City of Basketball Love

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2016-17 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 11. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season, click here.)

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ANNVILLE — Andy Orr didn’t need any coaxing.

Standing just outside Sorrentino Gymnasium recently as a number of his determined Lebanon Valley teammates drilled inside, the 6-7 junior forward was asked several questions about the rapidly approaching basketball season.

Of course, the inevitable biggie soon arrived.

“They’re high,” Orr said matter-of-factly, a quick grin appearing.

“Expectations are high.”

Sporting an All-American in the multi-faceted Orr and returning eight of its top 10 players from a squad (16-11, 10-6) that a season ago advanced to the MAC Commonwealth and ECAC South playoffs, expectations are mighty, mighty high at the bustling college parked in the robust heart of Pennsylvania Dutch Country.

Particularly since LVC’s 17-man roster features 10 juniors, including Orr and 6-0 Sam Light, the excitable gym rat and wannabe All-American with the electric game.

“What’s more important is theirs have grown,” said head coach Brad McAlester, about to enter his 23rd season (336-249) fronting a Flying Dutchmen program packing a unique history that includes such sparkling nuggets as an NCAA Division III championship in 1994 and a victory over Fordham in 1953 that propelled LVC’s “Seven Dwarfs” into the Sweet Sixteen and a scrap with Bob Pettit-led LSU at Penn’s fabled Palestra.

“As my expectations of them have grown, their expectations as a team have grown. They’re mad that they’re not able to play Penn State Harrisburg again this year, because they felt they blew that game at the end of the game. Either way, we lost, but they’re mad. That’s the kind of attitude these guys have.

“I posted in the locker room an edition of the DIII News [that listed] the top teams in the region,” added McAlester, the winningest coach in Lebanon Valley’s lengthy hoops history. “We weren’t mentioned, but Swarthmore was, F&M, Lycoming was mentioned. They’re all, ‘Where’s LVC?’ They’re all looking at that.”

Snubbed or not, there’s plenty of fuel available to gun LVC’s collective drive as McAlester’s Flying Dutchmen take aim at MAC Commonwealth supremacy and perhaps the program’s first NCAA Tournament bid since 2005.

“Last year we kind of had that 'young' team stigma, which was like we knew we were gonna make mistakes and practices were gonna be up and down,” admitted Light, who arrived at LVC last year after spending his freshman season at D-II Millersville. “We had leaders, but everybody was young since we had like one senior and two juniors.

“This year we have like 10 juniors or something like that, so I would consider us like a veteran team. We have a lot of experience playing-wise from a bunch of different people that can all help us out in different ways. It’s not like we’re one-dimensional. We have shooters, we have drivers and we have people that can handle the ball.”

And the Flying Dutchmen have the multi-talented Orr, who can work the paint with his post-up game or drag a defender to the arc and knock down a trey. All he did last season was torment opponents by averaging 21.3 points, 8.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 blocks per outing, capping his season by landing All-American honors.

Orr is the 10th All-American in LVC history, the eighth mentored by McAlester.

“Andy plays the game with ease,” McAlester said.

Several weeks back, the Conrad Weiser grad gained even more attention — individual and collective — by landing preseason All-American recognition.

“I know I’ve got to bring my best every game,” said Orr, who pocketed a career-high 35 in one of last season’s Widener meetings. “I know teams are going to be focusing on me, so that’ll allow me to get my teammates open. I know they’re going to bring it for me every game, so I’ve got to be at my best.”

“Every time you throw it back to him, whether it’s a pop or a roll, he’s just poised,” Light remarked. “He’s never like too excited, he’s never too low, he’s just kind of steady. He was an All-American before he was an All-American. His freshman year was terrific, because I followed LVC when I was at Millersville.

“Just playing with him, it’s like knowing there’s someone there that can take over a game at any point or can get you a basket or make a defensive stop,” Light continued. “I know last year he chased down and blocked a guy from Hood to send it into overtime at the buzzer. He makes big-time plays all the time.”

Light (19.1 ppg), who prepped at nearby Northern Lebanon before wheeling off to Millersville, also sports that same clutch gene that Orr flashes constantly. The biggest change for Light is he’ll be playing off the ball more in LVC’s attack since 5-11 Randolph-Macon transfer Marquis Davis is expected to slide in at the point.

Another returning starter is 6-1 junior Will Boccanfuso (6.2 ppg/5.1 rpg), the hustling forward who stepped into the lineup in Game 9 or so and never left. Boccanfuso brings needed toughness to the Dutchmen since he’s willing to bang with much-bigger players.

With dependable 6-0 senior Travis Conrad (9.0 ppg) out indefinitely with a foot injury, versatile 6-2 junior and Hershey High product Ricky Bugg (2.8 ppg) may get the nod on the wing. Or, it could be streaky 6-3 deep shooter Caleb Barwin (2.1 ppg), a Bishop McDevitt graduate who played one season at Penn State Harrisburg.

Other backcourt/wing possibilities include 6-0 junior Collin Moore (Caesar Rodney, Del.), 6-2 junior Brett Gilbert (Exeter), 6-2 sophomore Chris Anderson (Malvern Prep), 5-10 sophomore C.J. Boxley — the York High grad sat out last season with a knee injury — and 6-0 freshman Luke Stambaugh (Pinelands, N.J, Regional).

The return of 6-8, 235-pound Nate “Noon” Dawson could allow Orr the opportunity to float to the perimeter. And the rapid improvement of 6-7 sophomore live wire Andrew Eberhart might let McAlester go really big across the back of his sticky matchup zone.

Dawson arrived at LVC following a terrific career at nearby New Covenant Christian — he took last season off, returning 35 pounds lighter — while Eberhart was a big part of Cedar Crest’s recent success.

“He’s obviously a big body who can really help us,” Orr said of playing alongside Dawson. “Andrew Eberhart’s been playing really well in practice, too, so hopefully both of them can get in there and we play combinations of the two and three of us.”

All sorts of combinations have been in play when the tight-knit Flying Dutchmen practice or even before preseason camp tipped off in mid-October. Heck, these guys were so excited they were getting after it within hours of returning to school.

“It has been let’s go,” Orr said. “We played pick-up I think the second day we were on campus, so we started playing right when we got back. We all get along well, we’re always together and we’re talking basketball all the time.”

And McAlester, who called this group the hardest-working unit he’s seen in seven seasons, knows how fiercely his latest unit competes. One of his primary concerns going into scrimmages with Gettysburg and Susquehanna is developing consistency.

Seven of LVC’s 11 losses last season were by five points or fewer. Conversely, the Flying Dutchmen captured just two contests by slim margins.

“At the end of the year, we put together a nice streak winning, but we also lost some games that I thought we could have won,” recalled McAlester, who was tagged the MAC Commonwealth’s coach of the year following last season. “This year I’m hoping we can win those games, learn how to win those games.

“This team is capable of doing that.”

The Flying Dutchmen will need that consistency to succeed in the MAC Commonwealth — LVC was picked to finish second behind Lycoming in the nine-team league — and against such nonleague foes as Franklin & Marshall, Elizabethtown and Misericordia.

While a journey to Florida just after Christmas is another primo highlight for McAlester’s bunch, even splashier is a season-opening date at Division I George Mason, LVC’s first dustup with a D-I squad since the 1988-89 team played Loyola (Md.).

“I’m just excited to play against high-talented players,” the candid Light admitted. “I play against them all the time in the summer in different summer leagues and, personally, I feel like I’m as good as anybody. I really don’t care. I’ve played at high levels, low levels, high school, college. To me, it doesn’t matter.

“We just have to go out there and play our game,” Light added. “We really can’t buy into hype and stuff like that. We just have to go out there, play our game and worry about getting better each and every day.”

Orr believes the season-opening Mason skirmish is a terrific opportunity for everyone in the LVC locker room. And, since McAlester’s Flying Dutchmen will return to Sorrentino right after the opener for five straight home games, it’s a chance to start quickly.

“It’s pretty cool. Not every Division III program or team gets a chance to play against a Division I team … and have it count,” Orr remarked. “It’ll be cool to see how good we are compared to high-level competition. We’ve got nothing to lose.

“So, we might as well go out there and give it our best.”

McAlester knows his guys will compete hard — no coaxing is needed — every night out. He’s pleased thus far with the work ethic they’ve displayed and he knows what his latest unit’s lofty aspirations are as they drill in practice or gather at a nearby pizza joint.

So …

“I’m excited about this year,” McAlester said. “Regardless of what happens, I’m excited because these guys want to win. Sometimes you get teams and you’re not sure. These guys want to win. They get along and they want to win.

“Plus, they’re back again next year.”