Eben Consigli brings toughness to Nipmuc boys basketball after torn ACL cost him last year

Posted by Admin January 13, 2025 Basketball

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Eben Consigli dribbled a basketball between his legs in his garage all last winter.

It’s all the then-Nipmuc sophomore could do. He tore his ACL in the third game of the football season against Norton, sidelining him for the rest of the fall and all winter. Consigli chased a Lancer down and planted his foot.

“It blew out,” he said. “Once I felt the pop, I knew it wasn’t going to be good.”

His mother Tracy and brother Griffin have both torn ACLs, so he knew what was in store. Consigli thought about basketball. He played on the Warriors’ junior varsity as a freshman and knew he’d taste varsity as a sophomore.

Nipmuc coach Jason Gosselin welcomed Consigli into the fold as he recovered.

“It was hard to not play with everyone,” Consigli said. “It was nice that my coach let me even though I hadn’t played any minutes of varsity basketball he let me stay with our team and be a part of that.”

Consigli attended every practice he could around his rehab schedule. He kept the stat sheet and provided insight and encouragement.

“He was part of our team. He did everything that we did,” Gosselin said. “Brutal to not be able to play because he’s such a great athlete. But he was great didn’t rush it, trusted the process. He was instrumental in what we did last year.”

Nipmuc captured the program’s first Dual Valley Conference League title and won the Central Massachusetts Class C Championship for the first time. The Warriors qualified for the Division 3 state tournament but fell in the preliminary round.

“We didn’t have a dominant slasher,” Nipmuc senior James McKinney said. “We didn’t have that force. Our defense was lackluster.”

Nipmuc graduated its primary ball handler in Brayden Kelly. Consigli knew his pathway to playing time as a junior was as a perimeter player. That’s why he dribbled so much, to both become accustomed to feeling the ball in his hands and feel something familiar. His dribbling drills and practice shots provided a background soundtrack to practices.

“I was thinking that if I’m going to be here, I might as well get better,” Consigli said. “It took a lot of the emotional stress off just being with my friends and playing the sports that I love.”

He returned to the football field this fall and ranked in the top 20 of Central Mass. with 960 yards rushing. Consigli has appeared in all six Nipmuc basketball games this winter, as well, and scored multiple field goals in five of them.

“Even going into this season I wasn’t sure how much I’d be behind,” he said. “I found my role and stuck with it.”

His time around practice ensured he could keep up mentally when he was physically stationary.

“He was asking all of the right questions trying to make sure he understood the looks we were looking for on offense, the reads on defense,” Gosselin said. “He’s a smart kid. If you can play football with a high IQ, you can grasp they why behind the whats in any sport. He’s a guy you want to play with, not against. Adding someone like Eben, it’s a different level of toughness.”

Contact Kyle Grabowski at kgrabowski@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @kylegrbwsk.