Dear Hamilton basketball alumni and friends,
The 2018-2019 men’s basketball season was an incredible journey for our student-athletes and everyone associated with them! Overall, the team earned a record of 25-5, another NCAA Sweet 16 appearance, our first NESCAC Player of the Year, and a first Team All-American. We also had four seniors who left a substantial imprint on the program to be remembered for many years to come.
This season, seniors Tim Doyle, Michael Grassey, Andrew Groll, and Peter Hoffmann were unquestionably the leaders of the team. Throughout the course of the season, it was easy to see that these four along with junior Kena Gilmour dictated what would happen each night. Their play and productivity helped Hamilton to a 14-0 non-conference record and a 7-3 NESCAC record which ended in a first place tie for the second year in a row.
After a home NESCAC quarterfinal win over Colby, Hamilton earned the right to host the NESCAC semifinals and finals by being the highest remaining seed. Although Amherst clipped us in the NESCAC championship game, it was a great learning experience for our players. Despite the tough loss, our record at the time of 23-4 was lofty enough to secure the right to continue to host the first weekend of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2006. After advancing from the opening weekend, we continued to host during the sectional weekend of NCAA play where we saw a gritty Christopher Newport team, unfortunately, end our season in the Sweet 16 as they advanced to the Final Four the next afternoon.
Despite finishing our season in the Sweet 16 for the second year in a row, the memories and experiences shared by these young men will last a lifetime. The atmosphere in Bundy Scott Fieldhouse for the NCAA tournament was as electric of an environment that I have been involved with during my 25 years in coaching. As one fan said, “The Fieldhouse is rocking!” We owe a tremendous thank you to the many alumni, faculty, staff, students, and community members who made it such a special environment for all of us! It was definitely rocking because of all of you!!!
Without question, our seniors had tremendous careers on all accounts as they tallied over 4,000 career points and over 2,000 career rebounds in addition to their two NCAA Tournament appearances. Tim Doyle ’19 scored 765 career points with 99 three-pointers in his career and was the engine that drove our high octane offense to 85 ppg with his 238 career assists. Michael Grassey ’19 passed 1000 career points earlier this season against Elmira while finishing with 1204 career points, 186 career three-point field goals, and 654 rebounds.
Furthermore, Doyle and Grassey were career 38% three-point shooters who directly contributed to the 2018 and 2019 teams establishing new school records during those seasons. Peter Hoffmann ’19 was a three-time All-NESCAC performer who finished ninth all-time at Hamilton with 1,488 career points and grabbed 500 career rebounds. NESCAC All-Sportsmanship team member, Andrew Groll ’19 accumulated 872 career points and led the senior class by snatching 721 career rebounds. Additionally, Andrew provided a steadying presence on the defensive end for his entire career. As you can see, these seniors have had a tremendous impact on our program in so many ways and will be missed! Thank you, guys!!!
Closely tied to the senior class is Kena Gilmour ’20, who was our leading scorer this year, with his uncanny ability to find cracks in any defense. As a result of his ability to score, Gilmour earned NESCAC Player of the Year honors and was also named an NABC First All-American, becoming only the fifth player to be named first team at Hamilton. He joins Cedric Oliver ’79, John Cavanaugh ’87, Michael Schantz ’99, and Joe Finley ’03.
Overall, our starters all had outstanding seasons! However, our bench becomes instrumental to our postseason victories bringing intensity and energy that came across on the court with tremendous defense and lots of transition scoring. Although many of these young men had support roles this season, I can assure you that you will be hearing a great deal about them with their roles substantially increasing in 2019-20 as we again look to compete at the highest levels of Division III. With a few faces returning from a year off and several newcomers coming to the team in fall 2019, we will look differently in our play but have the same high standards and expectations!
As a reward for the commitment of our senior class and in particular, the commitment of those players whose hometowns are on the West Coast, we have decided to take on a major trip in November 2019. Sayo Denloye ’20 and Eric Anderson ’22 are both from the greater Los Angeles area so we are traveling for games in LA against Cal Tech and Cal Lutheran on Wednesday, November 27 and Friday, November 29.
We are asking for your help in making this trip be as special as possible. In December 2018 for our trip to Daytona Beach, Fla., we relied a great deal on our players and their families to support our travel costs. For the November 2019 California trip, we are asking for the support of our alumni to help us meet our travel goal of $35,000. This amount allows us to cover the many costs of the trip including airfare, bus transportation, and hotels during our week-long stay. For our West Coast guys and a senior class who have already accumulated four NCAA tournament wins out of their 65 career wins, we are excited to give them this special trip allowing Sayo ’20 and Eric ’22 to play in front of their friends and families on the West Coast!
Furthermore, we hope this creates an occasion for our West Coast Hamilton alumni to attend a game in person since many times it can be challenging to travel back to Clinton for a game.
Although we did go to Daytona Beach, Fla., in December 2018 for our seniors, we do not expect to travel this far again for a few more years, so please use this opportunity to show our student-athletes how much you appreciate and value their efforts in returning Hamilton basketball to national contention and creating that incredible excitement over the past few seasons which many of you experienced during your time on College Hill!
Please stop by whenever you are on campus as it’s always great to see and hear from you. Your emails, attendance, and connections over the past few years have been awesome for our current players to see how powerful a connection can exist between Hamilton basketball players whether current or ’retired.’ Please let me know how I can continue to foster these connections!
Thank you again! GO BLUE!!!!
Coach
Adam Stockwell
Head Coach
Men's Basketball
