The Lamron: The team is 14-6 right now. Do you feel confident that you can finish the season strong and make a run at the playoffs?
Tarik Kitson: Yes, I think we can finish the season off strong. January was a bad month for us, a lot of games I was out, I was out for like eight games, and we had a lot of people off the bench who really stepped up. I feel like the people who stepped up while I was out, they have the experience now of playing in this league and so now, to close off the season, now that I'm back and with them coming off the bench it'll be a lot better than when we were undefeated because a lot of people will be more experienced.
The Lamron: You missed some time? What happened?
TK: I suffered a high ankle sprain on Jan. 3 against Elmira, in the first half. It's still swollen, I'm probably at like 80 percent right now.
The Lamron: You mentioned before that you guys went on a little losing streak back in January. What happened?
TK: We lost to Nazareth by two, then the next night we lost to Brockport by over 20, then we played Brockport again and we lost to them by five. We played a very good game when we played Brockport the second time, we just, we didn't open up the halves good. So we just have to play a good 40 minutes. I believe a lot of these teams are scared to play us now because they know that we're a very good team and we'll continue to pursue the SUNYAC championship.
The Lamron: Do you see yourself as a leader on this team?
TK: Yes, I would say I'm a leader on this team. Playing here for four years, starting for four years, I have a lot of experience in this league. I feel like a lot of my teammates look up to me. Me and Scott Morton are the captains of the team. I was picked to be a captain, so I feel like they thought I would be a good leader for them. I try to lead on and off the court.
The Lamron: What other activities are you involved with outside of basketball?
TK: Well, I'm involved in an activist group on campus called FARI [Fighting Against Racial Injustice] and one of the main things that my job is, is finishing the documentary that we've been working on for the past two years. That's a big goal of mine, to finish this documentary so we can hand it out to the public for them to see what we've been doing forever. Another thing I've been doing is research with one of my anthropology professors to help disparity in the Rochester community. It's an internship I did two years ago, and I continued the research, and I will be presenting at the Society for Applied Anthropology in March in Memphis, Tenn., so I've been preparing for that before I present my research.
The Lamron: What are your plans after graduation?
TK: Well, I just got accepted into the Barbara Jordan Health Internship in Washington, D.C. I'll be working with Congress on health policies, it's through Howard University. I'll be doing that for a summer, because I've been doing a lot of research on health, like health disparities and health policies. I didn't want to go straight to grad school, I wanted to take off a year to see what exactly I wanted to do and hopefully I get experience and after that I'll go to grad school.
The Lamron: Do you think basketball will have a place in your future at all?
TK: Yeah, definitely. If I'm coaching, or, you know, I'll still be playing basketball after I graduate because that's the number one thing I like to do. It makes me happy, so yeah, definitely. Some way. I wouldn't even mind trying to work for the NBA or even college basketball.
The Lamron: What do you think you're going to miss the most about Geneseo after you graduate?
TK: I feel like going to college is easy, the only thing you've got to do is go to class. It's not that hard. I'm going to miss everything about college. You know, the social life, the athletics, hanging out with friends, being around tons people your own age. But I think for me, the number one thing I will miss will be basketball. Just, in the off season, getting prepared, conditioning, being the best you can be.