by Dillon Meehan
It has been a rough stretch over the past five years for Central Connecticut’s Mens Basketball team. The team has a combined record of 42-85 dating back to 2011, and the last time the team finished with a winning record was back during the 2010 season.
This season has not been kind to the Blue Devils either, three weeks into the season the Blue Devils are currently 0-7, having lost four of their games this season by 16 points or more. In the three single digit losses, the Blue Devils have somehow found a way to consistently make mental mistakes. Whether it was poor foul shooting, increased turnovers or getting into foul trouble, there was always a mental error that was the main cause for the loss.
After a handful of years finishing just under the .500 [50 percent winning percentage] mark for the season, last year was brutal for Blue Devil fans. Preseason injuries and off the field issues left the team without much depth, and forced the Blue Devils and Head Coach Howie Dickenmann to rely heavily on his starters. Which would often lead to players being extremely fatigued in the closing minutes of each game, leading to missed free throws or shots falling just short. This ultimately led to the Blue Devils losing the majority of their close games.
Despite seeing this situation play out for almost 30 games last season, it appears as though history is repeating itself once again for the Blue Devils. Despite having signed five freshmen over the offseason and have three starters returning, managing minutes continues to be a major issue.
In the opener against Hartford in the Connecticut 6 Classic, junior guard Khalen Cumberlander played 49 out of 50 minutes, and every minute of the second half and overtime. Despite coming back from a season full of minor nagging issues, Dickenmann decided to run his best player into the ground on the very first night. Six games later, not much has changed. Apart from last week’s blowout loss against Fordham, where Cumberlander only played 27 minutes, he has played 35 minutes or more in four of the past five outings.
It goes without saying that coaches need to rely on their best players in order to win games, but players need rest in order to consistently play at a high level. The depth is there, players such as Kevin Seymour, Jahlil Nails, Austin Nehls and J.J. Cratit are all worthy of earning play-time, eventually lineup changes have to be made.
With the Blue Devils having such depth at the guard position, it’s puzzling to see Dickenmann refuse to rest arguably his best player. While it might not yet be a problem, the wear and tear of playing a significant amount of time in November and December, can have major repercussions during conference play in January and February.
With only a handful of games left before conference play starts in January, Dickenmann needs to find out how to balance his players time on the field and trust his younger players to carry the load.