Fordham Scouting Report by A Daly Dose of Hoops

My good friend Jaden Daly came up with the idea of swapping scouting reports for Wednesday night's Fordham vs. Charlotte game.  You can find my scouting report on his site.  Here is Jaden's scoop on Fordham.

****

Hi everyone, this is Jaden Daly from A Daly Dose Of Hoops here, providing a closer look at the Fordham Rams as they prepare to invade Halton Arena for their first Atlantic 10 road game of the season against Alan Major and Charlotte. I cover the Rams on a regular basis, having already seen them six times this season, and would like to share some of what Charlotte can expect to see.

Game Reviews, Nuggets and Quotes

• UMass vs. Fordham
• Monmouth vs. Fordham
• Siena vs. Fordham
• Princeton vs. Fordham
• Fordham vs. St John's Review 1
• Fordham vs. St John's Review 2

Starting Guards

Tom Pecora routinely plays a three-guard set, and junior Branden Frazier is the centerpiece of the Ram backcourt. Frazier, a Brooklyn native who was Pecora's first recruit at Fordham; and would have gone to play for him at Hofstra if Pecora were still there, has improved considerably in this, his third campaign in a Fordham uniform, coming into this contest as the Rams' leading scorer. Frazier, whose tendency to take ill-advised shots was once off the charts, has improved his shot selection dramatically, and has become more of a facilitator too as evidenced by his two double-doubles against Siena (20 points, 10 assists) and Duquesne. (16 points, 13 assists)

Bryan Smith is usually the second option out of the backcourt, and is honestly like a box of chocolates: You never truly know what you're going to get from the sophomore. One night, Bryan can knock down several threes from the corner like he did against Monmouth, (18 points) while he can be an enigma on others, like he was against Manhattan, fouling out and only managing one point on a free throw.

Finally, Mandell Thomas is the third member of the starting backcourt. A freshman who has just recently found his way into the opening five, Thomas is arguably the best pure athlete on the squad, finding ways to drive inside while also displaying a relentless defensive game. Thomas also has a flair for the dramatic block late in regulation, as he has rejected potential game-tying shots in the final minute on three separate occasions to offset his lack of offensive productivity.

Starting Forwards

The Fordham front line begins and almost always ends with Chris Gaston. A senior from New Jersey, Gaston is a first team all-Atlantic 10 selection this season, and is recovering from a torn meniscus that sidelined him for a month earlier in the season. When healthy, he is a walking double-double that can burn teams with his patented mid-range jumper, which sometimes looks like he is literally pushing the ball into the basket. Since returning from the injury in December, Gaston has lost half a step rebounding the ball, but is still far and away the Rams' best threat on the glass, which complements his natural scoring talent.

Ryan Canty usually gets the start alongside Gaston, and if there were an award for Most Improved Player in the A-10, it would go to the sophomore from Massachusetts. Canty was forced into the lineup while Gaston was injured, and has stuck in the starting five with several breakout performances such as his 18 points against Manhattan and double-doubles against St. John's, Princeton and Mississippi. With an average of seven boards per game, he is the second-leading rebounder on the team behind Gaston.

Bench

The Fordham reserves are a double-edged sword for Tom Pecora, primarily because of their youth. As high as the potential for these players is, each of the four major players in Fordham's contingent of substitutes is a freshman, all of whom are working on multiple facets of their game.

Travion Leonard is a 6-9 power forward who could be an all A-10 big man in the next two years, and has responded much better than most would have expected after losing 65 pounds in the offseason just to get himself into average playing shape. Ryan Rhoomes, another forward whose journey to Rose Hill mirrored the long and winding road that Mike Glover took to Iona, is a 6-8 forward with a natural knack for rebounding the ball in his limited playing time.

As far as Fordham's reserve guards, Jermaine Myers was getting the start at the point guard position and playing over 30 minutes per game until Mandell Thomas' emergence and Myers' lackluster offensive numbers forced the switch in Tom Pecora's lineup. Myers also needs to improve his defense, as he has been battling Branden Frazier for the dubious distinction of leading the team in turnovers.

Jeff Short has recovered from two knee surgeries to see significant minutes as a redshirt freshman, but his major flaw is more often than not trying to do too much to carry the Rams, especially if Frazier is on the bench. Every now and then, he'll hit the occasional three, but his offensive capabilities have by and large yet to materialize.

Strengths and Weaknesses

First and foremost, Fordham's greatest strength is its rebounding ability. The Rams have two gifted rebounders in Chris Gaston and Ryan Canty, with solid help from Travion Leonard and Ryan Rhoomes in that department as well, but that's about it. As far as weaknesses, we'll start out with the fact that Fordham has been unable to consistently play defense, especially in transition. Fordham commits more turnovers than it forces, and when matched up against faster competition, as they were against UMass with Chaz Williams at point guard against Branden Frazier, it does not usually end well. Fordham also struggles at the free throw line, shooting 67 percent from the charity stripe while their physical nature allows opponents to get to the line more frequently, creating for a higher percentage. Fordham is also much more vulnerable away from Rose Hill Gym, as they have yet to win any of their eight games on the road, a recurring theme for this program even before Pecora took over in 2010.

Coaching

Tom Pecora is really trying to make something out of one of the closest situations to nothing. With all due respect, Fordham is arguably the most difficult situation in the nation to inherit, and it appears that the former Hofstra coach may be biting off a little more than he can chew in his third season with the Rams. A positive, however, is that he was able to reunite with former assistant coach Tom Parrotta after he was fired by Canisius last season. Parrotta, who worked with the big men as a Pecora assistant at Hofstra, is doing the same at Fordham; developing Ryan Canty, Ryan Rhoomes and Travion Leonard, with each showing their own flashes of brilliance.

Intangibles

Based on last year's matchup where Charlotte stole a heartbreaking win at Rose Hill against Fordham last season, the Rams have a winnable game on their hands for their Atlantic 10 road opener. A key will be to win the matchup of the Chrises, as Chris Gaston faces a player cut from a similar mold in Charlotte's Chris Braswell.

Overall

As good as Fordham has looked in their wins this season, they are still a major work in progress, and the relative youth on this team has come back to hurt them as they develop the experience that will serve them better over the next two seasons. The Rams stand a chance in this one, but they will need a near-perfect game based on their road history in order to come away from North Carolina victorious.

Gaston Runs Amok on the Explorers (Recap of LaSalle vs. Fordham)

 As Day Three of our Four Day Weekend of Hoops started, my older son Matthew and I took the familiar trip over the Whitestone Bridge to the Hutch to Pelham Parkway to head to the campus of Fordham.  Unlike the night before, there were no crazy drivers on the Whitestone looking to start a NASCAR wreck.  So, it was a much calmer ride this time.

As I have written before on this site, going to the Rose Hill Gym is like Saturday Mass to me.  Though I am Protestant and not Catholic (I have my Irish grandfather on my mom's side to thank for that.  Long story),  basketball at Rose Hill on a Jesuit campus is a religious experience to me.

As for my six year old son, it was a chance for another fun basketball game complete with another free T-shirt to add to his collection, since it was "Whiteout Day" at Fordham.  Of course, he had his standard culinary fare of a soft pretzel and a water.  Some things never change.

The game against the Explorers was an important game for the home team Rams.  They needed a win to keep their remote hopes of playing in the Atlantic 10 Tournament alive.  Only the top twelve teams make it to the conference tournament.  It wouldn't be easy for Fordham because LaSalle was entering the game with eighteen wins and was tied for sixth in the conference.

This was the only game that Matthew and I saw this past weekend that was not a Senior Day game.  That's because the A-10 regular season doesn't end until next weekend.  I have always thought that does the A-10 a disservice, because then its tournament is up against all the Power Six conference tournaments. If they would finish their season a week sooner, they might get more national exposure playing their conference tournament the week before all the Power Six conference tournaments.

It was pretty evident from within the first eight and a half minutes of how the two teams would be on offense.  LaSalle showed how balanced they were as five Explorers; Jerrell Wright, Ramon Galloway, Earl Pettis, Sam Mills and Tyreek Duren each scored at least one basket.  Each of those five players averages between 9.5 and 15.2 points on the season.

Meanwhile, Fordham's Chris Gaston, their leading scorer and only one of three Rams' players who averages 9.9 points or more per game, was a one man wrecking crew.  He scored fifteen of Fordham's first twenty points as he literally willed his way to the basket, often going over several LaSalle players.  With eleven and a half minutes to go in the first half it was LaSalle 21 Gaston 15 Rest of  Fordham 5.

The Rams actually took the lead 25-23 on a Bryan Smith three pointer.  But the Explorers responded with a 12-0 run, as again five different LaSalle players scored over the nearly four minute span.  The Explorers were up 35-25 with 6:45 left.

The Explorers could have been up a lot more, but both teams went scoreless for the next several minutes.  Once Gaston cooled off, Fordham struggled to score.  But LaSalle had four turnovers the last few minutes of the half.  The Rams were fortunate to be down only eleven, 42-31 at halftime.  Gaston had nineteen of their thirty one first half points.

During a first half timeout, a member of the New York Giants brought out the Lombardi Trophy onto center court.  Apparently fans could go out into the lobby to pose for photos with the Super Bowl Trophy.  My son was not impressed.  He was there to see basketball and he wanted to see Gaston keep scoring points.

The Explorers maintained their eleven point lead over the first five minutes of the second half.   Pettis and Galloway combined to score LaSalle's first ten points.  Fordham was hanging in there as other players such as Kerwin Bristol and Smith finally scored besides Gaston.    The Explorers led the Rams 52-41 with about fifteen minutes left in the game.

Then came the turning point of the game.  LaSalle got careless with the ball and turned it over four times in the span of about three minutes.  This resulted in Fordham going on a 12-0 run.  Branden Frazier came alive with two three pointers and no surprise, Gaston had two layups as well.  Frazier's second three pointer put Fordham up 53-52.

LaSalle would actually regain the lead, 58-57 on a three pointer by Mills.  The teams would trade the lead a couple of times.  The Explorers would take a 62-61 lead on a layup by Galloway with five plus minutes left. But it would be the last points LaSalle would score the rest of the way.  Once again, the Explorers got careless with the ball and committed four turnovers over the last three and a half minutes of the game.

Meanwhile, Gaston would score four of the last six points his team would score.  And sure enough, after Pettis missed a three pointer at the end of the game, it was Gaston who rebounded the ball, his sixteenth in the game. Fordham had a 67-62 win.

As much as the Explorers gave them the game, a lot of the credit for the Rams' win belongs to Gaston.  He was a man among boys with thirty five points to go along with his sixteen rebounds.  How dominant was Gaston?  Fifteen of his sixteen rebounds came on the offensive glass, a truly sick statistic. He was downright relentless in the paint.  Frazier was the only other Fordham player in double figures scoring with eleven.

The stat sheet again showed LaSalle's showed their balance as all five starters scored in double figures.  But what killed the Explorers was the seventeen turnovers, many of which came in bunches in the first and second half.    You could also say Gaston equally killed them as well, as Fordham outscored LaSalle in the paint 42-26.

As Matthew and I made our way out of a back exit of Rose Hill Gym, where the video cable feed for the Yes Network was setup, Chris Gaston made a new fan.   My six year old son pointed out "Daddy, Number thirty three had a real good game."

"Yes, Matthew. Yes he did."

Saturday Mass at Rose Hill (Recap of Xavier vs. Fordham)

I always love going to early afternoon games at Rose Hill Gym.  When the sun shines through the windows on the one end of the court, it feels like church to me.  And well, it should, since Rose Hill is on the campus of Fordham University, a Jesuit catholic school.

Fordham's opponent on Saturday was Xavier, another Jesuit catholic school.   At one time Xavier was undefeated and highly ranked.  Then came the game against crosstown rival Cincinnati and the well publicized brawl at the end of the game.  Since then, the Musketeers have lost five of their last six games.  Call it karma or call it penance for what transpired on December 10, but the basketball season has made Xavier pay for their transgression.  The Musketeers had to be desperate to find their groove again

Xavier would have to find its groove in a packed gym.  This is due in large part to the renaissance of Fordham basketball led by second year coach Tom Pecora.  In his second year, Pecora had the Rams at 7-7 entering the game and they have wins over Georgia Tech and nationally ranked Harvard, which was their first win over a nationally ranked team since 1978.  When Pecora's name was mentioned at the end of the Fordham introductions, the crowd gave him hearty applause.

A .500 record may not seem like a good record.  But considering they had seven wins all of last season and were 2-26 two seasons ago, a .500 record is significant improvement.  And the fans have taken notice as they filled Rose Hill to the brim, selling out the 3,200 seat gym, which is filled with many historic NIT and NCAA banners that date back to the forties.   They wanted to see if the Rams could add another notch in the win column at the expense of the struggling Musketeers.

The game started out with Fordham taking a quick 5-2 lead.  But Xavier responded as Mark Lyons scored ten straight points in a row for the Musketeers, the last of which was a three pointer that put them up 12-9.  It was all the points Lyons would score in the first half.

The game would remain close for the next five minutes. The Rams' Alberto Estwick hit a three pointer made the score 23-22 Xavier with less than seven a half minutes. But the Musketeers responded with a 11-1 run capped by a Dezmine Wells dunk that made the score 34-23 Xavier.  With three and half minutes left, Fordham called timeout.

The Rams were having difficulty scoring inside as Xavier's Kenny Frease's size was causing problems for Fordham's leading scorer on the season, Chris Gaston.  Frease doesn't possess much leaping ability and during the second half, he missed an easy dunk because he could barely get off the ground.  That resulted in a Xavier fan sitting near me yelling "How can you miss that?  You're seven foot twelve!"  But Frease's seven foot, two hundred seventy pound frame made it difficult for the six foot seven Gaston to shoot over him.

Thus Fordham would have to depend on their guards and their outside shooting.  Enter sophomore Branden Frazier.  Frazier nailed a three pointer to cut the deficit to 34-26.  Then late in the half, he cut the lead even further with a three point play.  Instead of being up by double digits, Xavier entered the half only up by five, 35-30.  The Rose Hill crowd gave Fordham a standing ovation as they left for the locker room at halftime.

But the Rams couldn't carry the momentum over to start the second half.  They got outscored by the Musketeers 13-1 over the first six and half minutes.  Xavier was up 48-34 and the large Musketeer fan contingent by where I was sitting was reveling in the moment.   And one Xavier fan brought a sign that said "Zip Em Up", which was in reference to the infamous quote by Tu Holloway after the brawl with Cincinnati.

But Frazier refused to let Fordham fade away.  He scored twelve of Fordham's next nineteen points and with a little less than four minutes left, the Rams were down only seven,  60-53.  The Rose Hill crowd was rocking with loud chants of "DE-FENSE".  

The Rams continued to chip away at Xavier's lead as they got it down to five points 62-57 with a little less than two minutes left.  But the Musketeers would not relinquish the lead any further. Lyons, who scored another ten points in the second half, hit two key free throws late down the stretch,   Xavier held off Fordham 67-59.

Frazier led all scorers with twenty two points.  Freshman Bryan Smith added twelve points for Fordham.  Gaston only scored ten points, six less than his season average, on only three of eleven shooting.  Lyons had twenty points for Xavier and Wells added thirteen. The most amazing stat was Holloway, Xavier's leading scorer on the season with eighteen points per game, was held scoreless and only had three field goal attempts.


A year ago, I watched Richmond, a similarly talented team to Xavier, play Fordham at Rose Hill Gym.  The eventual Sweet Sixteen Spiders thoroughly outclassed the Rams 77-60.  A year later, the Rams gave the Musketeers all they could handle.  Though I am sure the Fordham fans went home disappointed, they could hold their heads high.  The team will be more competitive in the Atlantic Ten over the next couple of months.  Also, Frazier, Smith and Gaston will all be back next season.

The rebuilding process is coming along just fine.  And in time, the Rose Hill parishioners will be leaving many Saturday afternoon and weekday evening masses with a winning smile on their faces.