BY ROBERT ELKIN | New York University’s basketball team, the Violets, dates back to the early 1900s. The team eventually went into Division I of the NCAA, but then dropped down to Division III in 1983, where they are now competing.
However, over their tremendous years when they made headlines in New York, they turned out some great players. One who is still very much involved is Cal Ramsey, who is an assistant coach at N.Y.U. and who is also a director of special events and community relations representative with the New York Knicks.
Competing in Division III, the Violets have to recruit high school players who may not be future all-Americans, and whose dream is not to play in the NBA. Yet, some of the players do make names for themselves in Division III.
Last winter, led by double-figure scorers in Evan Kupferberg, Ryan Tana and Costis Gontikas, the rebounding of Kupferberg, and guard play of Max Ralby, the Violets won only one of six games toward the end of the season and wound up with a 16-10 overall record, including 6-8 in the University Athletic Association.
Kupferberg, a first-team All-League selection last year, and Gontikas, head the returnees to a very promising team, coached by Joe Nesci, in his 27th season at N.Y.U.
A good portion of the team is back. The Violets have a good mix of a lot of 10 juniors and seniors and some talented freshmen.
The way they played the first game of their tipoff four-team tournament at home against John Jay College, showed that they could be very successful both in the league and over all this season.
N.Y.U.’s Joe Timmes’s 15 points led a well-balanced scoring attack, and Alec Papesch’s 11 rebounds paced the way to an easy 80-51 decision in a semifinal game on Saturday. Nesci tried to evaluate all of his players, and so gave them playing time in their season opener.
However, in Sunday’s final game, the Violets blew a 56-46 lead with about eight minutes left. They lost to Union of Upstate New York, 64-62, despite Kupferberg’s 22 points and 12 rebounds, including nine off the defensive boards.
They Violets can’t continue to turn the ball over so many times if they want to win. Ross Udine and Timmes committed five and six turnovers each, respectively.
“Udine, a pure point guard, sees the whole court, and is tight with the ball,” Nesci said. “And he’s a defender, too. He can also hit the open shots.”
Union’s William Hython broke a 62-62 tie with a field goal as time was running out.
“We have four players who could really put the ball in the basket in Gontikas, Kupferberg, Kevin Kabore and Alec Pasech,” said Timmes, who plays the wing position.
The N.Y.U. players felt optimistic after how they competed in the tourney’s first game and in the first half of the final game. But the season is still long and time will tell.
Depth is still a definite strength for this team. Other strong points include their ability to keep the ball down low, getting the ball to the post players, their height advantage down low, rebounding, half-court defense and inside play.
However, the defense must step up and they have to protect the ball better, as seen in the championship game, when the Violets were called for 21 turnovers, including 13 steals.
“We have to work on consistency, playing at a high level,” said Nesci. “And we are capable of playing at a high level.”
Competing in a very tough conference, N.Y.U. is picked to finish in second place in a preseason poll.
“Before we get into playing in our league,” Nesci said, “we have to get better and better, so that when the time comes to play good teams we’re prepared.”
