Men’s basketball looking to have a bounce-back season

By Joel Joly | Posted on November 19, 2015

Kean basketball is finally here. After finishing last season with a record of 6-19, men’s team captain Tommy Soulias has big expectations, and is motivated to start the season off strong in the home opener against Marymount University.

“We want to be a 20 win team,” Soulias said enthusiastically. “We want to get into the NJAC playoffs, and then hopefully we win NJAC championship. Winning the NJAC championship you get into the Division III NCAA tournament, March Madness, who doesn’t want to be playing college basketball in March?”

Tommy Soulias, nephew of former NBA player Garry Witts, had a successful season last year.

“Basketball is in my family,” Soulias said. “My Mom had played basketball in college, and my dad had played basketball in college. My mom went to Sumsion College, and my dad went to TCNJ. I started playing basketball at 4 years old. I really didn’t have much of a choice.”

Soulia’s play last season did not go unrecognized. He was named to the Division III All-Metropolitan team selection after leading the NJAC in scoring, averaging 21.4 points per game. Soulias has great confidence in his team and is ready to take on the challenge going into this season.

“I feel great about the guys we got,” Soulias said. “We have a lot of new comers. As far as the returners, we have me, senior Mike Diamond, junior Kevin Grek, and senior Dre Kelly. We’re excited. We can’t wait to
get it going. The off-season was great for us. We got a lot of work done together, and we built up some chemistry, so we’re excited for the season.”

The Cougars made some adjustments this year, and Soulias seems satisfied with the results.

“Our assistant coaches did a great job on recruiting,” Soulias said. “They went out and got some talent dudes, who are athletic and can defend. The guys we have returning put in a lot of skill work over the summer to be ready to go this year.”

---