S p or t s
Yeomen Basketball Looks Ahead to 2021–22 Season
Fourth-year men’s basketball player Wolf Moser dribbles up the court.
John Elrod Contributing Sports Editor On Tuesday, Nov. 9, the Oberlin men’s basketball team will play their first game of the season against Waynesburg University. The Yeomen are coming off a successful 2019–20 season where they went 15–12 overall — the team’s first winning season since 1992 — but the squad has seen significant turnover since then. Players have transferred in and out of Oberlin and many first- and second-years will begin their College basketball careers this year. Out of the 20 players on the team, only four were on the 2019–20 team. The team has just two fourth-years, Wolf Moser and Darien Knowles, both of whom were not originally in the class of 2022. Moser changed classes after taking a gap year and Knowles transferred to Oberlin in 2020. Head Coach Isaiah Cavaco recognizes the work Moser and Knowles have put in to be leaders for the young team. “They have done a great job being positive role models for our younger players,” Cavaco said. “Their approach to practice has been a great example to follow, and their attention to detail will prove to be extremely valuable.” Knowles, a local of Amherst, Ohio, embraces the challenge of being one of the few experienced players on the team. “I feel very comfortable stepping up to lead this year,” Knowles said. “We have a lot of young guys who are eager and hungry to learn and grow as players, and I feel like I have the knowledge and experience to help guide that process.” Moser gives credit to all of his team members for their strong display of leadership during preseason and emphasizes the squad’s team-centric attitude and will to win. “We want to be the best team in the conference and we want to win the conference championship,” he said. “That is where our heads are at as a team. We don’t care about personal accomplishments. We want to win as a unit and we want to win every time we step on the court.” Cavaco echoed the importance of this mindset. “For a lot of the players, it’s easy to feel like you have to prove something as an individual at this time of year, but we’re trying to redirect that focus
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Courtesy of GoYeo
to be a dependable part of a greater group,” he said. Cavaco, whose basketball résumé includes four years as a player for Yale University, will enter his 17th season as head coach of the Yeomen. He is excited to continue helping players lead successful lives while they are at Oberlin and after they leave. “It’s great to see their hard work be rewarded on and off the court, and even though we don’t always get to see the results on campus, [hearing] the stories of how being here at Oberlin helped former players down the road is the best form of winning,” he said. Cavaco is looking forward to the Nov. 20 home game where the College will recognize Oberlin High School Boys’ Basketball Coach and 2022 Ohio Teacher of the Year Kurt Russell. Cavaco also noted the Nov. 30 game against North Coast Athletic Conference rival, The College of Wooster. The team will give away t-shirts to the first 100 Oberlin students who show up to cheer them on. The Wooster game will likely be a tough, competitive matchup for Oberlin. The Fighting Scots have won 18 NCAC championships since the conference’s inception in 1983, most recently in 2019. On Jan. 3 and Jan. 29, the Yeomen will play Wittenberg University, another team that will be a challenge for Oberlin. The Tigers, ranked 22nd for NCAC Division III this season by d3hoops.com, have won a total of 13 NCAC titles and are the defending champions of the conference. Moser is looking forward to playing these tough conference opponents. “It is always fun to play Wittenberg and Wooster because they are usually nationally ranked, so it’s fun to get a chance to knock off a ranked team, but all of our conference games are equally important to us,” he said. This week, the focus is on the first game at Waynesburg. The team is looking forward to the return of competition in front of a crowded gym. “It doesn’t even seem real that we are less than a week away from our season opener,” Knowles said. “We are excited, though! The crowds bring so much energy and life into the game that we’ll be able to feed off of.”
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surrounding it a more positive and inclusive one, even though this may not be the perception of other students on campus. He says taking accountability is key in this process. “Accountability allows individuals to learn from their actions and grow as a result,” he said. “This involves having the individuals understand the consequences of their actions and working to ensure there are no repeats, as well as making space for those who have been harmed by players on this team. It’s important we acknowledge the survivors and understand their emotions.” Anastasio says that as the team moves forward in trying to repair its reputation on campus, it’s important to note that the team has been having this conversation since he got to Oberlin in 2018. “We’ve known our reputation has been a problem for years now,” he said. “We’ve always addressed it; even three years ago when I was a first-year, this was something we talked about actively and often. That being said, it shouldn’t take getting blasted on social media for us to want to make a change and hold each other accountable.” Norris says that in an unofficial capacity, the team is working on building trust in the community each day and interacting with those outside of the athletic sphere. “The actions of the few cannot outweigh the many, and it is our goal to repair and build on relationships with the student body at large,” he said. “This year Yianni and I were Title IX ambassadors for our team, and as a group they showed great engagement and willingness to learn about how to reduce harm in this community. I was very encouraged by their responses.” Gardner points out, however, that due to the Title IX process and constraints, the team is not allowed to take any action against individuals who have perpetuated harm unless a formal process ends in the office stating an individual deserves consequences. Gardner promises the team is working hard and diligently to make sure violence is not tolerated or perpetuated within the baseball team. “The Title IX office definitely limits what we can do as players, which is frustrating because we want to do everything we can to resolve situations and hold people accountable,” he said. When a report is filed against a player, the team is not made aware of the allegations as per Title IX regulations and the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. The Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion website reads, “The Title IX team handles all matters professionally and discreetly by sharing information only with those who need to know and by informing participants of those disclosures. The Title IX team maintains the privacy of student records in compliance with the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.” College third-year Emma Hart, one of the leaders of Survivors of Sexual Harm & Allies, believes that the most important thing for players to do is to support survivors. “We need to believe survivors, and the default should be to believe survivors,” she said. “It should not be to make excuses or question a survivor’s story. The focus should be to believe and reflect on what the survivor needs.” While Hart is encouraged by the recent dialogue by the baseball team, she asserts that accountability should always be about the survivor and not the team image. “I’m glad that [the baseball] team is talking about it, but it’s less so about the team’s image and more so that [the players] should be asking themselves the question, ‘How have we enabled harm?’” Hart said. Norris shares similar sentiments with Gardner and says due to the fact that the team has been given minimal power to enact consequences, it is doing its very best to ensure that anyone on the team who perpetuates harm goes through a process in which they will grow and acknowledge their actions. “From that process, we hope to ensure that no further harm is caused here at Oberlin or in the world beyond,” he said.
