2014-15 NBA Preview

West

Tori Ragin

Blake Griffin

Last year’s National Basketball Association champions, the San Antonio Spurs, are one of the biggest competitors in the Western Conference and have been a four-year rival to the Miami Heat.

Although the Heat is not the same team it was last year, the Spurs have almost the exact same team returning. This puts San Antonio in a really good place. If the team does exactly what it did last season, it has the potential to win a championship for the second straight year.

But that is banking on the assumption that teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Clippers haven’t improved. This is a game that usually changes rapidly based on new talent and the game of probability that comes with trading.

The Spurs have built a legacy of tradition that not many teams today can rival. That’s the way they are built and that’s not something they show signs of changing in the near future.

Many people don’t believe that the Spurs can repeat their performance from last season again. They proved many experts wrong, however, when they dominated the NBA Finals last June against the Heat.

One team to watch will be the Houston Rockets. The Rockets have been right on San Antonio’s tail in the preseason standings.

The question on everyone’s mind about the Rockets is if they improved defensively. Last season, there were high expectations with guard James Harden and center Dwight Howard being the ultimate duo. Unfortunately for Houston fans, they just didn’t perform as well as anyone thought they would.

Ultimately, I’d place my bets on the Spurs to win the West––then again, there is always room for new teams to make a big impact.

East

Billy Burns

With the National Basketball Association season just around the corner, the anticipation level could not be higher. The 2014 NBA draft had one of the best classes since the 2003––which included superstars like Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James, New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony and Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade. The league is waiting for the next batch of talent to come through.

The biggest rookie names in the Eastern Conference are Milwaukee Bucks forward Jabari Parker, Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid and Chicago Bulls forward Doug McDermott.  All three of these players were standouts at their respective colleges, with McDermott finishing his college career at Creighton University as the fifth highest all-time scorer in NCAA history. These rookies are going to be starting right away and will have big impacts on the success of their teams.

The East as a whole is not very strong—the Western Conference is significantly stronger top to bottom as the teams are more balanced. With the Miami Heat losing James to the Cleveland Cavaliers and former Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love joining the Cavs as well, Cleveland seems to be the clear favorite to win. That being said, I believe the teams to beat in the Eastern Conference are the Cavaliers and the Bulls. Alongside James and Love, they still have third year point guard Kyrie Irving. This makes them a real threat—they have the “Miami Heat effect,” of having three superstars on the same team.

The Bulls have stars like point guard Derrick Rose, who is returning after a two-year hiatus from multiple knee injuries. They also have all-star center Joakim Noah. Combine those two with McDermott and guard Jimmy Butler and you have another tough team from the East. I believe that the Eastern Conference finals will come down to the Cavaliers and the Bulls, with the Cavaliers winning the series 4-2.

Postseason in sight for field hockey

Geneseo field hockey dropped two home games on Oct. 3 and Saturday Oct. 4, both 3-1, to SUNY Oneonta and SUNY New Paltz.  Both teams were very aggressive on offense and put points on the board fast. With regard to the losses, head coach Jess Seren expressed optimism that her team will bounce back quickly. 

“These games helped us set the bar and gave our team an idea of what we need to do to be competitive in this conference,” Seren said. “In both games we were competitive, as it was hard fought for both teams.” 

Both Oneonta and New Paltz tested the Knights with stunning offensive possessions and defense that held Geneseo to just 17 total shots in both games. Despite a subpar start, Seren is confident that the game plan will stay relatively the same through the rest of the season.

“It’s not going to change much going forward, as we need to focus on ourselves, on our team and continuing to improve,” Seren said. “I think we have chosen to measure our success this season, and these losses are something we are going to carry with us for the rest of the fall.”

It is going to be up to the senior guidance of defender Ashley Favata, midfielder Cathryn Menarchem, forward Emily Topping and goalkeeper Heidi Deppmeyer to carry the team into postseason play, according to Seren. 

“If [our seniors] continue to set the example they do in practice as far as work ethic goes, then their leadership is going to carry this team,” Seren said. “As we get closer to the end of the season, it’s my hope they leave it all out on the field. I do not want them to leave Geneseo field hockey with any regrets.”

The Knights are off during the weekend of Saturday Oct. 11, giving them extra time to practice and prepare for conference rival SUNY Brockport. Seren described this upcoming game as “a good midseason test [against] … a very physical team that we have been back and forth with the past few seasons.” 

The Knights are going to have to play as hard as they can in order to get a much-needed win. Brockport currently sits at fourth in the SUNYAC standings, just one spot higher than Geneseo. If the Knights can continue to play tough and secure a win, they should be able to get a spot in the SUNYAC Tournament. 

The Knights play Brockport at home on Oct. 15 at 4 p.m.

Field hockey unfazed by loss

After a loss to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Sunday Sept. 28, the Geneseo field hockey team fell to 3-6 on the season. The Knights are now headed into their first SUNYAC home weekend of the season. Despite the loss, head coach Jess Seren is looking on the bright side. “The positives of the game were our defense as a team,” Seren said. “Our goalie [junior] Dayna Mercer played especially well and came up with some really nice saves.”

Despite the score being tied at halftime, Geneseo could not manage to make a final strike.

“In the second half, we outshot them 12-5 … but we just could not capitalize on our offensive opportunities, which is a big area of focus for us,” Seren said.

The Knights look to improve their SUNYAC record to 3-0 this weekend as they take on the SUNY Oneonta Red Dragons on Friday Oct. 3 and the SUNY New Paltz Hawks on Saturday Oct. 4. These will be tough games—New Paltz is the reigning conference champion and Oneonta is a team Seren describes as “offensively quick and fundamentally sound.”

The Knights sit at 1-0, one of three teams left undefeated with SUNY Cortland and SUNY Brockport. While most teams that lose a game in conference play will be able to sort out the issues before the next contest, Seren thinks that those teams are right where they want to be.

“With one loss under their belts, it is a big weekend for them in terms of making sure they do not pick up two more losses on top of that and put themselves at 1-3,” she said. “We know that we have to come ready to play no matter what and we definitely have the advantage on our home turf.”

A team’s record does not always display how well a team is truly doing––Seren had nothing but positive things to say about her team.

“Our defense has been playing well and we’ve been holding teams, but I think our offense needs to execute on the opportunities we have,” she said. “We have to be able to put a goal in early against Oneonta and build our confidence back up so we know we have the ability to score.”

The Knights play home against Oneonta on Friday Oct. 3 at 4 p.m. and Saturday Oct. 4 against New Paltz at 1 p.m.

Field hockey maintains momentum

The Geneseo field hockey team kicked off SUNYAC play on Saturday Sept. 20 with an impressive 7-2 victory over SUNY Morrisville. This five-goal differential was the largest winning margin of the season for the Knights, whose record sits at 3-5. “We started off the season with a really tough schedule, playing a lot of teams in the top 10, and also teams on AstroTurf, which for us was a big transition going from our grass field,” head coach Jess Seren said. “We are putting in the work everyday and we are getting better as a team and to finally see a favorable outcome such as that … was really good for our team morale going into, and starting, our conference play.”

The key player in that match was freshman forward Emma Dempsey. Standing at only 4-foot-11, she certainly is not the biggest player on the field by any means, but her two goals and two assists had a large impact on the outcome of the Morrisville game.

“[Dempsey] and the other first-year players have been contributing on offense for us,” Seren said. “Going into conference play we are still going to look to them to be aggressive on the attack and to be either a playmaker for us or put numbers on the board.”

The Knights’ roster consists of an almost even balance of upperclassmen and underclassmen, which Seren credits for how well the team handles high-pressure situations.

“There was definitely an expectation from the upperclassmen as far as stepping into those leadership roles that we lost,” Seren said. “I do not tend to differentiate roles between classes. The returning players have game experience, but I want the incoming freshmen, especially with the talent we have, to feel integrated right from the start.”

SUNYAC play is important because the winner of each conference gets an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, regardless of record. That’s what Seren is focusing on.

“I don’t want to measure our success based on our record because when you look at a 3-5 start, it tends to not look favorable,” she said. “But when you look at the teams we have played … it will really help us make a statement in the playoffs.”

The Knights will look to stay undefeated in SUNYAC play on Sunday Sept. 28 when they take on Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Spotlight on the Knight: Paige Pendleton

The Geneseo Knights volleyball team is off to a hot start thanks in large part to the play of junior Paige Pendleton. The 6-foot-1 middle from Oneida, New York is putting up career bests in kills per set at 1.86 and a hitting percentage of .297—impressive numbers for a team that has launched out to a 13-2 start, its best in recent years. But it is Pendleton’s off the court achievements that she says have contributed to the play this season. Pendleton participated in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Volleyball program this summer as an intern. The FCA is an organization aimed to connect the youth with their faith. For 10 weeks this summer in California, the 18 interns would connect through their two passions: faith and volleyball.

“The main goal of FCA was being able to show kids that you can incorporate faith into sports, whether it be volleyball or any other sport,” Pendleton said. The FCA internship program consisted of college volleyball players from Division 1 through Division III. The first month consisted of sand volleyball workouts and the second month was for indoor court work.

“There were different responsibilities within each intern group,” she said. “Connecting with professional athletes who are strong in Christian faith and also working to show kids the positives of practicing your Christian faith [were some].”

Pendleton and the other interns spent about five weeks running four camps in California, which concluded with a large camp on the east coast with about 350 high school girls in South Carolina.

“I look to be a positive leader on the team, but at the same time we are all increasing our roles and all becoming leaders,” Pendleton said. “Everyone on this team has shown leadership ability, and we seem to be flowing and coming together.”

Pendleton and the Knights start SUNYAC play this weekend with a tournament at SUNY Oswego.