Last season saw the Jumbos’ first NCAA Tournament run in 10 years and the matching of their best record, 23-7, from the 2005-2006 season. Since then, key players Ryan Spadaford (LA ’16) and Stephen Haladyna (LA ’16) have graduated, opening up two spots on the starting line up.
This year, the Jumbos — currently ranked No. 5 in a preseason projection behind rival No. 1 Amherst — are projected to have their best season yet.
“It does put a target on our back but I think we’re going to be ready for it," coach Bob Sheldon said. "I’m a competitor, and [the players] are competitors, so they want all the teams’ best shots because it just makes you better. Hopefully we can make a long run into the season and after the season.”
The three-man senior class, comprised of co-captain center Tom Palleschi, co-captain guard Tarik Smith and center Drew Madsen, will lead this year’s team of 15 players in the hopes of exceeding last year’s success. Though the team's senior class is small, there are eight juniors on the team.
“The seniors and the juniors lead together," Sheldon said. "We are ahead of where we were last year because we have so many returning players, so we are ahead in terms of teamwork. Tom [Palleschi] is really outspoken and never shuts up, but Tarik [Smith] leads by example so they really work well together.”
The Jumbos opened with back to back wins last season, but fell to the MIT Engineers in their third game by a score of 72-69. Losses last year were consistently by razor thin margins; four of Tufts' seven losses last season were within five points, while many of their wins had far larger margins frequently by over 20 points.
Although the Jumbos lost two of their opening five match-ups, they went on to an eight-game win streak. In their in-conference match-ups Tufts went 7-3, losing to Trinity, Middlebury and Wesleyan, with the latter two losses coming in overtime. Tufts overcame Amherst, ranked No. 11 at the time, 84-73. As Amherst handed Tufts two losses later in the season in the NESCAC semifinals and the NCAA Championship Quarterfinals, the team is undoubtedly looking to redeem itself against Amherst this season.
The Jumbos made the most of their at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament last season, which they hosted for the first time in Tufts history. Tufts overcame Southern Vermont 78-76, Skidmore 88-80 and Johnson & Wales 101-85 before eventually succumbing to Amherst 86-73.
The 13-point margin was not reflective of the quality of play, though. Tufts fell behind early, and was behind until the final 15 minutes of the game when it was able to turn the five-point deficit Tufts entered the second half with into a seven-point lead. The game was tied at 73-73 with just under four minutes remaining and the Purple and White scored 13 consecutive points to come away with the win.
This year, All-NESCAC First Team Player Palleschi returns alongside Smith, both of whom were big scorers for the team last year with averages of 15.0 and 11.4 points per game respectively. While Tufts’ high scorer last season Vincent Pace, who averaged 17.5 points per game, was sidelined during the entirety of the NCAA tournament following an ACL injury, the junior guard returns to the court this season.
In a preseason scrimmage against alumni last Saturday, the Jumbos put up 102 points in two 20-minute halves. Their attack was successful, as they moved the ball quickly and efficiently both during transitions and also once they had the ball in their opponent’s half. However, the number of rebound opportunities that were missed on both the attack and the defense may have contributed to their opponents' ability to score 111 points.
According to Smith, the Jumbos plan to focus on addressing this issue in their opening matches.
“Our offense was working well and we moved the ball well," he said. "A lot of players stepped up and took shots and made plays so offensively I think we’re there. Defensively we need to get better, we need to talk more on our switches, we need to rebound better.”
The NESCAC rules dictate that team’s cannot have coached practices until right before the actual season starts, so the team has been running informal practices led by the captains instead in order to better integrate the first-years and transfer student junior KJ Garrett with the team.
“[The team has been focusing on] communication because we have a bunch of new guys and players that are stepping up into new roles so we need to communicate more and know what’s expected of everyone on the team even if there are players that aren’t going to get as many minutes,” Smith said.
The Jumbos will travel to New Jersey this weekend to play in the Rutgers-Newark Tip-Off Tournament and will face MIT on Tuesday preceeding their first home game against Emerson on Nov. 26.
Jumbos hope to build on 23-7 season
