It took them more than three months to accomplish the feat that the Mavericks men’s basketball team pulled off last Saturday.
Victory.
The Men’s basketball squad got their first win of the season against Nyack in what is easily the Mavs best start in years.
The Mavs are a well balanced team in all aspects of the team. They get contributions up and down the roster and it is that balance that gives them a fighting chance in each game. One player can have a bad game or go into a slump whereas the likelihood of a whole team slumping is close to nil.
The most intriguing part about this team, about the roster as currently constructed, is that it’s a very, very, young team. The Mavs only have three seniors on the roster and only one of whom, Center James Mindingall, who is a starter.
Junior guard Colin Senior leads the team in scoring and has led the team in three out of the team’s six games. Junior forward Joseph Pope, has led the team in the other three, doing most of his work in the post and on the offensive glass. Though Pope’s been a force on the offensive glass and Senior’s done most of the heavy lifting on the score-sheet, their teammates have been contributing steadily. LeBrandon Smith, Kirk Bailey, and Chaz Morrish have all racked up double digits in points and point guard Romaine Wall has been the chief (and seemingly the sole) distributor for a team that doesn’t rely on ball distribution nearly as much as one would expect.
There’s no question as to where the Maverick problem lies though. The Mavericks have been outscored by their opponents by roughly 120 points so far on the season. The lack of defense coupled with a team-wide tendency to shoot the three pointer (at an anemic 26% no less) and turn the ball over (about 20 a game) leaves the Mavericks often looking up at their opponent at in the score column and fighting desperately to get back into games.
Their matchup with Nyack was the exception. They did most of their work from the inside (just 3-8 from behind the three point arc), shot well from the free throw line, dominated the boards, and never fell behind Nyack the way they have every other team this season. Mercy went on a run and didn’t allow their turnovers (26 turnovers leading to 31 Nyack points, roughly half of the points they scored on the night).
Turnovers and mental errors are par for the course with a young team and this team is one of the youngest. It’s that youth that has hopes and expectations for this team running so high. The ceiling is high for this team and if they could just find a way to score and cut down on the turnovers, they have the potential to be a solid team. The Maverick players are all still developing and unlike seasons past, have a win under their belt early. They do the little things, rebounding, getting their hands on balls defensively, make their free throws, and have shown fight in every game they’ve been in.
By no means are the Mavs a finished product. They make all the mistakes expected of youth and have taken themselves out of games far more often than have the other teams. Coach Adam Parmenter has his work cut out for him with a team that needs to instill some discipline into their game, but should look forward to the most promising stretch of Mavericks basketball this program’s seen in a long time.
This win against Nyack isn’t a colossal victory, but it brings a much-needed confidence to the team. All things considered, the youth of the team belies an unfulfilled promise that comes with a caveat. If they continue to mature, if they develop into a fundamentally sound team that can distribute the ball without turning it over 20 times a game, they could become a winning team.
