in on defense."
His teammates aren't laughing.
"James plays better defense than Orchowski and I and some of the best defense on the team," Anderson said. "James is a guy you love to play with because he gives it all he has at all times and really makes an investment into the team every year."
Still, his teammates do get a good laugh talking about the one aspect of Long's game that is, well, slightly lacking.
"Above all, we're going to really miss James' free-throw shooting. As one of the best free-throw shooters in the league, James was a great guy to have in late game situations," Anderson said with loving sarcasm.
Long shot 38.9 percent from the line for the Jumbos and often vocalized his disappointment once the ball left his hands. Still, Long kept his sense of humor, often smiling and shaking his head after almost puzzlingly bad misses.
Long blames his lack of free-throw success on his running inner dialogue. He admits that with the leadership role came constant responsibility and worry for the team's performance, and that he often found it hard to clear his head of strategizing thoughts.
"Free throws are such a mental thing," Long said. "I just think I always have trouble getting to the line and removing myself. I struggled with that the last few seasons because so much of my game is thinking and being smart. I was never a good free-throw shooter in high school either, but it wasn't a duck-and-cover kind of thing."
Some people still have faith that Long's free-throw shooting will improve in his post-college career.
"[Assistant] coach Chad Onofrio says that they're bound to start falling … that I'm going to be the best men's league free-throw shooter of all time."
"His mother taught him how to shoot free throws," Sheldon joked. "Put that in the article."
Long's parents have been there for every missed free throw, every rebound, every charge drawn. They missed only two of their son's collegiate tournaments, in Los Angeles and Virginia, while maintaining careers as attorneys. That allowed Long to develop into the confident leader the Jumbos needed during their rougher seasons.
"They have probably missed single-digit games in my career since third grade," Long said. "Even my sister comes now that she's home."
A self-proclaimed "Latin scholar," Long is double majoring in Latin and Political Science and will follow in his parents' footsteps by attending law school in the fall.
"It's something I've grown up around, but I don't have the overbearing parents with my dad pasting my face on a graduation photo from Princeton Law," Long said. "It's something that interests me."
But Long is keeping an open mind — and a sense of humor.
"There's also a strong chance I buy a gold dredge and move up to the Klondikes in Alaska," he said. "I've caught gold fever from watching ‘Gold Rush' on the Discovery Channel."
Whether he ends up at a top law school or mining his own claim up north, Long will always be proud knowing he played a part in the turnaround of Tufts men's basketball.
"Four straight losses to end the season definitely sours it a bit as a senior," Long admits. "I just think in time I will look back and know that I helped move the program along a little bit and left it in a better place than it was before — just like [Sam] Mason (E '11) and [Matt] Galvin (E '11) did the year before — and set the guys up for an even better year next year."
While Sheldon has already gone to work on recruiting taller players to fill Long's spot in the post, the coach knows that what he brought to the program was something special.
"Every coach talks about the intangibles," Sheldon said. "As far as James is concerned, the leadership will be the hardest to replace. He made them come to practice, he made them work hard and he made them live hard."
