Potential exists for W&J to have good season
What Ethan Stewart-Smith sees when he glances at his team’s roster could make even the most experienced college basketball coach nervous or even reconsider their line of work.
Stewart-Smith, the seventh-year head coach of the Washington & Jefferson men’s team, has a roster dominated by inexperienced sophomores and the Presidents will be rebuilding this season without five of their top six scorers from last year’s abbreviated season. The Presidents graduated five seniors, including leading scorer and go-to player Cameron Seemann (18.3 ppg).
Stewart-Smith knows there will be some growing pains throughout the season, but he is looking forward to teaching and developing an inexperienced but enthusiastic and talented group of players. It’s a situation Stewart-Smith was in during his early days at W&J, when he had to rebuild the program from the ground up. The Presidents have increased their winning percentage in every season under Stewart-Smith.
“This team reminds me of the group that graduated last year. When those guys were sophomores is when they started to get an opportunity,” Stewart-Smith explained. “We have four veteran guys who have been through it and a heavy group of sophomores.”
Two of those veteran guys are forwards, 6-5 senior Okikiola Agbale and 6-9 senior Alexander Skowron, who will give the Presidents leadership and a strong presence in the low post.
“We’re fortunate to have two post players who have been through the challenges of a long season,” Stewart-Smith said. “They have a great understanding of what we’re trying to do and we’ll rely on them.”
The leading returning scorer is 6-3 junior guard Kyran Mitchell, who averaged 12.2 points per game and developed into one of the best and most consistent players in the conference. He is expected to take on a larger role this year after averaging 29 minutes per game a season ago.
“He’s our captain. He’s made incredible progress in his first two years. I believe he’s a top-five player in the league,” Stewart-Smith said.
The biggest question for W&J is where the scoring will come from after Mitchell? Some of that was answered Monday night when the Presidents won their season opener at Pitt-Greensburg, 88-79. Mitchell scored 19 points and that was matched by sophomore guard J.R. Mazza, who made four three-pointers. Sophomore Michael Bigley was right behind in the scoring column with 18 points on 7-for-10 shooting and sophomore Nick Gearhart came off the bench to contribute 10 points and a team-high six rebounds.
The Presidents started three sophomores, including Isaiah Langston, who had four points and five rebounds against UPG.
“We’re going to miss Cam’s ability to score 20 to 25 points a night, but I believe we can get 15 to 20 from our post play and the sophomore class is really talented,” Stewart-Smith said. “We have some size and I’m excited about the way the roster is built. This might be the most versatile group I’ve had.”
W&J’s young players will not have much time for practice early in the season. The Presidents will play their second game tonight at Kenyon and will play five games in the season’s first two weeks. W&J played only 10 games last season, finishing with a 7-3 record.
“After last year, we’ll play five days in a row if we have to,” Stewart-Smith said. “Playing five games in two weeks will give us a good gauge of where we’re at and what changes we need to make.”
In the Presidents’ Athletic Conference preseason poll, W&J was picked to finish fifth in the 10-team league.
“It’s a super-competitive league. We all know each other so well,” Stewart-Smith said. “I’m going to lean on my experience. I love coaching young guys. They’re always eager to learn and open to coaching. I’m excited for this group.”