Tyler Morrill

Sports editor

Coming back to campus after a January Term abroad, I was surprised to see a few changes at Linfield.

Most noticeable was the Old Oak finally saying enough is enough, fighting through the wires and tumbling to its demise. A vacant patch of dirt is all that is left.

The second change I saw taking place was in Ted Wilson Gymnasium. Walking in to watch my first men’s basketball game of the season against Pacific University, I noticed the scoreboard was largely in our favor. Linfield men are managing to put a contender on the basketball floor.

It was difficult to recognize many of the players taking the floor this year as there are many new faces. These faces showed passion and enthusiasm, knowing that with a large lead everyone on the bench would be able to get some playing time.

Signs of taking care of business early on have also come up in the “win” column. Linfield, starting the season with a 4-1 record, made a tremendous turnaround from a team that only won three games in the Northwest Conference last season.

In the beginning, the outlook on the season seemed pretty bleak. The NWC is traditionally a deep basketball conference, and having a lot of young players with less than one season of experience playing together makes the expectations understandably low. Not much was expected from the Wildcats after being ranked eighth out of the nine NWC teams.

But there was no way to try and predict how the team would fare in the conference because no one knew what kind of talent the team had or how good its players could be.

Within that 4-1 start was a win against the defending NWC champion Whitworth University. It was a strong victory for the ’Cats, and the best thing that could have happened to them.

That game could also be helpful for any potential tiebreakers the Wildcats may face in the hunt for the third and final playoff spot. In the first four games of league play, this season’s team matched the amount of league wins last season’s team had all season.

One of the major reasons for the transformation that has taken place is the team’s play at home. They are the only team in conference with an undefeated home record. Before they started winning, the crowd at home games was large and loud, but now that wins have been coming more frequently, the crowd is even more enthusiastic and has become a great sixth man.

“We have a huge fan base,” senior guard Brian Murphy said. “They’re awesome. It’s the biggest in the conference. They do a really good job giving us support. We really feed off that energy, and you can tell by our body language and style of play.”

On the road, the ’Cats have struggled. But as a young team, this is expected. The comfort level when playing at home has certainly helped Linfield, but they have had trouble carrying that mentality on the road. The team averages 87.4 points per game at home, but when traveling they have managed to score only 70.4 per game. When they find the ability to play well both at home and away, the Wildcats will find themselves to be one of the teams to beat in the NWC.

Linfield’s offense is full of weapons and is one of the main reasons they’re a dangerous team to play in a single-elimination tournament. They have several players that shoot the ball well, including the bench. Four are averaging well over 40 percent shooting from beyond the three-point line.

Center K.C. Wiser is one of those four. The 6’8” freshman has been a major contributor to the team. He brings inside scoring Linfield has been missing, with 16.4 points per game. He also brings the toughness with his 7.5 rebounds per game, which is the second highest average in the league.

With their playoff fate out of their hands, the Wildcats are reliant not only on their play but also on Willamette University’s. Making the playoffs or not, this has been a great year as the program has turned a corner. With all but one player returning, more can be expected from Linfield in the years to come.