BY ROBERT ELKIN | Chalk this one up as part of the learning curve for the new Narwhal Nation.
The New School men’s basketball team got blown out, 99-54, by Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology on Mon., Feb. 9.
As the basketball game progressed at the Elmcor Recreation Center in East Elmhurst, Queens, the point margin just kept on widening and widening.
Vaughn College is a member of the NCAA Division III and is heading into a post-season Hudson Valley tournament, whose winner has a chance of going into the Division III tournament. The New School, on the other hand, plays an independent schedule during the basketball season, with no NCAA tournament at stake, and ends its schedule with a four-team local tourney at Baruch College this weekend.
“We went up against a really good team in Vaughn,” said Dave Privat-Gilman, The New School’s coach, after the 45-point shellacking.
Along with playing outstanding defense and offense, the Warriors pressed most of the time. The New School hoopsters didn’t have a chance of keeping it even reasonably close.
Vaughn was admittedly the toughest game on the Narwhals’ schedule, with the loss dropping them to 6-4.
“We have a good record and played against some good teams this season,” Privat-Gilman said.
Jesse Futterman, a 6-foot-2 forward for the Narwhals, was upbeat despite the drubbing.
“On the positive side this winter, there has been a certain cohesion from our game plan to our execution,” he said. “Early in the season, we looked disjointed and our game plan didn’t live up to our execution throughout the games. But slowly, as our games went on, the ‘X’s and ‘O’s and the playing have come together.”
Futterman is one of two freshmen on the team, the other being 6-foot-1 forward Benjamin Irving. Futterman and the rest of his teammates don’t have a regulation-size gym at The New School for their practices and games.
“It’s a grind,” Futterman said, speaking after the trouncing by Vaughn. “Sometimes we have to practice in undesirable and strange places.
“Still, we have a close group who will practice even outside if we have to. But for my progress, this was my best game, even though it came in a loss.”
Another Narwhal, Max Resetar, also has a positive attitude about the team’s progress.
“I see a lot of play, pride and heart in being a member of the team,” said the junior guard. “And I think that’s the best way to play basketball. It’s fun to play with a group that cares.”
Of course, The New School has always been known more for its leftist academics than athletics. In fact, it never really has been known for sports at all.
Resetar, a journalism major, who writes for The New School Free Press, said, “It’s interesting to play for this type of team at The New School. All the coaches and players are committed to play here — but the school and administration isn’t quite as committed as we want to be.”
