The practice season could not have started much worse for the NECC men’s basketball team, returning after an injury last year’s star player Cordaro Pinder broke his leg after going up to dunk. He went in for surgery Friday and will probably be gone for the rest of the season for rehabilitation.
When asked about the incident Pinder said he did not feel that the leg was off but he could see that it was. His goal is to rest for 6 weeks as doctors recommend, start rehabilitation, and if everything goes well be back with the team after Christmas. The possibility for something like that to happen is fairly small, he will most certainly be red shirted and come back for the 2012- 13 season.
Coach Blaylock, assistant coach for the men, is still optimistic for the season and says that the guys are playing really good together and that they are overall a very athletic team. On the question if the loss of Pinder will change the game plan he says that it will put more pressure on the guards but that most of them never had a chance to see how good Pinder really are which can only be for the best according to him.
One of the freshmen’s joining the team this year, Raphael Stringer, did not see any of last year teams game before signing. Even though they will not have Pinder this year he is still confident that they can be as good, if not better, than the team was last year. “As long as we practice hard and play together,” Stringer said.
Returners for the Hawks are Sean McGary, Jaquard Hagan, Eric Tucker, Jarvis Green-Smooth, Cordaro Pinder, Cameron Adderley, and Spencer Lewis. Due to the loss of Pinder, Eric Tucker a 6’10 center out of Omaha, NE, will have to fill in the space after Pinder. As coach Blaylock said earlier, the guards will also carry a bigger load than expected. Coach Blaylock
estimated that the team this year is about six inches shorter than the team last year.
Last year the NECC Hawks, ranked 25 in the region, entered the Region 9 playoff as one of the big favorites. They lost the first game, and were immediately eliminated from the tournament; which they also were the host of.