In the days leading up to the start of the 2018-19 men's basketball season, the Atlantic10.com will profile two teams a day, leading up to tip-off on Tuesday, Nov. 6. Today's previews, written by Patrick Stevens, includes Fordham and George Washington.
FORDHAM RAMS
Schedule | Roster | Coach Neubauer on A-10 Live at Media Day (ESPN+)
Jeff Neubauer’s view of turning around Fordham’s basketball program is rooted in something that happened long before he took over the Rams in the spring of 2015.
It stretches back two decades further than that.
“I don’t look at this as Year 4,” Neubauer said. “I look at it as Year 24 for Fordham in the Atlantic 10. That’s really what I look at is. What I mean by that is trying to find an answer. It’s been a 24-year quest to try to find a way for Fordham to win an A-10 Championship.”
As tough as that’s been, Fordham showed instant progress in Neubauer’s first season in the Bronx as the Rams leaned heavily on creating pressure and easy baskets. They won 15 conference games over his first two years --- Fordham’s best stretch in the A-10 in nine seasons --- before injuries left them scrambling last season.
With a roster that includes eight freshmen, Neubauer is optimistic he’s found a long-term base for a roster capable of contending in the league.
“Our guys are looking forward,” Neubauer said. “We have guys that weren’t here last year or didn’t play during games last year. Nobody is looking back at last year. Everyone has their eyes forward.”
A look at the Rams:
Coach: Jeff Neubauer, fourth season at Fordham, 38-55 at Fordham and 227-189 in 13 seasons overall
Last year: The Rams finished 9-22 overall and 4-14 in the Atlantic 10. The No. 14 seed in the conference championship, Fordham fell 78-72 to George Washington in the first round.
They’ll miss: Fordham won’t have any of its top three scorers from last season available, for entirely different reasons. Will Tavares, a 6-6 wing, graduated after leading the Rams in scoring at 13.6 points a game. Joseph Chartouny, who led the NCAA with 3.34 steals per game, opted to transfer. And Prokop Slanina, a 6-10 senior who averaged 12.6 points and 5.1 rebounds last season, is out for the year after undergoing shoulder surgery and will redshirt.
Impact returners: Ivan Raut started all but two games as a freshman, and the 6-7 wing averaged 8.4 points and 3.6 rebounds while leading the Rams in 3-pointers made. He and 6-7 senior David Pekarek (5.2 ppg, 3.1 rpg) are the only regulars from last year’s rotation who will play an on-floor role for the Rams this season.
Neubauer is optimistic 6-8 junior Chuba Ohams, who started nine games two seasons ago before an injury-shorted 2017-18, can be a force in the paint.
“If you were to look at what he’s doing in practice compared to what he was able to do his previous two years, he’s a much different player,” Neubauer said. “Defensively, he’s always been long, he’s always been athletic. He’s been tall. Now, he’s doing things offensively that can really help our team.”
Newbies of note: Fordham is eager to see Saint Peter’s transfer Antwon Portley’s contributions after his sit-out season. Portley was a member of the Metro Atlantic’s All-Rookie team in 2015-16.
“We didn’t run one play for him the entire trip in Europe, and he led us in scoring with 15 a game,” Neubauer said. “As a coach that’s really encouraging when you have a guy who knows how to find the bucket and you don’t necessarily have to set up him to find that bucket.”
Fordham’s backcourt of the future might also be its backcourt of the present. Nick Honor, a 5-10 Florida product, had the ball in his hands throughout the Rams’ August trip to Europe, and the 6-4 Chris Austin also figures to play a big role.
Reasons to be optimistic:
Neubauer says any chance to take an overseas trip is fortuitous, but the Rams’ European trip this past summer figures to be especially helpful this year with so many newcomers.
“I feel we have recruited these eight freshmen, six of them scholarship guys, and we are going to build the program around them,” Neubauer said.
In his three seasons on the job, Neubauer has pinpointed athleticism as an area where Fordham needs to improve. This year’s recruiting class directly addressed that issue.
Investing early playing time in Austin, Honor and other freshmen should pay off down the road for the Rams.
“Nick Honor, Chris Austin, those are two freshmen we’re really excited about,” Neubauer said. “I think they really fit into the Atlantic 10 well. What I mean by that is, not only are they terrific 3-point shooters, but their level of athleticism is high-level. It compares to the guys they’re going to be play against.”
X factor: After missing most of last season because of injury, 6-8 senior Jesse Bunting should fortify the Rams in the paint. “He brings a toughness,” Neubauer said. “He’s all about winning and I’m not saying our other guys aren’t. Our other guys are about winning as well. But Jesse really puts the team first in every situation.”
Circle the date(s): The Rams will spend much of their non-conference schedule at home, leaving campus just three times before Jan. 9. Among the visitors is Rutgers, which comes to Rose Hill Gym on Dec. 9 a year after defeating Fordham 75-63 in Piscataway.
Bottom line: It’s a young team, and Neubauer scheduled accordingly in the hopes the Rams could get off to a solid start as the newcomers mesh and mature. It could be an inconsistent bunch, though Fordham’s hope is its infusion of backcourt talent will help solve its long-running perimeter shooting issues and make it a more dangerous offensive team sooner rather than later.
GEORGE WASHINGTON
Schedule | Roster | Coach Joseph on A-10 Live at Media Day (ESPN+)
George Washington doesn’t have a scholarship senior on the roster, and it is determined to grow with a rotation that should be together for the next two years. It’s an echo of 2012-13, when a freshman class that included Patricio Garino, Kevin Larsen and Joe McDonald took some lumps during a 13-17 season but eventually matured into the core of an NIT championship squad.
One way the Colonials won’t be the same as that group --- which eventually added forward Tyler Cavanaugh and rangy wing Yuta Watanabe --- is with their size.
“We’ll play smaller at times, which I think is great because our league has done that a great deal,” coach Maurice Joseph said. “Richmond has played small for years and George Mason plays their four-guard lineup. VCU did it last year. We’ve been the slow guys, and now we’re going to catch up to that because we have the personnel to do it.”
George Washington has ranked in the bottom half of the A-10 in adjusted tempo according to KenPom.com in each of the last four seasons. But the Colonials are built to push the pace much more this season as Joseph juggles a roster teeming with backcourt options.
“Offensively, we’ll probably look like a little more of a different team because we’ll space the floor a little more, we’ll play with greater pace on a regular basis now that we have the personnel to do so,” Joseph said. “The defensive end won’t change. In fact, we need to increase that now that we have more interchangeable pieces and the ability to do some different things.”
A look at the Colonials:
Coach: Maurice Joseph, third season at George Washington, 35-33 overall and with the Colonials
Last year: George Washington was 15-18 overall and tied for 10th in the Atlantic 10 with a 7-11 mark. The Colonials reached the second round of the conference championship, defeating Fordham before falling to Saint Louis 70-63.
They’ll miss: For four seasons, 6-9 wing Yuta Watanabe was George Washington’s defensive ace and a matchup nightmare for opposing guards. He led the Colonials with 16.3 points per game as a senior and was the Atlantic 10’s Defensive Player of the Year.
George Washington lost four of its top six scorers, including a pair of graduate students (Patrick Steeves and Bo Zeigler) and No. 2 scorer Jair Bolden (11.2 ppg), who transferred.
Impact returners: The top returning scorer is 6-2 sophomore Terry Nolan Jr., a Baltimore product who averaged 9.1 points in his debut season.
“You see him out there dunking and stealing the ball and that kind of stuff,” Joseph said. “He really didn’t have a great feel for the game. He’s just so talented. He’s increased his feel --- how to play ball screens. He was always good in the open court. Now he can play in the half court.”
Another key holdover is 6-8 junior Arnaldo Toro (7.8 ppg, 6.9 rpg), who added strength while losing weight in the offseason and should be the Colonials’ top interior option.
Newbies of note: Joseph had a close look at two of his newcomers all of last season. DJ Williams, a 6-7 Illinois transfer, is a versatile wing who has two years of eligibility remaining. Another junior transfer is 6-1 Armel Potter, who averaged 13.8 points in 2016-17 at Charleston Southern.
“He has the speed we really haven’t had since Tony Taylor, really,” said Joseph, referring to a guard who scored 1,345 points at George Washington between 2008 and 2012. “A guy who can just break guys down and get by people. He’s a load to stop transition. We just haven’t had that.”
The Colonials will rely on 6-9 freshman Marcus Littles to fortify the interior.
Reasons to be optimistic:
Things have finally stabilized for the Colonials, who went through the entire 2016-17 season with Joseph as an interim coach and then were up and down last season.
George Washington did win six of nine before its A-10 Championship loss to Saint Louis, an uptick that hinted better times could loom in the near future. The team stayed on campus the entire summer, a decision Joseph made that could ultimately provide a boost to this season.
“We’re way ahead right now of where we were the last two years,” Joseph said. “My first year obviously was tough and last year was a new team and had some different things going on and had some distractions. We’re solid now.”
Especially in the backcourt. Joseph said Nolan is the team’s most improved player from a year ago, and both Potter and Williams should help. George Washington also brings back 6-3 sophomore Justin Mazzulla, who started the latter half of league play last season and 11 games overall. The Colonials averaged 74.0 points in his starts and 64.1 points when he came off the bench.
“We have depth in our backcourt,” Joseph said. “It’s just depth we didn’t have in the past.”
X factor: Joseph said he would have considered his recruiting class a success as long as 5-10 freshman Shandon Brown was part of it. The 175-pounder is a quick, strong, heady guard who brings unquestioned toughness to the Colonials, and Joseph views the newcomer as a “culture driver.” An early indicator of that? Brown received votes to become a team captain before playing a game in Foggy Bottom.
Circle the date(s): An eight-day stretch in mid-November will offer an early barometer for the Colonials. George Washington visits Virginia on Nov. 11, its first matchup with the Cavaliers since pulling a 73-68 upset early in the 2015-16 season. The Colonials will also face Michigan and either Providence or South Carolina in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off tournament Nov. 17-18.
Bottom line: George Washington will go as far as its guards can take it, but wherever it heads it will operate at a much quicker tempo than it has in recent memory. The Colonials need plenty of instant impacts from their transfers and freshmen, and a mid-pack finish in the A-10 this year to set up something even better with this core group is plenty possible.
Patrick Stevens is a freelance writer working in the Washington, D.C. area. A former sports reporter for the Washington Times, he has been a contributor to Atlantic10.com for the past four years. Follow him on Twitter at @D1scourse.