By Victoria Miranda
The Assumption College Men’s Basketball team welcomed their upcoming season this past Thursday, October 22, at the annual Midnight Madness event.
Along with welcoming the 2015-2016 season, the team welcomes a completely new coaching staff. Michael Harding took the spot as the head coach for the Hounds, accompanied by two assistant coaches, Michael Hauser and Chad Holley.
Members of the team are excited about the new coaching staff this year, Junior Jack Sullivan says “The new coaching staff has brought a lot of excitement to the team. They’ve adjusted their coaching style to the types of players we have and I think it will benefit us in the long run”. Similar to Sullivan’s thoughts on the new coaching staff, senior Julian Aiken shared his excitement about the new coaches and season, “The new coaches are good, they are giving us the best possible opportunity to have a successful year this season. They value our overall experience in playing basketball for Assumption. Their coaching style is completely new to the entire team and hopefully it pans out well for us.”
There are only a few new members to the team this year, so the Hounds are very familiar with playing with one another as a team. Sullivan continued to talk about the experience the team has this year which will also be beneficial to them in winning games this season. “This years team has a lot more experience and depth than past teams, the team chemistry has never been better and by playing as a group, we hope to have a lot of success this year.”
Despite a losing record last season, the team is very optimistic about the upcoming season. New to the team this year is freshman Stefan Masciarelli. Masciarelli talked about some of the strengths the team has this year and what they are continuing to work on throughout the season. “We have a lot of older kids on the team that can provide leadership for our team, especially us younger guys. We are quick and we run the floor well and we also have a lot of scoring options, but we need to keep working to get better defensively as a team.” The Hounds are looking for a winning record this season, Aiken says “Some of the goals we have for the team this season is to have a winning record along with coming together as a team and enjoying playing the sport with our final goal of making the NE-10 Playoffs.”
After a long off-season, the Hounds are very anxious and excited to get back on the court and get the season rolling. With new members to the team, a new coaching staff and positive attitudes from all members of the team, the Hounds have a great chance of making it far this season. The team will play their first exhibition season game against Holy Cross in Worcester, MA on Thursday, November 5 at 7:00pm.
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