Patriot League report

SportsLine.com Report
June 11, 2000

Ralph Willard had his lineup healthy for one game all season -- and the Crusaders beat Providence in the season opener.

"Then the roof fell in and we lost four starters in 10 days," Willard said.

The end result was a 10-18 record and a first-round exit to Colgate in the league tournament. The Crusaders were just 3-9 in league play.

Junior swingmen Juan Pegues (eye injury) and Jared Curry (back), sophomore guard Ryan Serravalle (knee) and sophomore power forward Patrick Whearty (biceps, blood clot) combined to miss 71 games and 59 starts. Pegues and Serravalle came back to finish the season, but Whearty never did and Curry's health was sporadic.

That left Willard, the former Pittsburgh coach, to build the team around 7-1 center Josh Sankes, a junior transfer from Rutgers. No 7-footer in the country played more minutes (35 mpg) and he responded with 20 double-doubles and a league-leading 12 rebounds per game.

Freshmen played a big part for the Crusaders: 6-8 forward Tim Szatko was the league's rookie of the year and guard Brian Wilson joined him on the all-rookie team. Because of the injuries, Holy Cross had a shallow bench and even had to coax senior James Stowers out of retirement for nine games during Christmas break.

A glance at 2001

Willard admits it's difficult to plan for the upcoming season because the injuries to Whearty (26 points vs. Fordham), Curry and 6-9 Dekker McKeever (foot), who's played little in two seasons, are the kind that won't go away.

Whearty and McKeever are tying up scholarships, but Willard remains loyal to them.

"It makes it very difficult to plan and recruit. McKeever's had three operations on the same bone, and Jared Curry is a huge question mark."

But if Whearty can return and Serravalle's knee is fine, Holy Cross should make a quantum leap in the league standings.

"Our skill level still was not very good when I got here, and we still have a ways to go," Willard said. "We still need a couple of years to get the type of depth in the program we need to compete."

The Crusaders showed they could rebound against anyone and they're zone, with Sankes in the middle, could be suffocating. But basketball skills -- shooting and taking care of the ball -- often abandoned the Crusaders.

The coach

Ralph Willard has a proven track record of success and said he was impressed with the quality of skills in the Patriot League. Now he has to transfer those things to his team, which shot 41 percent from the field, 60 percent from the foul line and also had more than 150 turnovers than their opponents.

Willard won't wait next season for players to get healthy.

Who'll be back

Everyone returns for Holy Cross, led by 7-1 center Josh Sankes (14 ppg, 12 rpg) and rookie of the year Tim Szatko (11.5 ppg, 6 rpg). Ryan Serravalle (9 ppg) and Brian Wilson figure to start in the backcourt again, and the Crusaders will get a big boost if 6-9 Patrick Whearty (11 ppg) returns.

Willard will have a pleasant dilemma deciding on a starting lineup. He can go big with Whearty joining Szatko and Sankes or he can go quicker and smaller and use 6-6 Juan Pegues and 6-6 Jared Curry. If Whearty returns, then Sankes won't have to play a marathon 35 minutes a game. Developing reliable backcourt support will be crucial.

Who's gone

James Stowers was the only senior to play but he saw action in just nine games and left the team when the spring semester began. Curry (back), McKeever (foot) and Whearty (blood clot in biceps) will remain question marks as Holy Cross moves into its off-season conditioning program.