slides: Holy Cross Basketball 2015-16 Season Preview

Friday, November 13, 2015

Joe Calabro, GoLocalWorcester Sports Team

Bill Carmody

The Holy Cross Crusaders men's basketball team is set to begin their 2015-16 campaign on the road against Marist tonight. The Crusaders went 14-16 overall last season and 8-10 in conference play and enter their first season under new head coach Bill Carmody.

A New Era

Bill Carmody comes to Holy Cross after servings as a special assistant / advisor to the head coach at Fairfield University. Prior to that, Carmody served as the head coach at Northwestern University, leading them to four straight winning seasons from 2008-2012.

Carmody takes over a Holy Cross team with plenty of players left over from the last coaching staff as well as new players.

"We've been practicing since Oct. 2nd, pretty intensely. I think we have a good mix of guys, guys who played last year as well as some younger guys," Carmody said. "I have a starting five, not quite sure how the rotation is going to go yet. Depending on the game we might go with three guards and two forwards or we might go with a bigger line up so that's something we will play with," he added.

Much of the Crusaders success this season is going to be based on how well and how fast the players are going to be able to pick up a Princeton type of offense.

"Its not as complicated as a lot of people would think. He comes from Princeton background so that means lots go passing, lots of cutting, lots of movement on the offensive end. Hopefully kids get used it and it works out because when it's working, it's a pretty thing to watch," said Holy Cross radio play-by-play man Dick Lutsk.

Guards

Cullen Hamilton

The Holy Cross back court will be led by junior Anthony Thompson and senior Cullen Hamilton

Thompson played in two games last season for Holy Cross, starting 14 of them, and averaged six points, two rebounds and two assists per game.

Cullen Hamilton started 14 of 30 games last season for Holy Cross and averaged 6.6 points and 2.4 rebounds per game. Hamilton shot 34% from three-point land.

One player to watch at the guard position is 6'2" freshman Matt Zignorski who comes over from New Jersey. Zignorski had ten points in the Crusaders exhibition game against Assumption on November 5th.

Forwards

The forward group is led by 6'7" junior Malachi Alexander who makes his return to the starting lineup after starting 17 of 30 games last season. Alexander averaged 8.4 points and five rebounds per game for the Crusaders.

After only playing in 22 games last season for Holy Cross, 6'11" junior center Matt Husek is expected to see a significant increase in minutes this season. Husek played limited minutes last season and averaged three points and one rebound per game.

One player to watch at the forward position is Karl Charles, a 6'6" freshman from New Jersey who a McDonalds All-American nominee. Charles averaged 15.6 points and 8.2 rebounds per game in high school and netted 28 points in the exhibition game against Assumption.

The Schedule

After the game against Maris, Holy Cross visits New England rival Brown University on Monday, November 16th before opening their home schedule on November 19th against New Hampshire.

The Crusaders kick off conference play on December 30th when they host Boston University at home and end the regular season against Boston University on the road on February 27th.

On expectations for the season, Carmody said "I would like to see us just improve. I would like to see the young guys get better and the older guys continue to get better. When individuals are getting better, that means the team is getting better."

The Crusaders finished sixth last season and were picked to finish eighth this season in the preseason polls.

When asked about his feeling on the team, Lutsk said "cautiously optimistic, hoping for best of course but there are lots of unknowns, a lot of question marks. But the coach comes in with credentials so we will see.'

Related Slideshow: Holy Cross 2015-16 Projected Starting Lineup

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G - Cullen Hamilton

Cullen Hamilton has averaged 8 points and 2 rebounds this season for the Crusaders.

Hamilton had 2 points against Army.

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G - Anthony Thompson

Anthony Thompson controlled the last game for Holy Cross, nearly posting a triple-double.

Thompson posted 12 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists and a steal in 36 minutes of action.

Thompson has average 7 points per game and 2 rebounds this season.

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F - Malachi Alexander

Malachi Alexander comes into the game averaging 11 points and 5 rebounds on the season for Holy Cross.

In the last game, Alexander had 13 points and 7 rebounds.

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F - Karl Charles

Karl Charles is a 6'6" freshman forward from New Jersey who has averaged 11 points and 4 rebounds per game this season for Holy Cross.

In the semi final game, Charles had 8 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds.

Photo courtesy of goholycross.com

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F Eric Green

Eric Green has averaged 4 points and 2 rebounds so far this season but missed a little more than half of it due to injury.

Green had 5 points against Army in the semi final game.

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6th man- Robert Champion

Robert Champion has been a spark plug off the bench for Holy Cros off the bench in this post season.

Champion had 15 points and 6 rebounds against Army and 10 points against Bucknell, including the game tying three with under a second to play in the game.

Expect Champion to be in the game early and often.