Bulldogs hope to rebound and salvage season

COURTESY SPORTS PUBLICITY The Elis will need to step their play up if they hope to rise from the cellar of the Ivy League.

At 1-11 (0-2 Ivy), the Yale men's basketball team is not fooling anyone. The Elis are struggling, and can't seem to find any answers. Since Yale's first and last victory, a blowout of the University of New Hampshire way back in November, the Bulldogs have lost eight straight contests. Their last two losses have come against perennial Ivy League powers Pennsylvania and Princeton.

The Pennsylvania game on Fri., Jan. 8, a 68-62 loss, was nothing to be ashamed of. The Quakers beat Temple when the Owls were ranked 6th in the country, and took No. 4 Kansas to the wire before falling in a tight game. Head coach Dick Kuchen was pleased with the team's performance down the stretch. "When the game was on the line, we played really well. We executed well offensively. We just couldn't stop Michael Jordan '00," he said. The fact that the Bulldogs could hang with a nationally competitive team is impressive, and "it definitely built our confidence," guard Isaiah Cavaco, JE '01, said.

That confidence, though, must have disappeared sometime before the Princeton game just one night later. Yale came out flat, turning the ball over 17 times in the first half alone, and entered the intermission in a 38-10 hole. Although a respectable second half kept the margin from ballooning, a 66-33 loss, even to the mighty Tigers, was a disappointment to the Elis.

When a team loses eight in a row, there are undoubtedly several things going wrong. Three problem areas stand out on the Eli squad. First, the Bulldogs are missing much of their leadership. Captain Charlie Petit, DC '99, is out with a stress fracture in his right foot, Marlon Simpkins, MC '99, broke his thumb, and Jason Williams, PC '00, is out with a broken wrist. "If you look around the league, it is very difficult to have success without a core group of older players," Kuchen said.

Additionally, the Bulldogs have begun a number of their contests slowly. The Princeton game was a perfect example of how devastating a slow start can be. Cavaco claimed that the game was an anomaly. "We just played so poorly. There's no way that will happen again," he said. However, the Pennsylvania game also began slowly for the Bulldogs, which was particularly hard to take. Yale found themselves behind 9-0 in the opening moments of the game. That proved to be the difference in the game. "If we didn't get down 9-0 to Penn, we could have won that game," Cavaco said. A win at the Palestra in Philadelphia would have stopped the losing skid and could have helped Yale begin a successful Ivy campaign.

The second major problem has been turnovers. Seventeen turnovers would be too many for an entire game, let alone one half. If the Bulldogs can't hold on to the ball, they can't shoot the ball. "Since we turn the ball over too much, we don't get as many shots as our opponents," Cavaco said. Even if the Bulldogs shoot close to 50 percent, as they did against Pennsylvania (49.1 percent, 26-53), they need to take more than 53 shots if they want to start winning games.

Despite Yale's current skid, there have been some bright spots. Rookie guard Onaje Woodbine, BK '02, has become one of the team's biggest offensive threats. He leads Yale in assists (32), is tied for the lead in three-pointers (13), and is second in scoring (10.8 ppg). Woodbine was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week on Mon., Dec. 7, after pouring in a career-high 18 points against Hartford.

Sophomore big man Neil Yanke, MC '01, has also blossomed in recent games. Yanke led the Bulldogs against Pennsylvania with 19 points and 12 rebounds, recording his first career double-double. In the last five games, Yanke has made his presence felt in the paint, averaging 10.0 points and 7.8 rebounds.

Finally, senior power forward David Tompkins, SY '99, has lived up to his preseason hype as the best rebounder in the Ivy League (The Sporting News) and as part of Street & Smith's preseason all-league team. He leads the team in most categories, including scoring (14.2 ppg), rebounding (9.8 rpg), and steals (18).

With some aspects of Yale's play beginning to come around, the Bulldogs look to break into the win column in their next game. This Saturday, the team travels to the Pizzitola Center in Providence to take on fellow Ivy League cellar-dweller Brown. This is a must-win game for the Bulldogs. A loss to the Bears would firmly establish Yale as the doormat of the Ivy League.

The Bulldogs are unquestionably a young, inexperienced team with three freshman starters. Still, youth is no excuse for poor play. With 12 games under their belts, the Bulldogs should be ready to put to use whatever experience they have gained thus far. The learning process will continue throughout the season. Now it's up to the Elis to start winning games.

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