Coach: Lew Andreas

Lew Andreas lost his Reindeer Five, and had only one return starter, senior captain and center Slim Elliott. The freshman class from the previous season had gone undefeated, so there was hope that some of those players would earn starting positions and they did.

The team lacked the speed of the previous seasons, but made up for it with a tough style of play. Sophomore Ronnie Phillips would score 14 points in the first game of the season, and lead the Orangemen all season long. Junior Whitey Bock locked down one starting forward position, and senior George Armstrong would be second in the team in scoring, and play the other forward. Sophomores Charlie Taggart and Elmer Maister would share the remaining guard position, Taggart being bigger and a defensive specialist, Maister a better ball handler and shooter.

Overall the Orangemen went about 10 players deep with a consistent talent level. The team was solid, with the notable exception that it was not deep at center, and Elliott tired easily as games progressed. Lacking a substitute for him became an issue in big games.

The Orangemen started off the season 9-1, including a very impressive home victory against defending national champion Pittsburgh and Ivy League power Penn. They then lost a close game to rival Colgate, before venturing on a month long road trip. Unfortunately the journey would not be kind to the Orangemen, as they would lose four out of six games on the road. Sophomore Vogel became academically eligible in the second semester, and he joined the Orangemen on the road trip, eventually taking Armstrong's starting position, as Andreas felt Armstrong would be a strong asset off the bench (and he was).

They came back home, put together a small string of victories before once again meeting rival Colgate for the last game of the season. The game would be a see-saw affair, but in the end Colgate came out ahead 38-37.

© RLYoung 2005