The Wagner Seahawks were a program in transition as long time Coach Herb Sutter is handing over the keys to the program that he basically built to assistant Tim Capstraw after this season.  The young Capstraw (he is only 28) played baseball at Wagner before blowing out his knee and is more of a standup comedian at times than basketball coach but can recruit and will go just about anywhere to get his guy (including overseas).  Sutter and his new protege are implementing an offensive system that would bring in some of the athletic kids who were leaving the boroughs or going to the bigger schools in the Big East or ever worse going to Brooklyn to play for the Blackbirds or the Seahawks biggest rival the St. Francis Terriers.  Over the past two years of recruiting a talented group of underclassmen, the Seahawks decided to go to an up tempo style that produced some success but was challenging to perfect.  This new style featured a scoring machine in a first year guard who set the Northeast league on fire with his ability to launch long range bombers and to finish over just about anyone who stood in his way.  The Seahawks may not have won the division or really even challenged but the fans from Staten Island were pleasantly surprised with their small little team that could score in large sums. 

Sophomore superstar in progress Terrance Bailey took the Seahawks on his shoulders and showed this conservative team they could score.  Surrounded by a bunch of plodding upperclassmen who prefer a slow tempo and ball control, Bailey went crazy.  Recruited from Newark to be a point guard, and that is what he might be again as his sidekick in crime, Andrew Van Drost, got hurt late last year and in all likelihood will miss his entire second season on the Hill. This kid was just too explosive of a scorer to not let him do his thing at the two guard as much as possible and with his roommate feeding him with gorgeous passes, Bailey tore up the NEC in his first year.  With Sutter giving him the green light, he started firing early in the year and never let up.  He was a phenom.  The fans had never seen a guy who would fire from anywhere at any time.  Bailey also loves to take it to the hoop and at six two can finish with a bang.  He had more dunks over people then just about anyone of his size in the country.  Every time he finished one the crowds just went wild.  They loved it.  He is a terrific athlete who plays much bigger with his great leapers.  He can rebound and run with the best wings on the East Coast and if he was a bit taller might be playing at a larger University in a big conference and matching up with guys named Jordan and Thompson on a regular basis.  Don’t get me wrong, Bailey loves his rivalries in the NEC as he has become one heck of a show to watch.   And he and Norm Van Lier had some epic battles as Bailey was one guy ‘Stormin’ Norman could not shut down.  Bailey finished a close second in the league in scoring to Sherman White with over 17 a game but that could flip flop over the coming years as Bailey plays more and more point guard.  The biggest reason that Sutter does not want Bailey playing the point is the constant pressure that a point guard gets from the other team which of course wears a player down over the course of the year and leave them open for too many fouls having to guard other waterbugs on the perimeter and of course the charges aggressive driving point guards naturally get.   As stated above, Bailey also played point some of the time so his responsibilities were doubled.  He did not seem to mind having the ball in his possession most of the time and he is one heck of a passer when he wants to be.  He has a chance to be something real special and Coach Sutter has promised to continue to give him free reign. 

Senior Ray Hodge was the second part of the mighty scoring duo at Wagner.  He may not be as free-wheeling as Bailey but he can play.  At six two Hodge plays a pure wing and when this program was in Division Three he played often on the blocks.  He has those skills but was better suited to being a wing who can also post up at times.  His rebounding was helpful as he can get off the ground and knows what he is doing around the basket.  Hodge is also a terrific athlete (he is a sprinter on the track team so he can fly down the court) who like Bailey can get to the hoop and can mix it up underneath.  He gave the Seahawks two of the best finishers on the East Coast and opposing teams could not stop them both.  Though he did not score near as much as he did in Division Three days (he averaged over 20 a game one season), Hodge still was a huge part of this team’s offense.  

Junior Henry Dillard was the closest thing the Hawks had to a real point guard and when he was in the offense ran more efficiently.  At five nine he is the kind of waterbug that will run the show perfectly and harass the other team’s point guards from baseline to baseline.  He is a terrific passer who is quick and can guard people but is not a threat at all to score.  Sutter wants his guns in though and so he will put Bailey at the point and brought in Sophomore Jamie Ciampiglio, another scorer, to play next to Bailey.   Or that is the plan but this team needs Dillard on the court as his teammates trust him to get the ball to them and more importantly is the leader on and off the court.  Ciampiglio is a gamer that was bothered by some inuries but has the size at six four to be a true wing and can flat shoot.  Either way the Hawks were running and gunning as much as possible.  Senior Arnold Obey was another option at point and is by far the fastest guy on a fast team.  Another 100 yard sprinter (he holds the school record) is a true team leader who is obviously as athletic as they come but does not have great ball handling skills and is not a true scorer so kind of got lost in the shuffle.  

Bob Bosley and Hank Pedro lead a group of seniors who lost large quantities of time due to injuries and the upward movement of the underclassmen but had productive seasons. Bosley is a good scoring forward who at one point was the star of this program in lower division days.  He is not athletic enough or big enough to play forward at this level but did start five games early on and showed some heart and toughness.  He might not get on the court this year unless there are injuries.  Pedro hit one of the biggest shots in school history during his Sophomore year beating rival NYU in a huge upset with a 15 footer at the buzzer.  NYU was so upset that they dropped their program (jk).  Still, Pedro got some minutes early and like his buddy Bosley (no he’s not a butler) was a little out of sorts this season.  Fred Klittich (I bet he loved having that name in junior high), Ed Peterson and Russ Selger were also in this group who had terrific careers but were obviously more suited for the lower Divisions of college basketball.  Selger is the only one fo the three that was getting any minutes at the end of last year and might start at the three.  There is ample competition for the wings though.  

Senior Charles ‘Lonny’West handles the post for the Seahawks.  He gave the team an athlete and a competitor up front who really hung tough on the boards.  West is not big in height or stature and comes off more as a smooth limousine down low with a nice touch out to about 15 feet.  West is tougher than he looks though and holds his own down low on both ends.  The lack of size up front may have been the Seahawks biggest weakness but Coach Sutter could rely on West to give it all he had and to bang with the bigger boys.  Senior Oliver Featherston rotated with sophomores Art Redmond and Howard ‘Bones’ Thompkins to give the team some productive minutes up front off the bench.  Featherston is a terrific board guy but does not bring much else and was at the end of the bench by the end of the year.  Redmond actually started the first of the year at the three but got a minor injury that opened the door for Selger to take over which he did.  Redmond did come back later and is a solid player who can score and board but is not a post and even plays more like a three going a svelte six foot six.  He will be in the rotation next year and will contribute as a swing forward and might even start at Hodge’s old position if he can stay healthy?  Thompkins is a little bigger at six seven (though by his nickname you can tell he is not overly thick) and could push for the open starting low post role.  He does have solid skills and would not be a bad center though he is not a shot blocker which this team could really use.  Thompkins missed some games early (7) after transferring in from Northeastern (could you imagine them Huskies with this kid down low?) and is a smoother operator down low who has great moves and is a terrific board guy.  Another Sophomore Largest Agbejemesin, say that five times really quick, showed some potential in the paint.  This transfer from Nigeria is like most of his compatriots a project but like them he has a great body for basketball.   At a chiseled six seven he is nowhere near the nightmare of that kid from Houston but for the NEC he is quite imposing though right now he is just about dunking and rebounding.  Largest had some dominate games on the JV but is not good yet but could be and is one more reason this team scares the willies out of Northeast conference opponents as him coming to Staten Island had opened up the ‘gates’ for others to come into this country from overseas to play basketball at Wagner.  Coach Sutter has some freshman biting at the bit, including a couple of big time Euros, to push these guys and he was willing to give many different players minutes to see what they could do. 

The Wagner Seahawks did not win the Northeast conference last year.  They were not really even close. Coach Tim Capstraw will be taking over for the Godfather of the program Herb Sutter who is retiring after mentoring his replacement one last year on Grymes Hill.  Sutter does have some talent that is returning.  Included in this is a potential superstar guard and some thoroughbreds on the wing who can flat fly up and down the court. There are also a couple of bigs who know what they are doing in the paint.  Give them a few more supporting players at some key positions and keep the accelerator down and next year could be awful fun for the Island fans.