Osborne Hopes for a Strong Season

After ending last season at 5-20, head men’s basketball coach Michael Osborne is excited about this year’s squad, which boasts a mixture of new and returning faces.

“Expectations are to play harder than last year and to improve day to day,” Osborne said. “Wins and losses are hard to gauge and obviously I want to win more basketball games.”

This year’s team has a lot of players returning from last year’s squad, including three of the five starters. Osborne is looking forward to the return of his point guard from two seasons ago, who went down with an injury four games into the season.

“I have six new kids in as well and two transfers and one junior, so there are nine new kids on the team,” Osborne said. “Charlie Viana and Bob Shedd are two of the more productive kids in the conference from last season returning, so we kind of have a one-two punch with them. We are going need a lot of contribution from our new kids. We are bigger, deeper, and I think we are a little more skilled than last year.”

Osborne noted that it takes time for a coach to get his philosophy established, and he hopes with it being his third year coaching that his players have come to understand his methods. “There are only two kids on the team right now that I did not recruit pretty much, so it helps out having kids who know your coaching style,” he said.

For veteran Charlie Viana, the prospects based on the current roster are looking distinctly rosy, especially after last year’s rough season. “Out of the four years I have been a part of the team, I would say this is the best team that I have been on,” he said.

The team has only eight home games this season and only one in the first semester ? mostly because the team is playing in three tournaments. The Badgers will have some time to work on their team chemistry before the bulk of the season starts when they enter conference play next semester.

“We continue the season after the winter break with the Vermont State Colleges tournament at VTC, and that should be fun,” said Osborne. “Our goal is to definitely make the playoffs; we have not made the playoffs since the 2004-2005 season.”

The Badgers are currently 2-3 after their third-place finish at the Ed Hockenberry Classic, which was held at Norwich University, on Dec. 1 and 2. The Badgers defeated rival Lyndon State 76-47 in the consolation game after suffering an 83-68 defeat at the hands of the Norwich University Cadets the night before.

Senior point guard Chris Lamica (who was named to the all-tourney team) scored a game high of 19 points and hauled down four rebounds, with junior Michael Bosch pouring in a career high 18 points and ripping down four boards.

For the fourth straight year, the Badgers opened up their season in Nashua N.H., to compete in the Rivier College Tip-Off Tournament, on Nov. 16 and 17. The Badger’s first test of the season was against a big powerful Colby-Sawyer squad. The game was close throughout, but the Chargers held off the Badgers to the 86-74 victory.

The consolation game saw the men up against the reigning GNAC (Great Northeast Atlantic Conference) champs, Rivier College. The Badgers came out of the gates from the opening tip and never looked back en route to their 86-76 victory.

Leading the way for the Badgers was senior Charlie Viana, who had a game high 31 points to go along with nine rebounds.

Lamica added 17 points and handed out nine assists, with junior Bob Shedd adding 13 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Viana was named to the all-tourney team.