Cadets hope for boost in final weeks

With only a few games left in the season, the members of the Norwich men's basketball team have high hopes for playoffs this year.

"The season so far has been pretty good, a big improvement from last year," said Leland Brunswick, 19, a sophomore communications major, from San Francisco, Calif.

This year, 13 of the 18 members of the team are underclassmen, according to norwichathletics.com. "We have a lot more fire under us this year. We know what we're doing and we know what the coach wants," said Joshua Cabrera, 19, a sophomore mathematics major from Providence, R.I. "We're still young, but I think that fire helps us compete."

"Overall, I think we're doing a lot better than last year," said Joe Figueroa, 19, a sophomore business management and accounting major from St. Johnsbury, Vt. "This year we have a lot of talent on the team."

"Last year I think we were just young and inexperienced and we didn't quite know the level of college basketball," Brunswick said. "This year we're more focused and we're more of a brotherhood and we understand the game more."

"This year we're a team, instead of a bunch of people playing the same sport," said Israel Guardado, 22, a senior, criminal justice major, from El Centro, Calif.

"As far as the team chemistry we're gelling and getting along pretty well. The coaching staff is great," Brunswick said.

"Right now we just have to take it one game at a time, said Cori Boston, 26, a junior,communications major from Boston, Mass. "We just need to continue to get better every day and just work on the little things."

"We definitely will make the playoffs; right now we're just trying to fight for home court advantage," Brunswick said.

"Every game is a battle, but I think we can handle any team in our conference," Figueroa said.

"We're pretty sure we'll make playoffs, but we just have to make sure that we're playing at our best during playoff times," Guardado said.