Holy Cross Making a Quick Turnaround

Josh Sankes, standing near photos of former Holy Cross stars Bob Cousy and Tom Heinsohn, imagined the artwork he hopes will decorate his right biceps.

A tattoo of a shield and a cross emblematic of his school. Perhaps his initials. Maybe even the year, 2001, if the once-outstanding basketball program makes it back to the NCAA tournament.

“I want to get a tattoo to remember it. I think about it all the time, having that tattoo on my arm, and think about playing the big game,” the Crusaders’ 7-foot center said in a hallway outside the gym after practice. “It’s the only way I’d ever get one.”

It would symbolize his comeback after almost giving up the game, and mark a milestone for Holy Cross, where basketball players take a challenging academic load while chasing on-court success.

The Crusaders improved to 17-5 with Wednesday’s 70-52 win over Lehigh. They won the 1947 NCAA title with Cousy and the 1954 NIT title with Heinsohn when that was the major tournament.

But their last postseason victory came in the 1981 NIT. In the NCAAs, they’re 0-4 since 1956 and last played in them in 1993. Their latest victory left them atop the Patriot League at 7-1, but only the postseason conference tournament winner goes to the NCAAs.

“I’m happy, but I’m not satisfied,” said forward Jared Curry, who endured three losing seasons with a 24-58 record, including last year’s 10-18 when four starters sustained long-term injuries.

In 1990, the school downgraded its program by joining the new conference, which didn’t allow athletic scholarships. Holy Cross began giving them again in 1998.

The emphasis on academics remains strong. Seven-hour bus rides between the school, 30 miles west of Boston, and Bucknell in Lewisburg, Pa., can resemble a rolling study hall.

“We’ll be driving to a place and everyone will have their head in a book,” Curry said. “It’s a lot easier when you’re piling on the wins.”

The Crusaders win with defense, holding opponents to 38.5 percent shooting.

“We really don’t have a chance to win unless we defend really well,” second-year coach Ralph Willard said.

Sankes does that well. He’s got 49 blocks and also leads the team with 13.3 points and 9.5 rebounds a game.

Finally, he feels comfortable.

As a youngster, he stood out because of his height. He has a mild case of cerebral palsy. He got little playing time in two seasons at Rutgers. Coach Kevin Bannon held a foul-shooting drill in which players and managers removed an article of clothing after each miss. At the end, Sankes and three others ran sprints in the nude.

“It was really disheartening,” Sankes said. “I definitely was close to giving up basketball.”

But Chris Spitler, a high-school buddy playing for Holy Cross, encouraged him to transfer.

“I didn’t trust anybody after what happened to me at Rutgers,” Sankes said. “I didn’t trust a lot of coaches and I was pretty bitter. So I knew I could trust Chris.”

The Holy Cross coach at the time, Bill Raynor, resigned during the season Sankes sat out as a transfer student. He was replaced by Willard, who had spent six seasons at Pittsburgh after taking Western Kentucky to the 1993 Sweet Sixteen. He brought intensity and attention to detail that energized the program.

The average attendance of 1,828 is nearly twice last year’s.

Many come to see Sankes. He was the nation’s second leading rebounder last season, his first with the Crusaders, and plans to attend pro camps this summer. Another big man, 6-11 Nate Lufkin from Texas, has agreed to attend Holy Cross next fall.

“There’s a great deal of tradition here,” Willard said. “That’s an important part of the selling point, and the fact that the alumni and board of trustees want to get back to where the program is respected again.”