Toreros on the road to redemption
A preview of the upcoming 2020-2021 men’s basketball season
Maria Watters / Asst. Sports Editor
Little went right for the University of San Diego’s men’s basketball team last season. Coming off of a highly productive 20-15 season the year before, last year’s Toreros were hungry for even greater success. But any postseason aspirations were dashed by a mere 9-23 overall record with only two of those nine wins against conference opponents. The first round defeat at the hands of the 11-20 Loyola Marymount University in the West Coast Conference Basketball Tournament was the final nail in the proverbial coffin of the 2019-2020 Torero men’s basketball season.
For a team with such momentum and potential to yield such disappointing results left many wondering what went wrong. Head coach Sam Scholl and his coaching staff identified a results-oriented mindset as the major downfall of last year’s team.
“We talked too much about results,” Scholl said. “We talked about, at the beginning of the year, us taking our step and the trajectory in the history of the program. But we didn’t talk a lot about how that was going to happen and the process of it all … We set goals of another twenty-win season, being a postseason team again, and focus a lot on the results and not so much on the process.”
Tactically, returning redshirt junior Joey Calcaterra pointed out an offensive strategy that was outdated.
“We had a system on our offensive side that just wasn’t meant for the players that we had on our team,” Calcaterra said. “We had a lot of new guys come in last year and it was an offense that had been here for three years before last year. So it wasn’t the right fit for these guys. But coach Scholl and the coaching staff did a great job this off season figuring out a new offense that will fit our guys better and lead us to be more successful.”
But while the legacy of last season casts a long shadow over the future of USD men’s basketball, a new chapter is set to begin at the end of December. The opening of the 2020-2021 season presents a challenging road to redemption for USD. According to coach Scholl, the Toreros are set to play nine non-conference opponents on top of 16 WCC match ups. Having finished 2-14 in conference play last year, USD will have a tough time battling to prove people wrong, having been picked to finish ninth out of ten teams in the preseason WCC coaches poll.
On top of the highly competitive schedule that includes collegiate basketball giants like No. 1 Gonzaga, the Toreros will be battling another, even more dominant opponent: COVID-19.
“We tell the team this every day, that we have two competitions on our schedule: we have the teams that we are supposed to play and COVID,” Scholl said. “And in our competition against COVID, we are the underdog every single day. Every day. And we are trying to beat the favorite. And because COVID is overwhelmingly favored in this season that we’re going to be grateful for every opportunity that we get to be on the floor practicing together, and every opportunity that we get to play somebody else.”
With the unique challenge of the upcoming season before them, the Toreros set out to get competition ready. Their preparations began with the implementation of a new mindset that Scholl is confident will lead to a more successful season.
“We’ve learned a lot from that, I’ve learned a ton from the past year and we’ve got a completely different approach going into this season,” Scholl said. “We’ll have goals. We’ll have tangible goals set but we’re going to be focused on the intangible goals of each day that we need to master, that if we are able to master we’ll be able to achieve those results … I just hope that we, every single day, are the best versions of ourselves in all ways, as people, as students, and as players. And that this team is the best version of themselves on a daily basis. If we are able to accomplish that consistently … we are going to be very, very happy with the results.”
But a championship mindset without dedicated and talented players to back it up isn’t a recipe for victory. Lucky for the Toreros, the personnel on this generation of the men’s basketball team have both of these qualities in spades.
“The returners have a different air about them,” coach Scholl said. “This team has a completely different spirit about them. A spirit of connection. A spirit of wanting to play for their teammates’ success and to see joy on their teammate’s face.”
Another key element to the team’s future success will be the experienced core of seniors and upperclassmen leading the charge. Returning players like redshirt sophomore Marion Humphrey, redshirt junior Joey Calcaterra, and senior Yauhen Massalski have been essential in creating the new team-oriented mindset to USD men’s basketball.
“We also have a lot of depth this year on our bench,” Calcaterra said. “A lot of transfers that came in who are looking good right now and are ready to contribute, as well as a couple of returners that are coming back from last year. We worked really hard this off season to get better and we are looking forward to having a great season and racking up the wins.”
One of these promising newcomers is the 6’7’’ sophomore forward Yavuz Gultekin who transferred from Texas A&M. Gultekin and the rest of the new personnel have brought with them a new drive and understanding of what it takes to win.
However, despite the strategic, mental, and personnel changes the team has made in preparation for the upcoming season, there are still those that doubt the capabilities of this USD men’s basketball team.
“We didn’t do our part in proving the doubters wrong,” Calcaterra said. “But they aren’t in the gym with us, they aren’t watching us work and watching us practice, so they don’t really know what we’ve been doing and how much we’ve improved since last year, so we are just eager to go out and show it.”
Ultimately, how the 2020-2021 season will fare for USD is unknown, and with the shroud of a global pandemic constantly looming, what the next couple of months of basketball will look like is up in the air. But coach Scholl and the Toreros are confident their team will return to courts better than ever.
“This group is ready to be the best version of themselves,” Scholl said. “(This team) is ready to build together as a group and accomplish some great results because of that process … We are going to define who we are by our play and by how we compete.”
Torero fans will get to see just how well their men’s basketball team competes with the tip off of the 2020-2021 season as USD travels to face the University of San Francisco on Dec. 31.