As the weather grows colder and the fall season comes to a close, it’s time for basketball to make its comeback.
This year, men’s and women’s basketball both came into the 2024-2025 season with SUNYAC championship wins under their belts and recent experience in their respective NCAA Division III Tournaments. The triumphs of last year and the motivation to try and do it all over again has carried the momentum heading into this new season.
Last year’s SUNYAC win was coupled with SUNY New Paltz’s mens basketball’s nomination to the NCAA Division III tournament, the first nomination in 96 years. In their 2023-2024 campaign, they fell in the first round to John Carroll 81-85, but for Head Coach Keith Kenney, the team did not see it as a major setback. “It was a great experience. I think it just proved to them that they can play with anyone in the country,” he said.
Moving into the new season, the team saw the loss of six veteran players, but additionally welcomed five new players: graduate student forward Luke Van Slyke, third-year wing LaMar Matthews, first-year wing Isaiah Rivera, first-year guard Trevor Amalfitano and first-year guard Amir Hughes. The team welcomed back graduate student guard Sean St. Lucia, fourth-year guard A.J. Knight, fourth-year wing Dakoda Smith, fourth-year guard Alex Krupinski, graduate student wing Ethan St. Lucia, second-year wing Oumar Sy, third-year guard Thomas Keane, graduate student wing Lucas Seyoum and fourth-year forward Mitchell Cumings. With this many new players in these positions, the coaches now have the job of training the recruits to the same caliber as the rest of the team.
“I think we have our core principles on offense and defense, but part of our job is to see which returners can play a bigger role and which newcomers can plug some holes from people that have gone — that’s still a work in progress,” said Kenney.
The Hawks had their opening game against John Jay College on Nov. 13, winning 80-76, though it was a close game. “Coming off last year, it’s easy to think you can just pick up where you left off. But that’s not how it works. Our first game reminded us of that. It wasn’t pretty, and we know we can play a lot better than that, especially on the defensive end. But it was also a good opportunity for us to reflect, adjust, and get better,” said Assistant Head Coach Mike Jagacki.
While every team’s goal is to win the championship, it’s not a part of the daily discussions between players and coaches. For Kenney, getting better every day is a big goal, but in addition to that, he emphasized taking each game one at a time. “We’re trying to win that day. We’re trying to make sure we win that game, and not necessarily worry about five games in a row or a playoffs out of two months or three months in advance.”
Jagacki also emphasized that point, saying “It’s about staying in the moment—maximizing every practice, every game, every opportunity to get better. If we stay true to that process, we’ll always put ourselves in a position to compete.”
The team will be playing again on Nov. 22 and 23 against Vassar College and Bard College in the Hudson Valley Tournament.
With a seventh SUNYAC title and a bid in the NCAA Division III tournament, the SUNY New Paltz women’s basketball team made headway last season. Their bid in the national tournament ended in a 42-65 loss against Baldwin Wallace, but for Head Coach Jamie Seward, the loss was not a reflection on the team’s skills. “We had an excellent season, but we still didn’t quite achieve what we had set out to … but last season with only 10 players on the roster, to not only make it through the season, but to do it the way we did it, to really kind of dominate start to finish, it was a credit to the toughness of those 10 kids,” he said.
Now, coming into the new season, though they had to say goodbye to four veteran players, the team welcomed one new transfer player, third-year forward Karly Wittenbauer, and seven new first-year players: point guard Sophia Bonnell, guard Sierra Carter, forward Grace Cozzens, guard/forward Kamryn Hoyt, guard/forward Grace Koehler, guard Caitlin Mullen and guard Olivia Ventre, with 14 total players on the roster. They also welcomed back graduate student guard Julia Sabatino, second-year guard/forward Hannah Vanderzee, fourth-year guard Morgan Hammell, graduate student guard/forward Madison Mullman and graduate student forward Abby Korzekwinski. Graduate student and guard/forward Brianna Fitzgerald, two-time All-American recipient, intended to return but is now out for the season due to an injury.
On Nov. 9, the team fell in their opening game to St. Joseph’s University 65-66, followed by a game against Vassar on Nov. 12, falling 52-77. The losses, while disappointing, served as a learning experience for the team.
“That’s just what we’re trying to help the freshmen to understand. There’s a really high standard around here, and there’s a really big target on our backs … there are people that have literally never beaten us, so when they get a chance, and they see that we’re a little bit weak, they’re gonna come after us,” said Seward. “I think our young players have really seen that early, and they’ve taken some hits. But we’re hoping that they’re resilient, that it makes us better, makes them better, and makes us better in the long run,” said Seward.
Similarly to the men’s team, with so many new recruits, both the coaches and the veteran players have been training the recruits to the same level as the rest of the team. Each game is another learning process and an opportunity to reflect and improve, as Seward said, slowly returning back to their roots as a high-caliber team.
“That’s why we’re trying to get back to our roots, because we have a lot of young players who don’t really know what that means. I think they’re starting to understand it, and that’s always exciting, because eventually that lightbulb is going to come on,” he said.
The Hawks will be heading to Ithaca College on Nov. 23 for their next scheduled game.