When looking at a team and trying to determine how well they will do it is important to look at how they’ve done in the past. Last year the Hamline Men’s Basketball team made it to the MIAC playoffs. This sets them up with high expectations this year as their entire starting lineup from last year is returning to the court. Having such a strong core to the team has helped Head Coach Jim Hayes.

“It’s an ideal situation,” Hayes said. With six seniors there is a serious presence of veteran leadership.

Yet having these veterans isn’t being used as an excuse to slow practice.

“We’re laying a foundation for the season,” Hayes said. With practices six days a week the team is working hard to get ready for the season, Hayes said they’d be working hard on everything from “building a consistent defence” to “fine tuning” their offence.”  And the team is excited for the season as well.

First-year Erik Belgum said, “I, like my teammates, are really excited for the upcoming season. It’ll be a great time gaining experience.” When talking about his hopes for the season Belgum said, “I think our ultimate goal is to make a deep playoff run this year.”

All this practice is for good reason as the team looks to be facing an extremely competitive schedule.

“We play in one of the toughest Division 3 leagues, and our non-conference schedule is the most competitive we have had in my time here,” Hayes said about the upcoming season. When asked about what we might see from the team this year he said, “You’ll see a team that likes to play a tempo, and values every possession.

The first game of the season is a home game on Nov. 15 against northwestern.