Edosomwan OK with new role
Harvard big man ultimate team player
Harvard coach Tommy Amaker can be brutally honest when it comes to assessing his team, and this time, he wasn’t afraid to let it be known he wasn’t pleased with one of his star big men.
Zena Edosomwan was off to a less-than-stellar start to his senior year, and his coach had taken notice. It came to a head in the Crimson’s home loss to Holy Cross on Nov. 22. Edosomwan didn’t start, and he played just seven minutes.
“He hasn’t performed well this season,” Amaker said after the game. “We need more from him. We need more from everyone, but he has not been a factor for us this year.”
Those were tough words, but necessary ones. And the coach’s public challenge illustrated something of a changing of the guard: This year’s Harvard’s team was going to be much different, and Edosomwan’s changing role is representative of that.
To his credit, Edosomwan has got over his early-season struggles and become a factor. It’s just not in the same way it was a season ago, as a star-studded freshman class and a deeper roster than ever has affected his minutes, but the senior is more than OK with that.
“At the end of the day, I’m about winning,” Edosomwan said. “We’ve had a winning culture here. In order to win you have to sacrifice and buy in.”
Edosomwan struggled last season with gaining personal accolades while Harvard did not live up to that winning culture. He put up big numbers, was named to the Ivy League’s second team, but the Crimson missed the NCAA tournament for the first time in five years.
So it’s no surprise that Edosomwan is embracing his new role for the sake of wins. He’s still Harvard’s best rebounder (6.6 boards per game) and one of its best shot-blocking presences, but he’s doing it primarily off the bench. Edosomwan has never been about himself, and his sacrifices have helped push the Crimson (12-7, 4-2 Ivy) back into the thick of the Ivy League title picture this season.
“It hasn’t been the easiest, but I’m very comfortable with who I am as a player and whatever coach feels I need to do, I just try and do,” Edosomwan said. “I’ve just learned to accept and embrace that.
“It’s not perfect, but in life are you going to sit there and whine or are you going to keep going? So that’s just been my mentality, is just to keep moving.”
It took some time, but it seems that Edosomwan is fully embracing and understanding his new role.
“I think he’s doing a great job being who he is, and whether he’s starting or coming off the bench, and having a defensive rebounding presence for us and a shot-blocking presence for us,” Amaker said. “I think he’s really embraced that very well for our team. I think he’s doing a terrific job in that regard.”
Gallo learns from legend
Joe Gallo wasn’t expecting longtime Merrimack coach Bert Hammel — who he played and coached for — to suddenly resign last spring, so it took some time for it to process.
But after a few days, Gallo realized becoming the head coach at his alma mater was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. He reached out to the school to see if there was interest, and there certainly was. Soon after, Gallo — who played for the Warriors from 2000-04 before becoming an assistant (2005-09) — was back home to lead the program.
So far, things have been going rather smoothly. Merrimack is 17-6 and second in the Northeast-10 Conference, but Gallo doesn’t see it as much of a surprise. After playing and coaching under Hammel, who led the program for 36 seasons, he said his coaching style is tailored a lot from the longtime coach, and that’s helped ease the transition.
“The more we played and the more I was around these guys every day, there really wasn’t a lot of surprises after that,” Gallo said. “As soon as we got in the gym and started working, you could see there was enough talent there to win some games.”
Sophomore Ryan Boulter leads the team, averaging 17.9 points per game.
Hits keep coming for NU
Northeastern star point guard T.J. Williams missed Saturday’s loss to James Madison with an undisclosed injury, but he’s expected to return for Thursday’s game at Charleston.
The Huskies can’t afford to lose Williams for an extended time. Only seven players played Saturday, and they’ve lost six of their last seven games to drop to sixth in the CAA standings. Williams leads the league with 21.3 points per game. . . .
Bentley coach Barbara Stevens hit two milestones in her team’s 73-59 victory against Assumption on Saturday. It was her 1,000th game with Bentley, and the Falcons (19-4, 15-1 Northeast-10) clinched at least a share of the Northeast Division title.