St. Francis Brooklyn had won its fourth straight game — giving the Terriers their best start in 12 seasons — when coach Glenn Braica ripped into his team.
The season had started great, but the real season hadn’t yet begun. The Terriers had been good, but they could have been better. Soon, they would need to be better.
“There were some things I wasn’t happy with and I don’t want complacency to set in,” Braica said following Monday’s win over Delaware State. “I don’t want any slippage. We have to get better if we’re going to be as good as we want to be.
“You’ve always got to fight human nature. When people are patting them on the back and telling them you did this or that, you let up a little bit and we got to guard against that. We can’t have that. We’ve got to fight to get better and fight against human nature.”
The fight is new for the oft-forgotten school, preventing confidence from becoming cockiness. St. Francis — one of only five Division I programs that has fielded a team since 1948 and failed to make the NCAA Tournament — is accustomed to fighting for attention, fighting for ink, fighting for recognition.
The school is located in one of New York City’s most desirable neighborhoods, Brooklyn Heights, yet fights to become a destination. It fights so players such as freshman forward Wayne Martin, who grow up in Brooklyn, learn about the school’s existence before they are high school seniors.
Braica, in his fourth season as coach, has noted how hard it can be to change perception. It takes time, usually, more than is preferred.
The Terriers’ time, however, may be now.
Despite playing eight of their first nine games away from home, St. Francis (9-5) could become the first team in Northeast Conference history to win 10 games in non-conference play, with a win at Columbia on Saturday.
With improved athleticism and a reliable defense, the Terriers have compiled the best record in the conference after being picked seventh — out of 10 teams — in the NEC preseason coaches poll.
“It kind of builds up a lot fire in your stomach that you were picked near last and you just want to prove everybody wrong that you’re the best team in the conference,” said junior forward Jalen Cannon, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder. “We’ve started to get more comfortable around each other and defensively we’re working harder. It’s just a different intensity.”
Braica doesn’t need to convince his players they can compete with any team. They already have.
St. Francis opened the season with surprising road wins at defending-ACC champion Miami and Florida Atlantic, then made its most persuasive argument of legitimacy in a six-point loss at undefeated Syracuse, having led the Orange with less than two minutes remaining.
The Terriers begin conference play Thursday against rival LIU Brooklyn (5-8), with the three-time defending conference champions struggling. Preseason favorite Wagner (6-7) hasn’t lived up to its potential, and Bryant (8-7) is the only other team in the conference with a winning record.
The opportunity is there. The fight is on.
“We’re happy about the wins, but we want more,” Martin said. “We know we got to do better than what we’re doing. We want to beat the teams that are supposed to be better.
“Everybody feels we have a chance to win. We have a good enough team where we can be the first team to make it to the NCAA Tournament in school history.”
The wait has been long.
“Too long,” Martin said.