At 8:30 p.m. on Monday night, senior guard Ahmed El Nokali was on the phone in his room, which smelled like the dinner from Wendy's that he had not yet eaten. The fast food was not a sign of his addiction to Old Fashioned Hamburgers, but an indicator of how late basketball practice ran, which was way past the end of dinner at El Nokali's eating club, Cap and Gown. If he was bothered, he did not show it. What he did show was dedication to the team and excitement for the season to come, even if it means missing every meal between now and March Madness.
New day
Last year's team may have won the Ivy League, but El Nokali is the first to say that this year's team is different, and that the change is for the better. The team has a whole new mentality from last season, which it began as an underdog and ended as the Ivy champion.
"Last year [head] coach [John] Thompson ['88] tried to instill confidence in us. This year we have to show why we are the favorite. It is going to be tough to replace Nate [Walton '01], but this is not the same team minus Nate, it is a whole new team with a new look. This is also a very athletic team, unlike the past. Anyone who plays is capable of scoring 20 points on a given night - we have that much talent," El Nokali said.
El Nokali also thinks the team is closer than it has ever been, which makes the long practices easier to handle.
"If we run late now the whole team will go down to the student center together. We will all go to the street together, pre-party together, and those are things the team has never really done before."
The kid can play
El Nokali started playing basketball in the third grade, when he joined the local YMCA league with his neighbor. After that, he played with his older brother Amr and his friends, who did not mind having a kid brother hang around, especially one who could play basketball like Ahmed. While Amr played for two years at the University of Pittsburgh and El Nokali's younger brother played through his junior year of high school, Ahmed is the only El Nokali to have stuck with the game throughout college. For him it was an obvious decision, despite a few years playing baseball.
"Baseball is so slow in comparison. I always knew that it was just basketball for me."
El Nokali started playing all year round during his years at Chartiers Valley High School in Pittsburgh. He rotated between fall open gyms, the regular season, spring tournaments and summer camps - and loved every minute of it.
"When I'm on the court it is like I'm in a whole different world. I can just set aside everything else that is going on in my life, all of the trivial things, and then there is just competitiveness."
Nate's team no more
Coach Thompson is looking for that competitiveness in El Nokali, whom he needs to play an important role this year. He is looking to the senior in part to fill the position left open by Walton, who was a unanimous First Team All-Ivy selection. El Nokali feels ready to assume a leadership role, both in terms of vocal on-court leadership and by setting an example with his work ethic.
"You can't think about it in terms of the amount of pressure that is on you. I've been playing basketball for so many years, I feel more like this is the opportunity I've been waiting for."
El Nokali knows that it is especially important for him to play a big role in the beginning of the season, since Thompson does not want to have to depend on the freshmen too early, before they have gotten used to the offense and college basketball.
"If you're concerned about getting plays right, you're not playing basketball, you're just being a machine."
Man about town
Between basketball and being an economics major, El-Nokali does not have much time for anything else. When he does have the occasional breather, he likes to watch movies, especially "Austin Powers" and "Braveheart." He and a friend also have a tradition of attending campus events. Every week they read the "This Week's Campus Events" email and pick one activity to attend. Last week, it was Twelfth Night. This week they had only Monday and Tuesday to choose from before the team left for California to play in the BCA Classic, a sacrifice to which El Nokali does not give a second thought.
As far as the season goes, El Nokali has big plans for the team.
"Every year we want to win the Ivies and hopefully do something in the [NCAA] tournament, not just play one game and go home. Hope-fully we can make some noise, play competitively. It would be great to get to the Sweet 16."
His personal goals, however, are much more vague. He figures that the most important thing is that the team should win. If that happens, everything else will fall into place.
"I just love basketball, who cares if I get to play [in the game] or not?"
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