Greetings from Speidel Gymnasium!

As summer approaches its end, we are gearing up for the 2023-2024 season with no shortage of excitement! This group of student-athletes has developed tremendous pride in Elmira Men’s Basketball and is extremely motivated to continue taking strides toward making this program a force in the Empire 8 Conference.

The Soaring Eagles are coming off our best season since 2014-2015 and have plenty to be optimistic about with 75% of last year’s scoring set to return this season. The group includes an All-Empire 8 selection in Tyler Cardello, who had a breakout season, averaging 19.6 points to go along with nearly 7 rebounds per game in his sophomore campaign. Aaron Lane will be the team’s lone senior while Riley Spencer, JJ Babcock, Carter Seeberger, Owen Evans and Jack O’Grady join Cardello as rising juniors who have all played significant roles in their first two seasons in Speidel. Amin Ba-Ahmad, who transferred to Elmira from McMurry University in Texas last January, will begin his first full season as a Soaring Eagle this fall.

It’s not all about the returners, however, as we are thrilled to welcome a deep and talented incoming class, consisting of 11 freshmen and two transfers who will make their way to Park Place in the coming weeks.

This year’s recruiting class contains some local flavor, as we welcome Section 4 Class AAA Player of the Year, Chris Woodard, from Elmira High School and Mansfield University transfer, Ty Barrett, who holds the all-time scoring record at nearby Troy Area High School in Pennsylvania. Freshmen Manny Karkari-Mensah (La Salle Institute) and Sam Ruggles (Christian Brothers Academy) continue to help the Soaring Eagles build the recruiting pipeline to New York’s Capital Region while the Binghamton area provided the Purple and Gold with much needed interior depth in 6’6 forwards Davian King (Union-Endicott) and Noah Gray (Maine-Endwell). Incoming freshmen guards George Spinelli (Canandaiagua), AJ Graham (East Syracuse-Minoa) and Ezra Ontl (Charlotte Valley) will remain in their home state of New York as they join the Soaring Eagles this fall.

We did reach outside of the “Empire State of Mind” with this recruiting class, as the New England Prep School scene provided us with sharpshooter Alec Mercer (Lee Academy) and DaeMon Thomas (Brimmer & May). Sam Cunha also comes to Elmira from the New England Region as he will transfer in from Rhode Island College where he competed in his hometown of Providence, Rhode Island. Freshman guard, Kelton Brown, will make the furthest trip to Speidel Gymnasium as he comes from Olive Branch High School in Mississippi, where he helped lead his team to a state championship in his senior season.

With so much to look forward to, we also know that there is work to be done to assure these young men have a great experience while representing Elmira College in the community and on the hardwood. Last year, you helped us fundraise enough money to renovate our varsity locker room, which is set to be completed before our season begins in October–thank you!

This year, we truly need your generosity to help cover basic costs of gear, travel, meals, and team events. Budgets all across NCAA Division III are getting increasingly less plentiful and we are no exception to that. Our staff, players and administration are beyond proud of what we are building here at Elmira College but continuing to provide our student-athletes with a great experience is more difficult than ever. Your donations will directly benefit the young men mentioned above as they do their best to make the Elmira Men’s Basketball Community proud.

We appreciate your generosity and can’t wait to continue Soaring Forward in the 2023-2024 season!

With Tremendous Gratitude,

Casey McGraw