New actions, new results: How Jaspers' maturation couldn't have come at a more opportune time

Manhattan's three-game win streak has suddenly changed Jaspers' outlook on season, giving Steve Masiello reason to be optimistic. (Photo by Vincent Dusovic/Manhattan College Athletics)

NEW YORK -- Every so often, there comes a turning point -- an epiphany, if you will -- in which the horizon onto which one stares can suddenly project a much greater and more positive vision than what was initially observed.

In the case of Manhattan College and its men's basketball program, January 27 marked the first appearance of light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.

"When we lost to Siena last Saturday, we got back Sunday and we got right in the gym at 6 a.m.," Steve Masiello said as he recounted the morning after a 53-40 defeat dropped the Jaspers to 4-16 on the season, the worst start any of his teams had ever experienced in eight years as head coach. "We made a commitment to each other that we were going to change, and we weren't going to let this season keep going the way it was going."

Since that revelatory pre-dawn practice, Manhattan has reeled off three consecutive wins -- the first time since January of 2016 that such a streak has followed the program -- feeding off a return to familiar confines at Draddy Gymnasium to turn a season ticketed for potential disaster into a promising stretch drive, fueled by victories over Fairfield, Saint Peter's and Rider, the latter of that troika having been picked to win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in the league's preseason poll this past October.

"We -- I say we, myself included, players included -- have kind of said, 'Let's take our ego and put it to the side,’” Masiello proudly shared. “Let's get this right, let's not worry about who's right, let's not worry about who's wrong. Let's get this right. Let's have a little more trust in each other, a little more belief in each other, and let's put in new actions. New actions lead to new results, and that's something we've taken a lot of pride in."

One example of a new action has been the insertion of freshman point guard Samir Stewart -- a player who seems as though he was destined to play for Masiello based solely on his aggressive nature at both ends of the floor and innate ability to lead by example -- into the starting lineup last week. Owner of a game-winning shot to defeat Saint Peter's on January 17, the diminutive floor general has registered 19 points in back-to-back games, sparking the offense with timely three-point shooting while leading the defense with a take-charge mindset reminiscent of former Jasper stalwart RaShawn Stores, now on staff as an assistant coach.

"Everything that goes on, he's responsible for," Masiello said of Stewart. "He's special. He has an IQ -- I'll be getting ready to put a play in and he'll be telling me what the play I'm getting ready to put in is -- his IQ is off the charts. The last guy I had like that was RaShawn. I literally don't have to coach when he's on the court. I haven't trusted a freshman like this ever."

That level of trust extends beyond the court, proving that it has always been bigger than basketball for Masiello, whose own personal journey has experienced enough ebbs and flows to warrant its own amusement park ride. After being cast as a pariah in the wake of what was supposed to be his breakthrough following Manhattan's MAAC championship and near-upset of Louisville in the NCAA Tournament five years ago, he and the Jaspers rebounded with a successful conference title defense and a return to college basketball's grandest stage that seemed improbable given what coach and team had to endure.

Standing almost four seasons removed from that 2015 triumph, Masiello may be humbled from the agony of three losing campaigns, but has evolved both on and off the basketball court in the process. The one-time boy wonder of sorts, hired at the tender age of 33, has grown up in more ways than one. Now 41 and married -- his wife of five months, Andrea, was present in his postgame press conference Tuesday night -- he has become wiser through experience on and off the hardwood, but the youthful optimism returned for just a moment when he spoke in equal parts praise and enthusiasm as he addressed just how impactful this latest surge of good fortune could be, and the payoff it could possibly yield.

"I think it's really hard, when you're going through tough times, to understand what it could look like, what it could turn into," an impassioned Masiello said. "It's really hard, when you're getting your butt kicked every day, to understand that all it takes is one game. That's the great thing about basketball: You get a new opportunity every 48 hours. People talk about that, but to really understand that it could turn your season around, and I'm not saying it has turned our season around by any means -- we have a lot of work to do and we're not happy with where we are -- I think what it's done is it's given that vision that we've all seen. I think it's made it real for us."

Talk about a dream, try to make it real.

"I think we're actually sitting here and saying, 'Okay, if we do A, B and C, that can lead to D, E and F,'" Masiello said. "Now, let's make sure we understand what A, B and C are, and let's do it every day. I think it's made it not a dream as much as it's made it a reality. When your guys believe, that helps me a lot because I can coach them all. That gives me joy, and I say that because now, you don't settle for mediocrity. And that's what we're going to do. We're going to keep trying to push that needle and make progress, watch our belief go up. New actions, new results."