The Quad

Issue date: 2/4/08 Section: Sports

A tattoo of an athlete with outstretched arms clutching a football in one hand and a basketball in the other adorns the right bicep of Golden Rams forward Sam Scott. The ink is a clear metaphor for Scott's athletic career, and a snapshot of his current status on both the West Chester's football and men's basketball teams.

During the 2007 football season, Scott used up-tempo practices, hard work in the weight room and on the field athleticism to impress the coaching staff enough to pencil him into the starting lineup as an outside linebacker.

Fast forward to January 30, 2008 and West Chester's 71-59 victory over the Bloomsburg Huskies and Scott appears poised, utilizing the same attributes from his successful football campaign, to crack the starting lineup on the men's basketball team as well.

"You know what you're going to get out of Sam," Head Coach Dick DeLaney said. "Sam's going to give you some rebounds and tremendous defense. I've tried to sub him in on defensive possessions sometimes just to give us a spark and the energy tonight which is there every game, and in practice he never shuts the heck up which is fine."

To date, Scott has started just one game this season but appeared in 16 of the Golden Rams contests, ranks fifth on the team with 40 rebounds0 and averages two points in just under 10 minutes per game. However, Scott's impact on this team transcends the stat sheet. During his minutes this season Scott hustles for every lose ball, fights for rebounds on both ends of the floor and exudes a calm sense of confidence that his teammates appear to feed off of.

Just ask point guard and sophomore captain Kenneth St. George.

"Sam Scott, if you see him in practice, he's a wild animal, he's everywhere," St. George said. "He preaches defense every day, that's our goal, 50's, 50's, 50's, we feel like we have the offensive weapons and if you only score 50, that's definitely not going to be enough, we work hard towards that every single day."

In fact, from this vantage point, the time has come for Scott to emerge as a starter on this team. With Lenwood Greenwood being the only senior on this roster, and firmly cemented in the starting lineup at center, Scott represents the future at that position, and inserting him in the starting lineup alongside Greenwood would benefit both Scott and the team, today and into the future as well.

DeLaney is doing a masterful job at simultaneously laying the groundwork of a program that will undoubtedly regain its place amongst the conference elite in coming years, all the while keeping a careful eye towards guiding these young and hungry Golden Rams towards success in the here and now.

Continued...

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