2013-14 Bucknell Men's Basketball Media Guide - Bucknell Athletics

for Cam, to have a mindset to be one of the best
players in the league, and to be the best player on
our team every single day. He’s working on that.
The quality that made him such a great guy to play
with Mike Muscala is a quality that he has to kind
of lose a little bit. He needs to add that aggressive
edge to his game. Every great scorer has to have
that ‘I want the ball every time’ attitude, but then
you have to temper that so it fits within the team
philosophy. We also want Cam to be our dominant
voice every day in practice and in the locker room.
I think he’s embracing that. We want him to take a
few more risks on the offensive end.”
Joining Ayers as co-captain in 2013-14 is
junior point guard Steven Kaspar. The Tennessee
native flourished late last season and finished the
year playing some of the best, most confident
basketball of his career. His 73 assists were only six
off the team lead, despite playing only 16 minutes
per game. Kaspar logged six points, six rebounds
and six assists in the NCAA Tournament game
against Butler.
“Steven was voted a co-captain by his teammates,
and that is completely endorsed and
supported by his coaches,” said Paulsen. “He
has matured a ton, physically and mentally. His
approach to the game has also matured. He is
exerting his own method of leadership and is
playing with much more confidence. I thought his
emergence at the tail end of the year last year, to
be able to defend and to play more consistently
at the offensive end, was a huge key for us. Earlier
in his career he had those big ups and downs. He’s
playing at a high rate right now, which is what
you should expect from a junior. This is really the
year when a lot of guys emerge, and it’s exciting
to watch him do that.”
Ayers and Kaspar will surely play prominent
roles in the backcourt, and seniors Ryan Hill and
Ben Brackney along with sophomore Ryan Frazier
give the Bison three more experienced guards.
Junior Joshea Singleton, sophomore Chris Hass
and freshman John Azzinaro have all done good
things this preseason, and there are minutes out
there to be earned for each of them.
Hill has platooned with Kaspar at the point
guard spot for the last two seasons, and their styles
are different enough to provide a nice change of
pace. Hill enters the year with 99 career appearances
to his credit, and he has played a role on
three straight championship teams.
“Ryan has been a steady and solid player for
us,” said Paulsen. “He has improved every year
he’s been here, and he’s improved from last year
to this year. He’s not flashy or an explosive scorer,
but he has a really high basketball IQ. He is a quiet
leader, but he knows what our program is about,
and the guys just love him. He has played a lot of
big minutes in big games and he’s not going to
get rattled. I think he can have a big impact on this
year’s team, not necessarily in a scoring capacity,
but with his leadership and as a mentor to our
younger guards.”
Frazier quickly emerged as a contributor as
a freshman in 2012-13, and while he did register
three double-digit scoring games, his primary
strength was as a defender. Frazier did not start
in any of his 33 appearances, but he finished
most of them. In tight games down the stretch,
Paulsen counted on Frazier to help the team get
big stops, and he was a big reason why Bucknell
allowed only 57.8 points per game, the 14th-best
figure in the nation.
“Ryan was phenomenal for us last year,”
Paulsen praised. “He gave us a terrific defensive
presence. He was just a bulldog out there, even
in the latter half of the year when he was really
struggling on the offensive end, we wanted him in
the game. His ability to defend Mackey McKnight
and Tony Johnson was crucial in two critical wins
for us late in the year. The lasting image of him for
me is when he dove head-first to get the ball in the
Lafayette championship game, and then getting
up and making a play. He gives us that. Early in
the year he had some double-digit scoring games
against some of the higher-profile teams on our
schedule, so he can do that. I don’t know that he’ll
ever score 15 points per game, but I think he’ll
continue to improve and become more consistent
on the offensive end. We want him to do that, but
never at the expense of being that tough-as-nails
defensive guard. Ryan is also a guy with great
natural leadership capabilities, and we want him
to become a great secondary leader.”
While Frazier’s strength is his defense,
Azzinaro brings some flash to the offensive end
of the floor. Azzinaro comes to Bucknell from San
Antonio, Texas, where he was a prolific scorer at
the high school level. He stands just 5’11”, but he
has outstanding quickness and knows how to
get the ball in the basket, either from the point or
shooting guard position.
“John has a high basketball IQ,” said Paulsen.
“He is a very good scorer. He’s fast and has a lot of
confidence, and that’s a really good combination.
His adjustments will be mostly related to his size.
He has to learn how to play against size and learn
how to maximize his quickness to negate his size
disadvantage. His quickness advantage has to be
bigger than his size disadvantage. He has to learn
how to hit the floaters and mid-range shots, where
in high school he could get to the rim whenever
he wanted to. And then another big challenge for
him is to develop into a complete nuisance on the
defensive end.”
Brackney and Singleton bring versatility to
the off-ball spots. Both are best-suited to play on
the wings, but they can also play down at the “4”
position in a smaller lineup. Of the two, Brackney
has seen the more significant playing time. He appeared
in 29 games as sophomore in 2011-12, and
after being limited by a knee injury early last season,
he was an important player in some big games
down the stretch. He hit two critical 3-pointers in a
big February road win over Lehigh that solidified
Bucknell’s grip on first place, and then he came off
2013-14 Season Outlook
Brian Fitzpatrick
the bench to drain two more big treys as well as the
game-clinching free throws in the Patriot League
championship game against Lafayette.
“Ben is a very skilled, savvy player,” said
Paulsen. “He doesn’t get rattled. Of anyone who
I’ve ever coached, for a variety of reasons he’s probably
had the least clearly defined role while flourishing
in that situation anyway. To his unbelievable
credit, he’s proven the ability to come in, maybe
without having played a lot, or at all, in the game
before, and played different roles and hit big shots.
In my opinion, the two most important victories
we had last year were the win at Lehigh that kind
of put us in the driver’s seat for the regular-season
title, and of course the Patriot League championship
game against Lafayette. And we don’t win
either of those games without Ben Brackney. There
were no two bigger victories, and he was terrific
in both of them. With the work that he has done,
he has positioned himself to get an early crack at
establishing himself in a more consistent role. He’s
proven to be a reliable and steady performer, and
there’s a lot to be said for that.”
Singleton has shown some flashes of brilliance
over the last two seasons. He scored 12 points at
Vanderbilt in the second game of his career, and
he made some big plays in a win over New Mexico
State last season. But that lack of available minutes
on a veteran team has worked against Singleton,
and last season he was limited to 13 appearances.
His incredible athleticism makes him an intriguing
option, however, and Paulsen adores his attitude.
“I have so much respect for Joshea,” lauds
Paulsen. “He has handled some physical adversity
and then not having the type of role that he might
have envisioned his first two years, with unbelievable
class and work ethic and maturity. He worked
tirelessly on his own at his game and wanted
desperately that opportunity for more playing
time, and yet was 100-percent supportive of his
teammates. And that is all of what we are about
in our program. He has continued in both regards
this fall. He is in here all the time working on his
shot and watching film. His energy level, his talk
and his focus have been terrific. He’s playing much
better and more consistently, and he’s put himself
in a position to have a good, solid role this year.”
2013-14 Bucknell Men’s Basketball • 27 • @BisonSports