The Lincoln Log

Basketball season has rolled around again, and no one knows quite what to expect from the Lincoln Mustangs. With a new head coach and last year’s best players gone, this year’s squad is surrounded by question marks. They are young, small, inexperienced… did I mention that they’re young?

When the regular season begins on January 7, against Mission, the Mustangs will have quite a different look than the team that lost to Lowell in last season’s championship game. Long-time head coach Carl Jacobs stepped down from his position at Lincoln to coach at International High School; last year ’s leading scorer, Marques Benjamin, has graduated; junior point guard Sam Allen transferred to International early in the school year to play for Jacobs.

What’s left is a team with only two returning varsity players, and just two seniors. But the team tries to look at their youth with a glass-halffull attitude.

“It’s good in a way, we have a more promising future,” junior guard and cocaptain David Roby said.

“It’s alright because we got juniors that step up, being leaders,” junior forward C.J. Hoper said.

At the same time, the team lacks experience and veteran leadership, attributes commonly associated with winning teams. Also missing are a clear goto-guy, a proven leader at point guard, and a defensive presence in the middle. But what they lack in size, Hoper says, they make up for in intelligence.

“I think we’re a smarter team. Not taller, but smarter.”

Expectations for the team are wide-ranging. Hoper says the goal is to win the AAA crown and advance past the first round of the NorCal playoffs. But can these Mustangs

be better than the team that fell short in last year’s title match? New head coach Dezebee Miles says simply, “No.”

Yet, there is reason for optimism on the ‘04-’05 team. Co-captains senior James Chiu and juniors Roby and Jason Lee provide leadership in practice and come game time. And with only two seniors, the team should return nearly intact next season, with more skill, more leadership, and more experience. The Mustangs will have their work cut out for them competing with the likes of Washington and Lowell, but they have a clear foundation set for the near future. And while uncertainty and speculation swirl around the here and now of the program, Roby’s expectations for this year are two simple words: “to win.”