Published: January 26, 2008 12:17 am      

ERIC KNOPSNYDER | Shubik, even better

FAIRFIELD, Conn. — Drew Shubik is hardly the same player that he was when he left North Star High School four years ago to play basketball at Sacred Heart University.

He looks different. He acts different. And he certainly plays different.

“I was just a shy little kid,” Shubik said Thursday night after his team beat Long Island University to improve to 7-2 in the Northeast Conference. “I remember Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, I’d be in the gym instead of being out with friends.”

A team captain who is on the cover of the team’s media guide, Shubik still puts in plenty of time at the gym, but he’s also become a bit of a celebrity in Fairfield. It’s evident as friends and acquaintances call out to him at the William H. Pitt recreation center or while he’s stopping for a quick bite to eat at a local diner or while he’s just strolling around campus.

There were other transformations as well. He has grown 11⁄2 inches to his current height of 6-foot-41⁄2. He added about 25 pounds to what was a thin frame when he was dominating the Somerset County League.

And he picked up plenty of confidence. Along the way, coach Dave Bike’s program, which was trying to transition from a Division II powerhouse into a legitimate Division I team, started picking up more and more victories.

The Pioneeers went 5-22 in Shubik’s freshman year. That was tough for Shubik, who did not lose 22 times in his four-year career at North Star. But he stuck with the program, helping his teammates go 12-16 when he was a sophomore. Last year, they went 18-14 and advanced to the NEC championship game, falling a win short of the NCAA tournament.

This year, after a slow start in the non-conference slate, Sacred Heart has come on strong in the league, and the Pioneers (10-10, 7-2) control their own destiny in the NEC.

“We’ve got nine games left. We play the first-place team twice, second-place team once,” Shubik said. “We’re making big strides in winning close games. That’s the sign of a mature team.”

Shubik, who was named the team’s top defensive player after each of the past two seasons and won Sacred Heart’s Mr. Hustle Award in addition to the NEC Scholar-Athlete award for men’s basketball last season, is leaving his mark on the program in other ways as well. He is the school’s all-time leader in steals with 178 and he needs to average about a dozen points per game for the rest of the regular season to hit the 1,000-point milestone.

While he still has plenty left to play for in college, like most seniors, Shubik’s already thinking about his future. He’s hoping to continue his basketball career overseas.

Bike certainly thinks he’s capable of doing it.

“There is an opportunity to play overseas for a lot of people, but there is a difference between making $100 a month (or much more),” said Bike, who has seen about a half-dozen of his former players make it to the pros. “I think he’ll be able to play in a very competitive league, make money and have a good career.”

Said Shubik: “I’m going to try to make a living out of it. As long as I can get enough to eat – wherever I’m sleeping, I don’t care – but as long as I can live off it, then I’m going to play until I can’t play any more.”



Eric Knopsnyder is the sports editor of The Tribune-Democrat.