With the departure of Henry Sims and Jason Clark, the 2012-2013 Hoyas were left without a senior to head the team. And with a team full of freshmen and sophomores, juniors Nate Lubick and Markel Starks need to fill the leadership roles in this year’s squad.
“We will see what happens here,” said Head Coach John Thompson III of this year’s squad. “It’s not always the oldest, and I’m not saying it won’t be, but I think that we have some strong personalities in each player.”
Though Coach Thompson thinks leadership could come from a number of different places, the players already look to Starks and Lubick as the most seasoned to lead the Hoyas through their daunting schedule.
“They both have the most experience,” sophomore forward Mikael Hopkins said of the duo. “They played a lot as freshmen, they both started last year as sophomores, so they are the leaders of the team and we’re going to go however they go. If they’re doing good then we are going to be doing good.”
The national basketball community has low expectations for the Hoyas as they begin the season unranked, but they have the capability to quickly change these perceptions with a few early wins, just like they did last season. Steady presences at the head of the team, à la Clark last year, are crucial in sustaining a positive outlook through the thick and thin of the schedule.
Although Starks started the majority of Georgetown’s games at point guard last year, he was not the only option for this role during the 2011-2012 season.
“I’ve worked through some adversity. Personally, it’s been the best thing for me,” he said.
The “adversity” Starks is referring to is his miscommunication with Coach Thompson near the end of last year. Following Georgetown’s blowout loss to Seton Hall on Feb. 21, Starks was benched against Villanova and did not start for the rest of the year.
This difficult stretch has taught him to lead by example.
“You have to set an example for the younger guys,” Starks said. “You have to set an example not just on the court, but off the court as well. You have to set a standard that we are here to participate in the sport, but we are here as students as well. Being a leader on and off the court is different.”
As Georgetown’s starting guard, Starks is in some impressive company. The junior is hoping to follow in the footsteps of players such as Jonathan Wallace, Chris Wright, Austin Freeman, and Jason Clark.
“It’s a challenge. You are surrounded by a lot of alpha males,” Starks said of leading. “You have to set an example. It’s not about who talks the best, who can bench the best, it’s about who can show the best.”
If Starks has big shoes to fill, Lubick has giant shoes to fill as the leader of the frontcourt at Big Man U. The junior forward knows there is much for him to overcome, but he is optimistic about the prospects for the season. “Losing Henry, being inexperienced up front, but you know we make it work,” he said. “We had a good offseason, these guys worked hard. Similar to last year, we need some guys to step up.”
In the past, Lubick’s hustle game has made him a prominent member of the team, but his work in the offseason to get slimmer hopefully has made him a more dynamic player.
“I think I worked on my body a lot, keyed in on some areas, you know, whether they were giving me some trouble, that I needed to improve on,” he said. “I worked on my shooting a lot, just honed up a lot of strengths, scoring ways for me during the offseason, shooting the ball sort of closer.”
Hollis Thompson, the only would-be senior, gave up his final season to go to the NBA, where he went undrafted. His exit gave Starks and Lubick their current opportunities, in which they have embraced helping out the group of freshmen which will play a large role in the frontcourt.
“Yeah definitely, you know, I mean it’s just teaching these guys the ropes. I mean as he was saying, the Big East is a tough schedule…a really tough league to be young in,” Lubick said. “And, you know, the biggest part is just getting these guys acclimated to the way that we practice, the way that we workout, the way that we play and that’s gonna be a lot on [Starks’ and my] shoulders.”
The new leaders are ready to spearhead the Hoyas’ charge into the intimidating, opportunity-filled season ahead.
