No longer independent, NJIT embraces next conquest

Jim Engles garnered nationwide attention for breakthrough run at NJIT last year, and is confident that that was merely the beginning as Highlanders transition into Atlantic Sun Conference. (Photo courtesy of the Staten Island Advance)

The greatest story in local college basketball last season did not win the national championship, nor did it, with all due respect to Manhattan College, earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Rather, it was a smaller outfit on the other side of the Hudson River, whose seven-year, little-engine-that-could journey reached an initial crescendo with a resounding victory over a Michigan team ranked seventeenth in the nation, and gathered momentum all the way to a Final Four run, albeit not in the tournament most fans would associate that moniker with.

The result of such an unlikely path to success? Entry into a conference after traveling the country as the nation's lone independent, and a chance to add newer, bolder tales to the budding legacy that has become NJIT.

"We worked so hard when we took over the program," head coach Jim Engles recounted with a distinct sense of pride in his voice when the Highlanders dropped each of the first eighteen games of his tenure. "It was a long process to put together the type of success that we were able to have over the last seven years, and we're starting to build it up."

Even before becoming the newest member of the Atlantic Sun Conference, a courtship that came about when Northern Kentucky departed for the Horizon League, the prevailing sentiment was that there would ultimately be a marriage of sorts for NJIT, and several weeks after the Highlanders reached the semifinals of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, the stars truly did align.

"I always felt optimistic, I always thought we were going to get in a league," Engles stated of his program's new home. "I was disappointed when we were in the Great West (Conference) and that fell apart and everybody left, and then I got a little worried because being the only independent, to me, was a little scary because I didn't know the uncertainty with regards to scheduling."

If anyone became an authority on the complexities of creating a schedule in recent years, it was Engles, who learned firsthand of the difficult nature of finding games not just in the beginning of the year when teams are filling the non-league portions of their ledgers, but also in January and February, when the majority of the nation is rather hesitant to interrupt the flow of their conference seasons.

"We were getting down to a point where we were almost finished with the schedule," Engles admitted before the Atlantic Sun accepted NJIT. "No one wanted to play us in January or February, and I understood that, why you wouldn't. It really didn't serve any purpose to play a non-league team when you're trying to focus and get ready for what's most important."

"It was going to be a light schedule in January and February, and I was really worried about the year after," he further revealed. "I thought we could get through this year, and next year, I didn't know if there were going to be any answers to finish the whole thing out, so it really happened at the right time for us. I think the CIT really opened a lot of people's eyes with the Atlantic Sun, so it really was a big deal for us."

For any program, adjusting to a conference season is a pivotal point of the year, whether you are a blueblood like Kentucky or North Carolina, or someone whose prestige is not at that level. For NJIT, three years removed from the last vestiges of the Great West, the stability is a new comfort, but the experience of having been through a deep postseason run will surely ease the burden and make the learning curve far less steep.

"I think the best thing that happened for us at the end of this year was by getting a postseason bid, the games we played at home became like conference games for us," Engles intimated. "The place was packed, and they were high-level games, and then we went on the road and played at Northern Arizona, and they had the largest crowd in their history. So I think those four games at the end, I think they gave us a little taste of what conference play will be like, because they were really important games and we were playing for something. I think we can go back on that experience for this coming year."

"Having the CIT, where we were able to play some home games, play in a playoff situation, being one of the only teams in the country, if you asked me if I ever thought that would be happening when I took over the job, I would have thought you were crazy," he added. "It was a great experience, it was a great way to end the season and I thought it was a great way for our guys to realize the potential that the program does have."

The Highlanders' already sky-high potential can very well be cashed in this season, with all but two players returning from last year's CIT semifinal team. Junior Damon Lynn and senior Winfield Willis lead a backcourt that is among the more experienced guard stables in the area, and what Tim Coleman lacks in size, he makes up for in intangibles as NJIT joins their new league as an immediate contender.

"I think we are entering the league at the right time for us now," Engles reassured, "because most of our team is juniors and sophomores, and then we have Winfield and Ky, (Howard) who are our seniors. We have Terrence Smith, who didn't play for us last year but was third in the country in field goal percentage offense as a sophomore, and a pretty dynamic inside kid for us. He'll be able to take over some of the responsibility that Daquan (Holiday) and Odera (Nweke) leave." 

"It's good to have a team that's confident and is still pretty young, and now has some postseason experience," the coach continued. "It's going to be a lot healthier for us now from a preseason perspective, playing against some of these teams and really now working towards the conference. Last year, the fact that we did beat Michigan and we hung with Marquette, and we beat Duquesne on the road, those are good games for us, but at the end of the day they became almost like our season, and once those teams are done, there wasn't much to look forward to until we got to the postseason."

Nothing could be further from the truth this season, as there is much more to look forward to for the Highlanders. From joining the Atlantic Sun to developing the homecourt advantage that they have created at the truly unique Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center, to the new events center already in the preliminary planning stages, the future is indeed bright for NJIT, and continues to grow ever more radiant by the day.

"We're trying to figure out: Do we change dramatically, or do we try to stay with the same formula we have?" Engles proposed. "We are trying to use the new arena now for recruiting, and having a new conference has definitely opened up a lot more avenues recruiting-wise. Our exposure is a lot greater now that we have a conference, and then you add it to the new facility, so our recruiting has been changing but I don't think we want to get away from the type of players we've recruited, guys who have that type of toughness and maybe might not be the highest-rated kid, but guys who could come in and fit the chemistry and fit the sort of team we've been able to build."

"Over the last few years and having this whole thing break open for us, having the year we had, and the Atlantic Sun looking for another team, it really is such an unbelievable opportunity for us," Engles remarked. "I think we're ready for the challenge. With all the things that happened last year, I think it helped us from a confidence standpoint to walk into next year and to be prepared for what we're going to face."

"I just want us to continue the identity that we've had," he continued, "because it's allowed us to compete and be successful and get better every year. I think if we continue to do those things, we'll be happy with the result at the end of the season. If we don't get to the NCAA Tournament this year or next year or wherever, I just think having all of the new things that we can experience will be a success for everybody."