Varsity men’s basketball steps up
By Jennifer Brugman , 60th AMW Public Affairs
/ Published March 16, 2006
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --
The Travis Varsity Basketball team [Hawks] may be down but don’t count them out just yet.
The team, consisting of 12 players from squadrons across Travis, struggled to keep members during the high operations tempo at Travis after Sept. 11, 2001.
“There has been a decline because too many players were gone due to deployments and temporary duty assignments,” said Jeffrey Cascio, former Travis varsity basketball team guard.
The team picked back up again when Dwayne Burns, former United States Air Force Europe basketball team coach, took the reigns. Burns moved last month and Cascio became the coach after he left.
“It’s a work in progress,” said Paul Spencer, 60th Aerospace Medicine Squadron medical technician and Travis varsity basketball team point guard. “We’re just getting together. It’s kind of new for everybody.”
What the team lacks in cohesion, it makes up for in talent. Cascio estimates that there are five or six Division I caliber players on the team.
“[There is a] lot of talent on this particular team,” said Mark Esquer, 573rd Global Support Squadron C-5 crew chief and Travis varsity basketball team guard. “There’s no one main superstar. At any time, if one person has a bad game someone else steps in and carries their weight.”
They play an up-tempo athletic game with a lot of passing, running and the occasional dunk, according to Cascio. It’s big-time basketball. All of the team members are over 6 feet tall with a 6-foot 2-inch point guard, and 6-foot 5-inch and 6-foot 4-inch shooting guards.
“When we all get together, we’re pretty good,” said Spencer. “We get out and we run. We have fun. It’s not a boring game to watch.”
This season, the team has not only gelled, it has thrived. They have an 8-4 record since the season began in October.
“Now we have a committed group of veterans and a core group of young players,” Cascio said of the team’s success. The team will travel to Las Vegas, Nev., this weekend to play in a 12-team tournament.
“It’s all for the love of the game,” Cascio said. “[The team is] a mature group of guys [off the court] and when it’s time to play basketball, they’re awesome.”