A chill in the air, hoop dreams in mind, the games begin
By Robb Smith
Staff Writer

For the die-hard fans of college basketball, Midnight Madness officially started the season. You probably missed it.

For the rest of the fans, last week's first snowfall is enough to make them forget Albion football and shift their support to the upcoming men's basketball season.

This year's squad looks to improve on last year's 12-14 season and fourth place showing in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

The pre-season coaches' poll put Albion right where they finished last season - in fourth place behind Kalamazoo, second place Calvin and league champion Hope.

Ironically, this year's coaches' poll is the same as last year's final MIAA standings, with Olivet, Adrian and Alma rounding out the league.

Head Coach Mike Turner, associate professor of physical education, is relying on co-captains Charles Pinter (11.3 PPG last season), Woodhaven senior, and Thomas (T.J.) Carnegie (10.4 PPG last season), Grand Rapids junior, to guide the team further up the standings this season.

Helping Pinter and Carnegie will be Eric DuFort (14.3 PPG last season), Standish junior; TyQuan Lenyard, Detroit sophomore and Benjamin Geerling, Grand Rapids sophomore.

DuFort led the Britons in scoring and three-point field goals (68) last season. Lenyard moves into the starting point-guard position vacated by Matthew Essell, who graduated last year.

Pinter and Carnegie occupy the forward positions. Carnegie played center in a few games last season, but will be helped this year by Geerling and Gregory Adkins, Lapeer sophomore, who has just returned to practice from an injury.

Eddie Lampton, Kentwood freshman; Harold (Doug) Shepherd, Holly sophomore and Bryan Sherry, Hastings junior will also see action this season, primarily in backup roles.

"I think we are really talented this year, but we are also really, really young," Turner said at the pre-season MIAA media day for winter sports. "It's tough having only one senior in Pinter. We do have eight lettermen returning from last year's team, though."

This is where Pinter and Carnegie's experience becomes valuable. Both clearly understand their roles and are ready to lead the Britons to victory in the MIAA. "I just think that he wants us to be leaders on and off the court," said Pinter.

"We've been through more games than anybody else on the team," Carnegie added. "We've experienced a lot more . . . and I think Coach Turner expects us to relay how we should play, how we should act and what we need to the other guys on the team because he's not always going to be there. He can't go out on the court and play for us."

"He [Coach Turner] wants us to be an example for everybody," Pinter said. "If he sets high goals for the team, he wants us to follow through with them."

Turner, entering his 22nd season as head coach, said that he realizes that it will take time for the players to come together fully.

"We need to become more consistent as time goes on. Consistency is an important factor," Turner said. He expects Pinter and Carnegie to anchor that consistency into the younger players. One place to do that is in practice.

"I think that, like lots of teams, we have really good practices at times and not so good practices at other times," Turner said.

Turner pointed out positive aspects of this year's team besides the eight returning lettermen.

"Another asset this year is size. We're much taller than we have been in the past couple of years." This year's roster has five players at or above 6'5", including both co-captains. Another strong point is the team's desire to compete and win, according to Pinter.

"We're predicted to finish fourth in the league. Everybody on the team has a desire to finish better than that," Pinter said.

"We're kind of sick of [the standings being] Hope, Calvin, Kalamazoo and Albion every year," Carnegie added. "We just want to throw a monkey wrench into that situation." "We have a team with very, very high expectations," Turner said.

Turner and Assistant Coaches Steven Minton, Jeff Smith and Kevin Kropf evaluate each player's performance in effort and execution during each practice. Those evaluations are then reviewed at the end of the week to keep track of each player's performance during that week.

"The players have worked very hard at this," Turner said. He also said that the key is to find the players who work as hard as possible but still execute the plays properly.

The Britons start their season tonight at the North Central Tip-Off in Naperville, Ill. Their first home game (non-conference) is Tuesday at 8 p.m. against Great Lakes Christian. Albion's MIAA season starts Jan. 4 at Adrian and ends with the MIAA tournament Feb. 20-24.