The Kenyon College men’s basketball team enters the 2021-22 season with a lot of uncertainty, largely due to the pandemic and the cancellation of last season.
The good news for the Lords, however, is that they’ll head into the new campaign with a hefty roster of 23 players.
Thirteen of those 23 players are underclassmen who have not yet had the opportunity to play a collegiate basketball game, so the leadership and experience from the team’s 10 upperclassmen will be vital. Coach Dan Priest, now in his 12th season at Kenyon, will again be at the helm, with a focus on sorting out the large roster and putting players in the best position to succeed.
Priest and the Lords are coming off a 2019-20 season in which they posted a 6-19 overall record and a 3-15 record within North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) play. While those marks didn’t meet expectations, they were a four-game improvement over the previous season.
Five key players from that 2019-20 squad are no longer with the program. That group included the team’s top four leading scorers and four of the team’s top five leading rebounders. Those voids leave things wide open and create plenty of healthy position battles for the season ahead.
Some returning players and probable candidates to take lead positions are a trio of juniors in Kamal Aubakirov, Kase Cronin and Sam Walch. Those three are the only returning players who started a dozen or more games in the 2019-20 season.
Aubakirov is a shooting guard who pumped in a team-high 43 three-pointers and shot 37.4 percent from long distance two years ago. Cronin, at 6-6, and Walch, at 6-7, bring size to the front court. As first-years in 2019-20, Cronin recorded averages of 4.4 points and 3.9 rebounds per game, while Walch added 3.2 points and 1.5 rebounds.
Other veteran players who could provide a spark include senior guard Christian Watanabe, senior center Konrad Christian and junior swingman Nick Lewis. Watanabe has played in 50 collegiate games and, over that span, has 231 points, 82 rebounds and 71 assists to his credit. Christian, at 6-8, brings more height and, with 38 career games under his belt, more experience to the roster. Lewis will bring versatility, as well as averages of 4.1 points and 2.2 rebounds per contest.
The group of upperclassmen is rounded out by senior Elijah Friedman and juniors Alex Boyd, Dylan Osimetha and Nate Duggins. They, along with the sizable crowd of underclassmen, will challenge for available spots and bring what could be a new look and style for the program as it goes through this unique transition period.
The Lords start the season with a few scrimmages and will officially open the season at home on Wednesday, Nov. 10, against Washington and Jefferson College. There are just six nonconference games on the slate, making way for the Lords' first NCAC contest at DePauw University on Sunday, Nov. 21.
