Coaches: Jeff Ruskin, Tyler Whitley

ABOUT THE TEAM:

Our Tradition

Over the years, Salisbury School has produced one of the finest Class B basketball teams in New England, qualifying for  year-end tournament play 17 times in the last 20 years, including three trips to the championship game.  After a three year absence, the Crimson Knights returned to the NEPSAC Tournament in 2007 and again in 2008, when they were seeded fourth.  A loss in the semi-finals of the 2009 Western New England Basketball League Tournament ended Salisbury's season.  Their 20-7 record gave the Knights back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in school history.  This year's team earned Salisbury's fourth consecutive invitation to the post-season playoffs.

Our Schedule

Salisbury plays a challenging schedule that includes traditional prep school opponents and games against the Williams College JV, the Army JV, and national AAU power The New York Gauchos.  The team has also traveled to many in-season tournaments, including the Doc Hurley Classic (Hartford, CT), the National Prep School Invitational (University of Rhode Island), the Thomas Blackburn Tournament (Worcester, MA), the Hall of Fame Classic (Springfield, MA), and the Sun Youth Holiday Classic (Montreal, CAN). This past year, the team returned to Loomis-Chaffee School (Windsor, CT) and won its second consecutive Bob Southall Holiday Tournament with an 81-55 victory over Suffield Academy in the championship game.  In December, the Knights will play in the Hoop Mountain Prep School Showcase.

Our Players

Numerous Salisbury players have continued their careers in the collegiate ranks.  Ten Knights have gone on to play Division I basketball, including Mitchell McDonald '07  and Jason Pancoe'09, both of whom will be suiting up at Army this year.  Previous Knights have played at Oklahoma, Tulane, LaSalle, Massachusetts, Utah, Bucknell, and  George Washngton.  Other Salisbury hoopsters have played at schools such as Middlebury, Trinity, Bates, St. Lawrence, Rhodes, Wesleyan, Merrimack, St. Thomas Aquinas, Palm Beach Atlantic, and Hobart.  Demetrius Porter '08 (Connecticut College) was named New England Small College Athletic Conference "Rookie of the Year" for the 2008-09 season.  In addition, three former Knights have played professionally overseas.

This year, Zaid Hearst'11 was named to the All-Western New England Conference first team and Wil Tye'10 made the All-WNEC second unit.  Lachlan Magee'10 earned All-WNEC honorable mention.

Our Coaches

Jeff Ruskin completed his fourth year as Salisbury's head coach after successful stints at four other schools.  His career record is 233-123 (.654).  Ruskin took over the reins on the Hilltop prior to the 2006-07 season and led Salisbury back into the NEPSAC Class B Tournament, after a three year absence.  Under his leadership, the Knights are 71-34 (.676), qualifying for post-season play every year.  During the 2008-09 campaign, the Knights were 20-7 (.741) and became the first team in school history to record back-to-back 20-win seasons.  In 13 years as a varsity head coach, Ruskin's teams have reached the 20-win plateau on six occasions.

Ruskin began his coaching career in 1972 at North Ridgeville (OH) Lake Ridge Academy.  He then moved to Saddle River (NJ) Day School where his teams won three Tri-State League championships (1976-78) and three New Jersey Independent School Conference titles (1975-77).  In 1979, Ruskin led Midland Park (NJ) HS to the Bergen-Passaic League freshmen championship and his 1982 Emerson (NJ) HS squad won the Bergen County Scholastic League’s Olympic Division title, the first in the school’s history.  

A graduate of Bradley University, Ruskin has coached at the renowned Hoop Group Eastern Elite and Five-Star basketball camps, and has spoken at various clinics in the northeast.

Tyler Whitley joined the Salisbury varsity basketball staff this year after graduating  from Wesleyan University. While at Wesleyan, he was a four-year football standout and was named to the NESCAC All-Academic Team his senior year. Prior to Wesleyan, Whitley was a three-sport star at rival Taft School, where he won All-Founders League honors in football, basketball and track and field. He made the All-New England Class A football team and won the New England championship throwing the javelin. In addition to serving as a tutor in the Rudd Learning Center,  Whitley also is an assistant varsity football coach.

Below is the link to MaxPreps National Basketball Rankings.  Click on it to view the team roster and individual and team statistics.

Varsity Roster and Statistics on MaxPreps