One year ago, Manhattan College came from out of seemingly nowhere to finish in the top half of the MAAC amid a 21-win season and a style that head coach Steve Masiello borrowed from former mentor Rick Pitino after serving as the future Hall of Fame coach's apprentice at Louisville. Masiello, a former Jaspers assistant during the program's greatest successes under Bobby Gonzalez, was responsible for the largest win-loss turnaround in the nation last season; guiding Manhattan to a 15-win improvement from their previous six-victory campaign under former coach Barry Rohrssen, who replaced Gonzalez after he was hired at Seton Hall.
Masiello's second season gets underway with a scrimmage against C.W. Post at Draddy Gym on November 1st, but the 2012-13 ledger does not officially open for another ten days after that, when he leads the Jaspers into the Yum! Center for a meeting with his former employer Rick Pitino and Louisville. Pitino's Cardinals will be entering the Veterans' Day matinee on the heels of an unexpected run to the Final Four, and return almost everyone from that team onto a group that is expected to not only win the Big East, but also be a national championship contender as well. The Manhattan road show resumes on November 16th, as the Jaspers face reigning Ivy League champion Harvard in Cambridge for a meeting with a Crimson team that coach Tommy Amaker will need to retool after losing the bulk of his NCAA Tournament roster due to graduation.
The Manhattan home opener comes on November 21st, when Hofstra makes the trip into Draddy for one of just two nonconference home games for the Jaspers this season. This could also be a big game for the Jaspers and their MAAC championship-caliber roster led by senior swingman George Beamon, as the Pride are also in somewhat of a youth movement, and will need to replace departed seniors Mike Moore and Nathaniel Lester among others. Masiello's young charges will have very little time to recover following the Hofstra game, as they travel to Dayton three days later before renewing their long-standing rivalry with intra-borough rival Fordham in the 105th "Battle of the Bronx," which will be contested this year on November 29th at Rose Hill Gym in one of the more intriguing local games this season. After getting blown out to the tune of an 81-47 rout at Draddy last December, Rams coach Tom Pecora returns most of his team, including senior forward Chris Gaston and a three-pronged backcourt of junior Branden Frazier and sophomores Devon McMillan and Bryan Smith. Fordham may not win this game, but one can be assured that it will be much closer, especially given the raucous atmosphere Rose Hill creates when filled to capacity.
Three days after the Fordham game, Manhattan plays their third consecutive Atlantic 10 opponent when they face George Washington and second-year coach Mike Lonergan in the nation's capital. The Jaspers will then take a two-week break for finals before resuming their season on December 16th at the Wellness Center in Brooklyn for another potential marquee matchup, this one against two-time defending Northeast Conference champion LIU Brooklyn. After coach Jim Ferry left the Blackbirds for Duquesne, associate head coach Jack Perri was promoted; and loses just Mike Culpo from last year's rotation, which includes NEC Player of the Year Julian Boyd, fellow senior forward Jamal Olasewere, and guards Jason Brickman and C.J. Garner.
Manhattan's final game before Christmas comes six days after the Sunday afternoon showdown with LIU, when the Jaspers help christen the Barclays Center against South Carolina and new Gamecocks coach Frank Martin. One week later, the Jaspers' final appearance in 2012 will come against Ivy League contender Columbia at Levien Gym on the Upper West Side. Masiello and Manhattan will ring in the new year by hosting Stony Brook in a 2pm matinee on the first day of 2013 in a matchup that will feature Steve Pikiell's Seawolves in a matchup that should help a younger team for their upcoming America East battles.
The Jaspers, like their other MAAC brethren, will also participate in ESPN's Bracketbuster series once again, with a road matchup to be determined later in the season. This game will be contested during the last week of February, right before the MAAC Tournament gets underway at the MassMutual Center in Springfield.
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