If somebody was asked to choose a movie to describe Fordham men’s basketball last season, it would have been “The Perfect Storm.”
Already saddled with a schedule that saw the Rams play 20 of 31 games away from home, Fordham saw its best player, senior forward Chris Gaston, go down with a knee injury just three games into the season. The result was a 7-24 record, and a 3-13 mark in the Atlantic 10.
Despite the rough season, the storm clouds around the program seem to have lifted.
The biggest reason for optimism stems from the program landing Jon Severe, who was named New York State’s Mr. Basketball while playing for Christ the King. The 6-foot-3 guard picked the Rams over major-conference programs such as Boston College, Kansas State and Pittsburgh.
“[Scouting guru] Tom Konchalski used to say, ‘He scores like we breathe.’ It comes so naturally to him,” Fordham coach Tom Pecora said at Tuesday’s Atlantic 10 Media Day at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Severe is just one piece to the puzzle Pecora — entering his fourth season at the school — is hoping can produce a dramatic turnaround, as the program continues to rebuild from the depths that saw the team win just five games combined in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons.
“There’s been a lot of heavy lifting,” Pecora said. “Fordham is an incredible academic school with tremendous tradition, but the basketball program has been broke[n] for a long time. We’ve gotten tremendous support [while changing the program’s culture]. The alumni base is incredible.”
Despite losing Gaston — a double-double machine — Fordham returns a solid frontcourt, starting with junior center Ryan Canty.
“He’s an X-factor,” Pecora said. “He goes from [10] rebounds at Ole Miss to three fouls in the first two minutes the next game. He has to get more consistent, and play with greater maturity to be a force every night.”
Pecora said he also was high on fellow big men Ryan Rhoomes and Travion Leonard.
“Rhoomes [was] tremendous this summer. He had a great offseason in the weight room,” he said. “Travion, he’s down 80 pounds. He’s made great [conditioning] progress. Now, [he] has to take it to the next level.”
Pecora said he also is expecting a bounce-back season from senior guard Branden Frazier, who shot just 35 percent from the field last season.
Pecora also said Severe and burgeoning sophomore guard Mandell Thomas will ease the pressure on Frazier, who often had to do too much offensively last season.
It has been a Herculean task to get Fordham back to respectability, following its low point just four years ago. But with a program galvanized by a highly touted recruit such as Severe, it’s possible this could be the start of something special at Rose Hill.
Fordham was picked to finish 11th out of 13 teams in the Atlantic 10 preseason poll. Additionally, Frazier was named to the preseason Atlantic 10 third team.