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By Tim Bennett, Yale University
The stage for the 2005-06 Yale men’s basketball season may have been set during last season’s Dartmouth and Harvard weekend. Seniors Edwin Draughan and Alex Gamboa, who comprised Yale’s starting backcourt since the day they arrived together in New Haven in the fall of 2001, struggled from the field in the two games, combining to make just 10 of 29 shots.
Nevertheless, Yale came away with an important Ivy League sweep. How did it happen? The Bulldogs got significant contributions from their younger players. Against Dartmouth, Sam Kaplan made all five of his shots from the field and scored 11 points. Caleb Holmes also scored 11 points, and his twin brother Nick Holmes chipped in six points and three rebounds in only 16 minutes.
Against Harvard, Eric Flato had 13 points and five rebounds off the bench and Dominick Martin added 12 points and nine rebounds.
Draughan and Gamboa, who combined to start more than 200 games together and helped lead the Bulldogs to a share of the Ivy League title in 2001-02, have graduated. Fortunately, there is plenty of talent remaining in New Haven.
The Bulldogs, who finished last year 11-16 overall and tied for third place with a 7-7 Ivy League mark, will be seeking their sixth straight season at .500 or better in Ivy play, which is something Yale has never done since the official beginning of Ivy play in 1956-57.
The 2005-06 Bulldogs will be young – there are only two seniors on the roster – but six players who averaged at least 12 minutes last year return and head coach James Jones will welcome a talented freshmen class.
Replacing Draughan and Gamboa will be a key to Yale’s success. Flato, a sophomore, showed tremendous potential during his rookie season. He was third on the team in assists (45) and fourth in 3-pointers (20). In addition, he was twice named Ivy League Rookie of the Week, including after his performance in the Harvard victory. Flato was
Yale's top free-throw shooter (.818) and also received the Sixth Man Award at the Cable Car Classic.
Twins Nick and Caleb Holmes also made an immediate impact last winter, and Caleb was named Yale's top freshman. He started the final 10 games of the season, and in 14 league games he averaged 7.0 points and 3.2 rebounds. Caleb’s 24 3-pointers were second on the team, and he was fourth in steals with 20. He was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week after scoring 15 points against Columbia and 11 the next night at Cornell.
Nick, who was bothered by an injury early in the season, emerged as steady contributor off the bench and will complement senior Josh Greenberg. The team captain, Greenberg is one of the Bulldogs’ hardest workers and provides quality depth at point guard. He appeared in a career-high 10 games last year.
Four freshmen will try to earn playing time in the backcourt. Ed White, who can play either point or shooting guard, led the Harvard-Westlake School of Los Angeles to four straight Southern Sectional championships; Chris Andrews, a point guard, was a second team all-state selection out of New Jersey’s Seton Hall Prep, one of the top high school programs in the country; and Travis Pinick, a left-hander, was the league MVP and a second team all-county selection as a senior at Lutheran High in Orange, Calif., where he averaged 16 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
Martin, who earned honorable mention All-Ivy recognition last year, has one semester of eligibility remaining (he will sit out the first semester of the 2005-06 season). He finished second in the League in field-goal percentage (.533), third in rebounding (7.8 per game.) and blocked shots (1.07 per game), and eighth in scoring (12.3). Martin had a team-high five double-doubles, including a 22-point, 14-rebound performance against Boston College.
Junior swingman Casey Hughes was sixth in the league in rebounding (6.2 per game), which was an improvement of more than four rebounds per game from his  freshman year. Against No. 1 Wake Forest, Hughes scored a career-high 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in only 21 minutes. It was the first of his three double-doubles.
Kaplan is a strong low-post player. He started a career-high 26 games last winter, was fourth on the team in scoring (8.2 points per game) and rebounding (3.8 rebounds) and reached double figures in scoring nine times.
Martin’s absence during the first semester should benefit sophomore Matt Kyle, who showed potential in a limited role last year when he appeared in 12 games off the bench. Junior Jason Abromaitis, who appeared in a career-high nine games last year, has shown a nice shooting touch.
A pair of freshmen hope to contribute in the frontcourt. Ross Morin was a first team all-conference performer at Ohio’s Princeton High, where he is the school’s all-time leading scorer. He also was named the co-Most Valuable Player of the Ohio-Kentucky All-Star game after scoring 15 points and grabbing 13 rebounds.
Reid Wittman averaged 14 points and 12 rebounds at the Trinity-Pawling School in New York City and was a two-time all-league selection.
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