SUNY Adirondack men’s basketball off to best start in decades

By Ben Westcott, Chronicle Staff Writer

SUNY Adirondack’s men’s basketball team is in the midst of a program turnaround. The Timberwolves have jumped out to a 7-2 record, including 6-0 at home.

Head Coach Maxx Sweet, who played at Adirondack himself for a year in 2011, says it’s the team’s best start since the early 90s.

Sweet, who is also the school’s assistant athletic director, became Adirondack’s head coach in 2021. The season prior, the team was 3-22. The year before that, 4-21.

Sweet’s success wasn’t immediate. His first year as head coach, the Timberwolves went 3-19.

But in the 2022-23 campaign, things started to turn around. Adirondack posted a 14-13 record and had its first home playoff game in over 25 years. Last season, the team finished in the top 5 of its 16-team region, going 12-15 overall.

“It takes time to rebuild a program,” Sweet said. “Adirondack’s had success in the past, but in recent years it’s kind of fell off. We knew it’d take some time to rebuild the brand and get our name out in the community, not only locally but downstate.

“It’s kind of growing to be a nationwide product too, because we’re bringing in players from all over the country.”

Players hail from Las Vegas, Nev.; Birmingham, Ala.; Orlando, Fla.; and Greenville, S.C.

The most local player is freshman guard Angelo Bergman, from Lake George. Another freshman guard, Mariano Dicaterino, is from Gloversville.

Another local connection is Assistant Coach Dillon Murphy, a South Glens Falls grad who joined the staff in 2021.

“We are competing at a high level, which helps in recruiting,” Coach Sweet said, adding “we do value our local recruiting. I think it’s getting a little easier to recruit locally because we’re not looked at as little old ACC anymore [the school was formerly named Adirondack Community College]. We’re looked at as a viable college basketball option at a high level.”

Another feather in the program’s cap is that 11 players in the last three years have advanced to four-year colleges.

“It’s kind of a slow build, but we’re getting to be in the right direction,” Sweet said.

“Before I got here there were some issues with character and personnel, but our culture has done a complete 180.

“We do a lot in the community, and get out and support other programs. We’re getting things done academically too. The last three years we’ve had the best team GPA in program history.”

In turn, “We really value the support that we get from our campus community.”

“We’re drawing a great crowd,” Coach Sweet said. “Junior college basketball is tough. At times we go on the road and some gyms are completely empty. But a lot of our games are completely packed. I credit that to the support that we have on campus from a bunch of different departments. It’s definitely a great atmosphere and a really good home court advantage.”

He said last year’s home playoff game was standing room only, and “we’ve kind of seen a lot of that this semester already.”

Sweet describes his team as a “young group,” adding, “We are a team that presses full court. We have a lot of depth, which helps with tired legs. And we’re a very unselfish group on the offensive end.”

Athletic Director Julie Clark, a 1989 Queensbury High School alum (who was inducted this year into Queensbury’s Athletic Hall of Fame), took over the AD job in September after seven and a half years as assistant AD.

She said sports are an important part of all that SUNY Adirondack offers.

“It’s part of the campus environment,” she said. “It’s part of the balance of what a student comes to college for. Going to a game is fun and exciting, and it brings the school spirit together. Everybody’s cheering for the goal of winning.”

At men’s basketball games in particular, she said, “There’s a lot of great excitement. The gym is small, so it gets really loud.”

She credits Sweet with changing the men’s basketball culture, but adds, “The college chose to make athletics a priority about eight years ago. And when they did that, they hired a full time athletic director and assistant athletic director.”

SUNY Adirondack hosts Paul Smith’s College this Friday, Dec. 13 at 7 p.m. The Timberwolves’ next home game after that is Jan. 22 at 7 p.m. against Mohawk Valley Community College.

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