When the La Salle men’s basketball job opened last spring, the Explorers opted for experience.
They couldn’t have found someone with more ties to Philadelphia and the Atlantic 10 than Fran Dunphy.
The former Penn and Temple coach takes over at the corner of 20
th and Olney more than half a century after graduating from the school.
“It’s my alma mater,” Dunphy said. “They gave me an opportunity. They gave me a scholarship in 1966. That sense of payback was there. They gave me a chance as an assistant coach in 1979. They gave me another chance as an assistant coach in 1985, so I’m grateful for what La Salle has given me.”
Dunphy won 580 games over 30 seasons in Division I, leading Penn to nine NCAA tournaments and
Temple to eight. His last game came in an opening round game at Dayton as Temple fell to Belmont.
Since then, he’s spent time as Temple’s interim athletic director, served on the NIT Selection Committee and dabbled in broadcasting games. It’s safe to expect the same steady, savvy approach to the game, but also with some adjustments.
“Every year you get a little bit wiser,” Dunphy said. “I’m reluctant to say smarter, because I’m not sure I’m any smarter. But you get wiser. You listen more.”
There’s urgency, too, to get La Salle situated well moving forward. The Explorers haven’t posted a winning record since going 17-16 in 2014-15. They haven’t finished above .500 in the A-10 in a decade, when they made a surprise run to the Sweet 16 in 2013.
Dunphy will become the only coach to have led three Big Five programs when La Salle opens at Villanova on Nov. 7. It’s not hard to imagine how meaningful it would be to become the first to take three Philly schools to the postseason.
“I wouldn’t have come back for any other school, to be honest with you,” Dunphy said. “It wasn’t what I was thinking about.”
A look at the Explorers:
ROSTER | SCHEDULE
Coach: Fran Dunphy, first season at La Salle, 580-325 overall in 30 seasons
Last year: La Salle hovered around .500 for much of nonconference play before its season unraveled with 14 losses in a 16-game span. Nonetheless, the Explorers won their last three regular-season games to finish 5-13 in the Atlantic 10 and earn the No. 12 seed in the league tournament. La Salle managed to split two games in Washington and finished 11-19.
They’ll miss: La Salle will replace its top two scorers after Clifton Moore (Providence) and Jack Clark (N.C. State) moved on after the coaching change.
Impact returners: It’s senior guard Josh Nickelberry’s opportunity for a star turn. Injury-plagued throughout a career that began at Louisville, the 6-4 Nickelberry averaged 11.2 points while playing in all but one game last season for La Salle.
Nickelberry shot 36.1 percent from 3-point range, and his ability to match or even surpass that figure will be critical for an Explorers team that’s probably going to need to lean on its defense more than others.
Also back in the fold is junior Jhamir Brickus (8.9 ppg), who distributed a team-high 92 assists last season and should again see plenty of time at point guard.
Newbies of note: La Salle’s five scholarship newcomers all have international ties, though the most tested of the incoming group had a memorable stint in not-too-distant Jersey City, N.J.
Juniors Fousseyni and Hassan Drame each started about half of the time over the last three years at Saint Peter’s, and both were contributors during the Peacocks’ stunning run to the NCAA tournament East regional final last season. Fousseyni averaged 7.0 points and 6.4 rebounds last season, while Hassan collected 6.0 points and 5.3 rebounds. Both figure to be frontcourt stalwarts.
Of the freshmen, 6-foot-10 guard Rokas Jocius stands out for obvious reasons. The 250-pound Lithuanian has the potential to be a fascinating matchup problem.
“He knows how to play and understands the game and has a real good sense and is a good passer,” Dunphy said. “He can make a 3-point jump shot. When everything else is not working, do we send him out there and hope his counterpart is not going to guard him and he can make three out of five 3s? Perfect. We’ll take that. We’ll try to find a way to score any way we can.”
Reasons to be optimistic: Dunphy’s track record suggests two overarching themes: He loves Philadelphia basketball and he’ll come close to maximizing his roster far more often than not.
That he’s back on the sideline is confirmation of affinity for basketball in the City of Brotherly Love. That he’s already identified how important defense will be this season makes it clear what the path to success is for the Explorers.
X factor: Some of Dunphy’s best moves immediately after his hire was convincing some holdovers to stick around. Brickus, sophomore guard Khalil Brantley (8.0 ppg, 2.3 rpg), junior guard Anwar Gill (4.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg) and sixth-year forward Mamadou Doucoure (1.9 ppg, 2.7 rpg) all entered the transfer portal after the initial coaching change before opting to remain at La Salle.
All four started games last season, and along with Nickelberry they provide a core group that has familiarity with each other. There’s been plenty of change, but the Explorers aren’t completely starting from scratch. That helps.
Circle the date: A pair of Big Five contests in a four-day span will match Dunphy against the two other Philadelphia schools he led. The Explorers meet Temple at the Palestra on Nov. 30, then head back across town Dec. 3 to visit Penn.
Bottom line: Dunphy will provide stability to La Salle, but it will take time for the Explorers to make a major leap in the conference standings. Solving one area in particular would help. La Salle ranked 12
th in the A-10 in both 3-point percentage and 3-point percentage defense. Improving both of those would go a long way toward a breakout season.
Patrick Stevens is a veteran freelance college basketball writer. A contributor the Washington Post, he has been a writer for Atlantic10.com for the past nine years. Follow him on Twitter at @D1scourse.