By Ryan Wolstat
The regular season hasn’t started yet, but the men’s basketball team is already picking up where it left off.
The Rams, who went winless campaign last year, are 0-6 in the pre-season and lost 74-67 to a talented group of former Rams in the annual Alumni Game last Wednesday.
Even though four out of their six pre-season losses came against teams ranked in the top ten in the country, many observers think the Rams will be in for another long season.
Duncan Prescott, who played for Ryerson from 1998-2002, says that after being one of the most successful basketball programs in Canada throughout the 1990s, it is only natural that Ryerson is struggling now.
“Every school and every team goes through those cycles,” he says. “After I left they went to the nationals, now they are just trying to reform and regenerate…it’s just a normal cycle.”
Scott Belasco, Ryerson’s athlete of the year on three occasions, agrees that the team will be fine.Belasco says that head coach Patrick Williams will steer the team back on course.
“This is Patrick’s first real year,” he says, alluding to the fact that Williams was not named coach in time to recruit players aggressively last season.
Bolstered by several new additions, as well as improved centre Igor Bakovic, the Rams should at least be competitive on most nights.
The regular season gets underway Nov. 5 in Kingston versus Queen’s University.
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