After a long offseason of reflecting upon what could have been, the Gustavus Men’s Basketball team is back on the court working hard to avenge its heartbreaking 78-71 overtime loss to Carleton in the conference finals last spring.
The Gusties compiled a 13-7 record in MIAC play last year that placed them in a tie for the second best regular season record in the conference. After beating Augsburg in a 59-57 nail-biter in the MIAC semifinals, Gustavus was denied its first conference tournament crown since the 2004-05 season in the devastating loss to Carleton. It was the second time in three years that the Gusties lost in the championship game.
“Anytime you lose a game like the [Carleton game], it takes a little while to get over that shock and disbelief,” Junior guard Seth Anderson said. “I know for most of us that game is still fresh in our minds and that everyone on the team is working hard to get back there.”
Dating back to the 2005-06 season, the Gusties have played their way to the conference semifinals in each season. Of those five semifinal appearances the Gusties won twice, only to see their hopes dashed in the championship game.
“The last few years we have a break here or a play there away from winning the conference tournament,” Anderson said. “We always believe that we have the team to make a great run at the conference title, and this year is no different.”
As the team prepares for its season opener on Monday against Buena Vista University in front of the home crowd, it uses last season’s sour finish as a means of motivation.
“People say you have to ‘just forget it and move on to next year,’” Senior captain Dan Schmidtknecht said. “Well next year is here, and the bitter taste is still in our mouth. Every practice and every game leading up to the end of the year will decide if we want to change that taste.”
Gustavus unofficially started the pursuit of its first MIAC regular season title in six seasons earlier this month with a 101-74 exhibition loss at the hands of Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D. Paving the way for the Gustavus offense were Anderson and Sophomore Ben Biewen with 12 points apiece, and Junior Paul Blacklock with 10 points. Despite the losing effort, the Gusties found solace in taking important lessons away from their performance.
“Any time you can get 40 minutes of playing time before the season starts, it helps,” Blacklock said. “We found out a lot of things that we did well and some others that we didn’t do so well and need to work on.”
While expectations for the Gusties are unlikely to change based on a single exhibition game, the team’s upperclassmen have attempted to use the loss to prove to the team’s new faces that there is still work to be done before the season starts.
“The scrimmage against Augustana provided us with an opportunity to play someone different and, most importantly, humble us,” Schmidtknecht said. “We all believe we have a team that has the chance to do something special this year, but Augustana showed us that it’s going to take more than just beliefs to put a banner up.”
The Gusties graduated four seniors from last year’s squad, including three of their top four point scorers, but Anderson insists that what the team lost in the offseason is made up in other aspects of the game.
“Right now we are definitely a smaller but quicker team than last year, and we do have a bunch of returning players,” Anderson said. “A good thing about our team is that we have many guys capable of playing solid minutes for us.”
Schmidtknecht agrees that the team has shifted to a more athletic style that may help create a large number of additional opportunities on both sides of the ball this season.“
The two main areas that we improved considerably are our athleticism and defense,” Schmidtknecht said. “Our knowledge of the game is another thing that will certainly stand out as [having been] improved from last year.”
Last year’s Gustavus team featured the third-stingiest defense in the entire conference with only 63.5 points allowed per game, but Blacklock sees the potential for this year’s defense to be even tougher to crack.
“When we come to play, our defense is really going to be tough to beat,” Blacklock said. “We have a lot of guys on our team who know how to play good Gustie defense.”
With a highly talented field of teams vying for the MIAC Championship, Gustavus will have to prove through hard work and dedication that it has what it takes to hang another championship banner in Gus Young Court.
“Last year proved that from top to bottom, the MIAC is one of the most even conferences in college basketball,” Blacklock said. “In terms of competition, you have to come to play every night in the MIAC.”
Although the team is anxious to begin the conference season, it isn’t ready to overlook its non-conference matchups. The players prefer to take each game as it comes in order to prepare for each game individually.
“Game number one against Buena Vista is all that matters right now,” Schmidtknecht said. “The matchups with St. Thomas and St. Johns will come, and when they do, we’ll prepare for those games the same way.”
With the renewed success of the Men’s Basketball program in recent years, players have also noticed an added pressure to keep the program headed in the right direction.
“It’s special to be part of a program that has been so consistently good,” Blacklock said. “As in any excellent program, excellence is demanded and we have to do our best to live up to it.”
Being a part of the revitalization of the program holds a special meaning for Anderson, who grew up immersed in the sport’s culture on the Gustavus campus as both a basketball camp participant and avid fan of the gold and black.
“I used to come to games all the time as a little kid, so I know how special Gustavus basketball is, and I take pride in being apart of it,” Anderson said. “It’s very important to me and my teammates that we keep Gustavus basketball playing at a high level on and off the court.”
