There is a new legacy for the 2004-2005 basketball season for the Skyline Trojans. First-year head coach Justin Piergrossi has a young basketball team full of players that have never once played college basketball. Every player on the team is a freshman. On the 18-man roster, 16 of them are from the Bay Area and two are from overseas, Switzerland and Yugoslavia.
From the practices in the past few months for the Trojans, Piergrossi thinks that the team captain, point guard Marques Benjamin, and guard Paul Phangureh may blossom this coming season.
“Marques, he is a player that is a great floor leader; he is a great decision maker, and he is the kind of kid that you want running your team on the floor,” Piergrossi said. “A coach like me in his first year, it was very important to get a point guard like Marques. I trust him, I trust his decisions, and I think our team is in good hands with him running the team.”
Phangureh from Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose was the most valuable player of the West Catholic Athletic League (WCAL), one of the top leagues in Northern California.
“For us to get Paul, a quality player, was important,” said Piergrossi. “Another great kid, plays hard, and a real competitor.”
This season, the Trojans hope to be competitive in every game they play and to win all of them, if not most of them.
“We are going to be able to be competitive with everybody–that is the goal,” Piergrossi said. “Especially for the first year, we want to have a chance to win every single game. A lot of things have to go well. We are going to play some teams that are more talented then we are.”
With the youthful team that Piergrossi has, Skyline can play well with some key strengths such as energy, competitiveness, and a hunger to play basketball, which all add up to great chemistry.
“They have improved immensely in the past couple of months,” Piergrossi said. “They have worked hard and team chemistry is good right now. They are a great group of kids; they get along well and play well together. We have a team out there instead of individuals.”
Their weakness is a lack of experience; they have never played a college basketball game. Not to mention the team isn’t very big, with their tallest player being 6 foot 6 inches tall. Piergrossi is not really sure that the team expectations of the competition are accurate at the moment, but with his experience, he can coach his team on how to win.
The opportunity for Piergrossi to be head coach of Skyline College basketball is a great experience, and he is enjoying the ride. Often, when a person gets into the sport of basketball, they dream about being a head coach, and it’s not an easy goal to accomplish. Some may be assistant coaches for years and may not have a taste of being a head coach.
“I have been preparing for this for a long time,” Piergrossi said. “For every coach you work for, you learn something new and try to mold what your coaching style is going to be.”
Skyline player Marcus Hagwood is excited about his team’s chances in the upcoming season and, along with teammates Romain Maendly and Antoine Moore, he has an achievable team goal: win a championship.
“We don’t plan to lose, but we might take losses during the season,” Hagwood said. We don’t go into the game with the mindset to lose. We go in with the mindset everyday to go to war. With that mindset, we plan on being victorious every game.”
Coach Piergrossi is very full of pride with his young and exciting basketball team, and is hopeful for the upcoming season.
“I am proud of them .They have handled themselves on and off the floor like young adults,” Piergrossi said. “I really believe in the student athlete. These are not just athletes, they’re students. I [have] very high expectations of my guys and have come a long way, so I am proud of them right now.”
