The Covenant College Men’s basketball team is just starting its season. With their first game on the near horizon and plenty of new players, this year's outlook for the Scots’ basketball team has a lot of potential. To do some more research into the team, I reached out to several of the basketball players, one of which agreed to answer some questions over email, this being Pierce Smith, a sophomore who is now in his second year on the team, whom I asked some questions relating to the current trajectory of the basketball team.
Photo taken by Will Thornhill
The first question was about new players. With seniors graduating, the basketball team needed new players and new players they got. This year seems to have drawn in ten new players, three of which are transfers from other schools. When asked about the new players, Smith stated, "All of the guys have been playing well through these first couple of weeks leading into the season and give us confidence considering the number of people we lost." With this reassuring amount and new players' performance comes the need to address what will be worked on. After being asked, Pierce responded that the basketball team is currently working on defense, stating, "We are completely reconstructing how we are playing both offensively and defensively. We are currently focusing more heavily on defense as that system is a little more nuanced and must be continually repped out to learn every situation." This new trajectory has yet to be used in actual games, but it seems to improve overall, providing basketball players with a more diverse means of practice.
Even with the new players and new direction of practices, there seems to be a mix of optimism and a mindset of wanting to do better among the basketball players. When asked about the performance, Smith said, "I would say so far as a team, we have felt good as to how we are performing most of the time." He continued, "Obviously, we aren't performing as perfectly as many of us desire. Yet, we continue to show up daily and work on the areas causing displeasure." Overall, the team attitude seems respectably measured, which is healthy considering their first games will be in just a few weeks
The Scots’ Men’s basketball team's first two exhibition games will occur at Tennessee Wesleyan on Wednesday, October 30. This will be where all their new training and players will finally be tested, allowing them to see how effective they can play based on this current regimen. That said, it will not be on good Scots’ home turf; the first home game will not be until Friday, November 22 against Rhodes.
With all these exciting changes to the basketball team, there is a new dawn for the Scots,and there is much to look forward to. As the final question, I asked Smith what something he was looking forward to in this season, to which he responded, "The main thing I am excited about is playing games this year as many of us returners feel as if we have something to prove after last year." The time is approaching for the Scots’ Men’s Basketball team to show what they can do this season.
Thumbnail photo taken by Will Thornhill.