Since taking over the basketball program at Fordham prior to last season, coach Tom Pecora has made a concerted effort to land the area’s top players. He continued in that endeavor Wednesday evening, though he did go up north a ways.
Mandell Thomas, a versatile and talented 6-foot-2 combo guard from Rochester currently at Notre Dame Prep (Mass.), verbally committed to Fordham, becoming the first member of Pecora’s 2012 recruiting class. Fordham, Siena, Stony Brook, St. Bonaventure and Eastern Kentucky had expressed interest at one time or another.
“They’ve recruited me for a long time,” said Thomas, who praised the effort of assistant David Duke, his lead recruiter. “I decided it was the right decision. I definitely like the campus and the school and the basketball team. But it wasn’t one specific thing.”
He added: “It feels really good. A lot of weight is lifted off my shoulders. I don’t have to worry about anything now. I can focus on qualifying and getting better.”
Thomas averaged 27.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.9 steals last winter at Rush-Henrietta, the Section V Class AA1 champions, and was the 2010-11 All-Greater Rochester boys basketball co-Player of the Year. He’s impressed his new coach, Ryan Hurd, thus far at Notre Dame.
“It’s his athleticism that separates him from people,” Hurd said. “The knock on him is he’s not playing hard, and the more you’re around him and more you see him play, you see he’s effortless. He’s out there putting up numbers for us consistently, he’s doing everything to help us win and he’s completely selfless in his approach, which is great.”
Pecora underwent a massive rebuilding project when he replaced Dereck Whittenburg at Fordham. After going 7-21 last year, Fordham has gotten off to a 2-2 star and has already received big contributions from local products such as Bryan Smith, Branden Frazier and Devon (Fatty) McMillan.
“They feel they can turn Fordham around,” Thomas said. “I’m excited about that and it’s one of the reasons I wanted to go there.”