Both of these coaches knew they were not going to be able to get to the mountain top of this sport with the limitations on recruiting at West Point.  All of the military academies are not gifted with the greatest athlete’s in the world as most of these programs have not only some high standards just to get in but then you have to commit to service for at least two years after which limits most players who want to pursue basketball professionally.  The rival Midshipmen have seemingly found a way around that with their super sophomore David Robinson but that is an anomaly plus the fact the Admiral grew about seven inches after he enrolled.  The Cadets do not have any of those type players (though they do have a 6’10 sophomore) but they do have a great group of hard-working men who compete every night.  With a good starting lineup if the Black Knights would have had some depth they might have won a few more games.  Novak kept in place the man to man defense but they did try to pick it up a little bit on the offensive end.  With the sound defense first attitude this team stayed in almost every game last year but just did not have enough gas at the end of games.  With four guys averaging over 32 minutes a game the starters just didn’t have it at the end of games.  But they did try! 

The leader of this team (and for sure to be of many enlisted men in the near future) is senior Mike Silliman.  Silliman was a high school stud coming from Louisville Kentucky who decided to come to West Point even after being recruited by almost every major program in the country.  At six foot six and a strong 230 pounds Silliman is a complete basketball player.  He can of course bang inside and knows how to position for boards and easy baskets but he also has a nice touch up to about 17 feet.  He can also dribble well and is a solid passer and of course plays terrific in your face defense.  How complete is he?  Well Knight said this year after three years in Bloomington that Silliman is ‘still probably the best player I have ever coached!’ How important was Silliman to the success of this program?  He was the key factor in the team’s glorious run through the NIT and was recruited to play for the Olympic team soon after where he made a huge impression with his all-around game.  And last year without him as he recovered from a back injury (from carrying the team too much) the Cadets were lost.  They lost all seven games and their season got off track.  He did come back, though he was not the dominant inside force he was before, and led the late season run that saved face for this program.  He is a special player and cadet! Like every cadet that plays at West Point (or any other academy) they have a commitment to the service after they are done which almost for sure eliminates this great warrior of having any chance to play for the pros.  That is too bad because of all the players that ever wore the black, gold and gray, Silliman is by far the most qualified to play at the next level.  This kid will go on and succeed in whatever the Army wants him to do and his life will be full but just once wouldn’t you like to see a kid this talented with this kind of heart have a shot to show the pros what kind of player he is!  He has done that for three years at West Point and even with all of the time he missed Mike Silliman is the man amongst a bunch of real men serving this country on the Hudson!

The Black Knights have a good pair of guards leading the way all season.  Sophomores Randy Cozzens and Kevin Houston came to the forefront of this club especially after Silliman’s injury.  They compliment each other very well.  Cozzens is the quasi point guard of the team and the quarterback.  He gets the ball to the right people and can also score.  He loves to be the man and will fight you tooth and nail.  His leadership abilities are superb but most of all he is a good basketball player.  Houston is a scoring machine.  He can light it up and loves to work off screens for great looks.  Not very big but a great offensive weapon he got crazy hot the last 10 games and was the primary reason the Knights took off.  He has great range and is not afraid to fire from anywhere.  The cool thing here is that Houston is about five eleven and Cozzens goes six four so they obviously are a perfect complement on the defensive end with the two guard Houston being able to guard quick guards and Cozzens, who is a great defender, being able to guard bigger guards and even some wings especially since this is primarily a three guard set.  The strange thing is that Houston started out the year playing way more point than two and this hurt the team as this kid is a natural scorer.  Once they figured out their roles (or at least once Novak did) they took off.  Houston did not average double digits the first half of the year but averaged over 15 a game down the stretch once he got the reins pulled off.  This duo is going to be tough to deal with for the next two years in West Point.  Senior Jim Oxley and Junior Bobby Sherwin began the year as the starter but gave way to this dynamic duo. An injury a few games to the teen heart throb opened the door for the first-year players to play often, something that is uncommon for the West Pointers.  This Black Knight thought the injury was ‘tis a scratch’ but one of his legs was indeed broken. This program does not like to play freshmen and Cozzens was even on the JV not even considering playing on the varsity until Sherwin went down.  Cozzens multifaceted made him impossible to get off the court and when Sherwin did come back after missing 8 games he had lost his starting role  The Honey I miss You singer was nowhere near as effective with a bum leg that slowed him down as speed is his biggest asset.  Still, Bobby should be fully healthy next year and he is not going to give up his spot without a fight so this battle should be fun. Oxley will also in the back court mix and get some minutes but his defense was not good the second half and he is nowhere near the scorer Houston is.  Nowhere near as talented at least offensively as the new starters, Oxley is a coaches dream because this kid will do anything it takes to get on the court and help his team win.  That should help him in his near future leading men.  The two Browns, Junior Matt and sophomore Bob got some minutes with different skills.  Matt is another wing who basically relieved Cozzens whenever he came out of the game and is a similar style player who has some size for the back court to guard wings. Bob is another big time shooter who has size (6’5) to get his shot off and hails from Ohio. If either was a little better defensively or even attempted to help on the boards they might start, that is how weak the wings are for the Black Knights.  Senior Stu Sharrard missed most of last year with a knee injury but will be back but he might have lost in place in line.  And that means more than you think in the military hierarchy. 

The Knights have a small but tenacious front line led by Silliman and junior Gary Winton.  The short duo started up front together for the second straight year.  These guys might not aircraft carriers but they know how to play.  Winton is an excellent forward who can score and rebound but like his sidekick is undersized at six foot five and a bit thinner.  When Silliman missed all of those games he had to hold the fort down at the center position.  And he more than held his own!  Well, most of the time!  His desire to exceed what you think he may become propels him to his greatness and his consistency.  A solid inside game and a solid defender and rebounder, he is the centerpiece of the front line coming back but he is used to that after this season without his sidekick.  Seniors Bill Hannon, a rebounding machine in the old Army days when they played much less competition and much smaller big men, and Lee Sager gave support up front off the bench.  Hannon is only six foot three but he had to play some big minutes with the injuries and still boarded well but got killed trying to guard much bigger players.  Sager is a little bigger but not much at six five and is another board man but neither one gives the Black Knights the kind of scoring down low that Silliman does.  The one kid with any size at all is Sophomore Todd Matson.  This six ten project was thrown into the heat after Silliman’s injury and was hot and cold.  He has upside and had some games where he had a huge impact especially on the glass but he is ultra-thin and needs some seasoning and more minutes if he is to get better.  He almost for sure will get more minutes next year as this team needs somebody to step up next to Winton because Silliman is gone.  Mattson and Ardafyio got their chance this year and did not show much and unless Novak is hiding someone on the JV the Black Knights are in serious trouble.  After all you need all five appendages to be able to fight in the Patriot Wars!   

As we stated before, this team will probably be more of a three-guard set this year but Senior Dale Hall will be in the mix as well and is a pure small forward.  Hall was the main man here not too long ago and earned All-American status.  Yep, the Cadets actually have an All-American on their roster but that was then and this is now for Hall.  This kid is not a great long-range shooter and in today’s game you need to be able to hit the three especially as a wing and he lost much time as the season progressed. Hall is tough as they come (he plays halfback on the football team as well though he is not beating out Mr. Outside and Mr. Inside) and will probably start to begin the year out of that honor thing but he might not be even playing by the end of the year.  Senior Bill Schutsky, is a scoring option off the bench who can shoot but is vastly undersized (6’2).  He did not get near as many minutes the second half of the year as he did the first but Novak was trying a bunch of different options including JC transfer Darryle Kouns and Bill Helkie.  These two seniors to be are different ends of the pool as Kouns is a pure scorer and Helkie is all defense but neither is better the Schutsky.  

The Army Black Knights are not the most attractive team playing in Division One basketball.   Undersized, unathletic and definitely not your prototypical college team, the boys who are next in line to defend our country from West Point can play basketball!  They may have been one of the best starting fives in the Patriot League and perhaps even on the East Coast and for sure in the greater Big Apple area. They did not however have much of a bench and could not seem to win any close games and thus a promising season went south quickly.  Look at this weird stat that defines their season.  Only seven (yes seven) Cadets got double digits in minutes.  This was a 9 and 20 team which usually means a coach is looking for answers and tries many different players.  This was just the opposite as Novak knew what he had and tried to ride his studs to the finish line ala Billy Martin and his starters in his rotation.  That did not work and these boys were exhausted by the end of many games especially playing that in your face man to man that Bob Knight implemented not too long ago.  A decent comeback at the end of the year as you would expect a group of Military men to do saved the season and a win over arch rival the Naval Academy in the ‘Star Game’ guaranteed that some of the lieutenants would be getting some hardware on their jackets.  They may not have achieved all of their goals but they did play like the Warriors they represent.  None of these players will probably ever have a shot at playing at the next level as there are bigger fish to fry for them but if some of them wanted to at least a couple of them have the talent to hang with the big boys of not only this country but overseas as well as Mike Silliman showed in his great Olympic run a few years back.  Or at least represent the US in the International theatre.  Of course they represent the US every day in so many ways. And isn’t that all these kids really want to do!