Senior Chris Gaston wants to make his impact felt in his final season at Fordham. (Paul J. Bereswill)
The rebuilding process continues at Rose Hill.
Tom Pecora, in his third season as the head coach at Fordham, is continuing to restore the once-proud Rams to glory and the next road on that journey starts at Texas State on Friday Night.
Pecora’s Rams, led by Preseason All Atlantic-10 selection Chris Gaston, improved to pick up 10 wins last season, including winning home and non-conference records. This year, the goal is to make the next jump and make the Atlantic-10 tournament next March.
“We’re building this thing brick-by-brick and you have to remember where you started,” Pecora said. “We’re making these steps and striving to move forward. I think we’ll make the [A-10] tournament. I think we should have made it last year.
“Our goal every year is to have a winning record and make the conference tournament. We’re in year three, with the exception of the schedule being a little heavy, the talent is there to win games. “
The brunt of the pressure will fall on the shoulders of the team’s lone upperclassmen, Gaston, who is a senior, and junior guard Branden Frazier. Gaston (17.1) and Frazier (11.7) were the team’s top two scorers a year ago and are ready to lead a young, guard-heavy, team this season.
“It’s about going out there and showing them what to do on the floor and setting a good example on the defensive end, offensive end and even off the court,” Frazier said. “Overall they can play the game, but they need to get the experience and that’s what me and Chris have. We’re just trying to pass it on.”
With Frazier, whose role is expected to be similar to last season where he served as the Rams’ primary ball handler, leading, Gaston is looking to become Pecora’s right hand man on the court, becoming more vocal and following in the footsteps of departed seniors Alberto Estwick and Kervin Bristol.
“That’s what coach wants me to do, talk more to the guys, encourage everybody to keep working hard and go over plays,” Gaston said. “He wants me to be like an assistant coach basically. I’m going to be like the coach on the floor and that makes the game easier.”
Gaston is expected to draw some attention from NBA scouts this season, his final one at Fordham, but for one of the best players to ever play at Rose Hill, he isn’t overly concerned about what the future holds, but rather leaving a mark on the Bronx campus and its students.
“I want to win a bunch of games,” Gaston said. “I’m expecting a lot. I want to make the tournament, I want to do a lot, do what I came to do when I was a freshman.
“I want to be remembered as a tough competitor, hard worker and every day leaving it all out on the floor. I want to be remembered as a Fordham man, everybody says that a Fordham man is someone that you want to be and that’s what I want.”
The 6-foot-7 forward won’t be able to do it himself though. Fordham is returning several players who figure to be key cogs in the team’s rotation, including sophomores Bryan Smith, Ryan Canty and Devon McMillan. Although they are just sophomores, Pecora broke them in quickly last season, including Smith, who averaged 30 minutes per contest.
“A lot of the freshmen got a lot of minutes last year so they are seasoned veterans,” Pecora said. “That’s what I’m referring to them as and I’m trying to convince them of that.”
So in many ways, Smith has become a mentor for the team’s incoming players.
“I’ve been rooming with the freshmen since summer so they always look to me if they need something,” Smith said. “They always ask me what it was like being a freshman playing 30 minutes a night because that’s not normal, not at any school. It takes a lot of hard work, there are a lot of ups and downs but you have to keep your head up.”
Three of the team’s freshman look to figure heavily into Pecora’s plans. Between Jermaine Myers, Travion Leonard and recently cleared Ryan Rhoomes (whom an enthusiastic Pecora texted The Post: “Rhoomes a go!”), the Rams will have one of the youngest, but biggest, rotations in the Atlantic-10.
“The two freshmen, Travion Leonard and Ryan Rhoomes, they’re big, physical kids,” Pecora said. “I think that gives us a great presence on the floor and they can play. I think our overall physicality, ability to play offense both inside and out, get post ups and looking to get the ball into the post, especially Leonard, he can score in the post, he’s got great feet and hands.”
Leonard, who dropped 60 pounds to get down to 280, will be leaned upon heavily to replace the low post presence the Rams had in Kervin Bristol last season. With Leonard, Rhoomes and Canty able to play in the middle and Smith, Frazier, McMillan (when he returns from shoulder surgery) and Jeff Short able to shoot from the outside, teams will have to adjust to defend Gaston.
“I’m doing a lot of things different this year,” Gaston said. “Coach has me picking and popping a lot more this year, expanding my game. I’m going to be shooting a lot, a lot of jump shots, I have a whole different game, I added a jump shot to my repertoire.”
The biggest problem for Pecora’s Rams will be the tough schedule they face. The Rams play just three non-conference games at home, and with a much-improved A-10 with the additions of Butler and VCU, they face an upward battle.
The Rams also drew the short end of the stick, having to play St. Joseph’s, which could be a top-25 team this season, twice. With a 16-team league, each team plays every other one once and one team twice.
“Our schedule is too tough, we’re cleaning up old contracts, next year we’ll be able to put together a schedule closer to what you’ll see each year,” Pecora said. “For us to be at Pitt, at UConn, at Georgia Tech, at Ole Miss and then you look at our other non-conference games, they were all picked to if not win, be at the top of their conferences. I think it’s going to be a top-100 schedule and as tough a schedule that has been played here in a long time”
Pecora’s solution to this problem? Speed up the clock.
“If we can get them old, basketball experience-wise, then I think we can have success,” Pecora said. “I think this young, talented group is going to be alright.”
asulla-heffinger@nypost.com