The Washington and Lee Men’s Basketball Program Bounces Back

After trailing for the whole game in the first round of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference tournament against arch-rival Roanoke College, the Washington & Lee Men’s Basketball team had two routes: fade away like years past or fight back with the odds stacked against them. This year’s team chose to fight back like it had done all year in order to re-establish the once proud basketball program.
This complete shift in attitude and impact began five years ago with the hiring of Coach Adam Hutchinson. Coach Hutchinson came in with a fresh approach and the determination to turn the program around.
. “When I took over the program, I wanted to get the program in a position where we would consistently compete for ODAC championships,” said Coach Hutchinson. “I did not have a time frame in mind. I felt like I would just keep working at it, until we got it done. I must admit though that I did not anticipate some of the challenging times that we faced.”
Some of those challenges included disastrously bad losing records and recruited players dropping out of the program. Because basketball is the only sport at W&L that sacrifices all three major breaks during the first two terms, Thanksgiving, Winter and February breaks, it is a huge commitment. Combining those factors with the high academic standards of W&L, recruiting is a tough task.
“I tried to create a very broad recruiting pool,” said Coach Hutchinson. “At a school that is as selective as W&L, you need to look at a lot of prospects in order to find people that meet the competitive academic standards.”
Expanding recruiting is exactly what Coach Hutchinson did. This year’s team had no players from the state of Virginia, where Washington & Lee is located.
The two biggest recruits to propel the reemergence of the basketball program came four years ago: 6’7 center Greg Bienemann from New Jersey and 6’5 power forward Femi Kusimo from West Virginia.
“Femi and Greg really provided a four-year foundation,” said Coach Hutchinson. “They provided leadership, perseverance and talent. We were able to plan our recruiting around them for the past 3 seasons because we knew that they could compete and that they were in it for the long haul.”
After going 2-23 overall and 0-18 in conference their freshman year, everyone in their recruiting class dropped out of the basketball program, except for the two of them. Bienemann and Kusimo made a pact that they would not quit and that they would turn this program around.
“I thought we could do better as a program, I just didn’t want to give up and I think Femi and I made an agreement between each other that we should stick it out and see what we can do,” said Bienemann. “After my sophomore season, even though we were 4-19, we knew the foundation was there and we could build on it. That was promising.”
Kusimo agreed with Bienemann that, although it would be hard work, the future was bright and he did not want to give up.
“I decided to stick it out with Greg because we were such good friends and neither of us wanted to let each other down,” said Kusimo. “We knew it was going to be hard, but also knew that we had a chance to really be good here.”
Bienemann and Kusimo looked to one another to raise the bar in their game and the program.
“It has definitely been rewarding for us to play with each other for four years,” said Bienemann. “He [Kusimo] didn’t give up on the team, he didn’t give up on me, he’s one of my good friends. Femi and I would always battle in practice and the competition between ourselves made us better players.”
Kusimo said that playing with Bienemann helped make him a better all around player.
“I developed a better understanding of the game because I learned how to set up a great scorer like him and also set up the rest of my teammates to put them in positions where they can score,” said Kusimo. “Also, all the attention Greg attracts led to me having several one-on-one situations in the game.”
The foundation of the program, started by Coach Hutchinson, was firmly established by Bienemann and Kusimo, the captains and unquestioned leaders of this year’s team.
From four years ago to this year, the basketball program has dramatically improved its win total to 15-11 overall and 11-7 in conference, a 13 win improvement since 2-23 season.
“[The reemergence of the basketball program] has given me a great sense of accomplishment,” said Bienemann. “It has been a very rewarding experience – putting in this much work and finally seeing it translate into wins, from 2-23 to 15-11.”
Kusimo added that it was nice to have the W&L community take notice.
“It’s been awesome, especially since we were here when no one cared about the team,” said Kusimo. “To see people around campus really taking to the team and coming out to games meant a lot to all of us because people didn't know that we could actually play.”
The 11 conference wins were good enough to give the Generals a 5 seed going into the ODAC tournament and the team was set to face the 4 seed Roanoke College. The two teams split the season series with the Generals winning on the road in overtime in the second matchup. This once heated rivalry was finally rekindled in the lead up to the tournament.
The Blue and White were down the whole game until 11:31 left in the contest when junior point guard Isaiah Goodman dished the ball to Bienemann for a reverse layup while being fouled, a move he has perfected throughout his career. Bienemann sank the free throw attempt and gave the Generals its first lead in the game. Although W&L ultimately lost the game, the come back effort was another step in rebuilding the program.
“In the past, we would kind of give up when we were down, but this team, even after being down for most of the game, never gave up and fought back,” said Bienemann. “This team was very focused and had the mind set to never give up.”
This year’s basketball team won several close games which Goodman attributed to experience and a different mentality.
“We played much more confident and relaxed this year than we have in years past,” said Goodman after defeating Emory & Henry college 115-106 earlier in the year. “We have learned a lot from those close games, and we are finally putting it all together. When we get in those tough situations, we realize that we have all been through it together.”
The change in attitude resulted in the end of many long losing streaks to conference opponents as well as successes that had been missing for many years. In December, the Generals defeated Randolph-Macon College in overtime to end an outstanding 30-year losing streak. From December 30 to January 9, W&L had its first four-game winning streak since the 1989-1990 season. The team later followed that up with a six-game winning streak. On January 23, the Blue and White won at Emory & Henry for the first time in 10 years. The 11 conference wins were the most since the 1981-1982 campaign.
In addition to team records, there were several important individual achievements.
The night before the Roanoke tournament game, at the annual ODAC banquet, W&L came away with three prestigious conference awards. Senior captain Greg Bienemann was first team all-conference for the second straight year, the first W&L player to accomplish this feat in 25 years. Bienemann is also a finalist for the Jostens Trophy, the award for the Division III Player of the Year. Junior captain Isaiah Goodman was selected to the 10-player ODAC Sportsmanship Team. Lastly, Coach Adam Hutchinson was named the ODAC Coach of the Year, the first Generals coach to achieve this accolade since the 1988-89 season.
“The Coach of the Year award is actually a team honor,” said Coach Hutchinson after the loss to Roanoke. “It is recognition of the commitment and effort this team displayed and the success that resulted. I am honored to have been a part of it with this special group of people.”
This year’s basketball team set the benchmark for future W&L teams - losing is no longer acceptable.
However, there is always room to build.
“We need to get deeper,” said Coach Hutchinson. “This is a two step process. The guys that are in the program must continue to work hard and improve, and we need to bring in talented recruiting classes so we can continue to pass on some of the things that enabled us to be successful this season.”
Bienemann said the team needs to stay grounded and remember the goals laid out for the program in the future.
“[In order to build on this season,] they need to keep that same mind set, keep working hard in the gym, stay focused and don’t lose sight of the goals we set out for ourselves,” said Bienemann.
Kusimo reiterated Bienemann’s sentiments.
“The program has come a long way from my freshman year and they are only going to get better from this point on,” said Kusimo. “The team needs to keep its continuity and the ability to play together. This year, we all worked together to achieve the same goals, and the team has to have that same attitude next year if they want to be successful.”
One thing is for sure, Washington & Lee Men’s Basketball is back on track.