Masiello quietly optimistic about Manhattan’s prospects as Jaspers return most experienced roster in MAAC

Steve Masiello and Manhattan return most experience of any MAAC roster in a season where Jaspers are expected to be among contenders. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

During his Manhattan team’s Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title defense in 2015, Steve Masiello likened the Jaspers to the “starving lion that wants to eat the jungle.”

The ravenous appetite with which Manhattan operated that February and March was satiated in the form of a second straight NCAA Tournament appearance, but since then, the cupboard has been bare in Riverdale, with seven straight seasons of walking away empty-handed and last year’s 15-15 record being the most prominent for the program since its last foray on the dance floor. However, with all but two players — Warren Williams and Romar Reid, who transferred to Hofstra and Division II Saint Michael’s, respectively — from last year’s team returning as part of the most experienced roster in the MAAC, which also adds three significant newcomers, the Jaspers appear poised to emerge from a longer-than-usual hibernation to stalk their league prey with renewed vigor and optimism.

“(They’re a) very selfless group,” Masiello said Monday after a productive practice in which Manhattan’s skills on both sides of the basketball were brought to the forefront. “They really like each other, they share the ball, so I like that. I like our age, I like our experience, what we’ve been through. You have some good things that could lead to some qualities that I think make you successful at the Division I level.”

“I’m always pretty excited anytime it’s related to basketball, but I think anytime you can return a group that had some success last year, even though we didn’t finish the way we wanted for different reasons. We return a lot of pieces that I think are going to be successful if they understand what they need to do, learn from your failures, learn from your success, and build on both.”

The Jaspers were one of three MAAC programs — Siena and Rider the others — who had the benefit of an overseas trip to better season and condition the players for an arduous non-conference slate, which begins November 7 at VCU, that sets the table for the 20-game league schedule. Manhattan traveled to the Bahamas in August, the first excursion outside the United States for the school since it visited the same locale in 2013 prior to winning the MAAC championship and nearly dethroning then-reigning national champion Louisville in the NCAA Tournament.

“I think it was productive and needed,” Masiello said of the Bahamas trip and its impact on the team from both a basketball and team chemistry standpoint. “Coming off two years of COVID, a hard two years for the guys, (they were) a group that needed to be around each other in social settings. I think the biggest thing is we might have been together for two years as a team, but I don’t think we had two years of experiences off off court that most college teams have. So it was great for the guys to go have fun, be free, really bond with each other, the coaches, the program. It was a really great time.”

The camaraderie around the team was on full display in practice Monday as well, with the constant communication that has been a hallmark of the most successful Jasper units in the recent past a ubiquitous presence among not only the role players and underclassmen in the fold, but also in fifth-year senior Jose Perez, who enters his final chapter of college basketball as both a Player of the Year contender in the MAAC and an optimized, more efficient version of the player who took over countless games last year as Manhattan sought to reclaim its perch among the best in the league.

“From a talent standpoint, I’ve had some really good players,” Masiello prefaced his assessment of Perez, going on to highlight the development of some of the aspects of his game that needed to be fine-tuned. “Jose’s a talented player, he has some strengths, he has some weaknesses we spent a lot of this offseason concentrating on. I know how good he is with the ball in his hands, but how’s he playing off the basketball, transition defense, sprinting back? He’s gotta grow in those areas and he’s been working on it, but I’d much rather have him than play against him.”

Masiello’s biggest challenge last season, at times, was to channel the unbridled emotion with which Perez plays, and the 12th-year head coach frequently remarked that he needed his mercurial superstar to rein in some of the more passionate moments that spilled over unintentionally. So far, that message has been received.

“We talked about it,” Masiello said of Perez’s exploits. “I think he had seven technicals last year, and that’s a thing we spoke about at the first team meeting. We’re not going to have those types of outbursts, we’re not going to conduct ourselves that way. It’s not what we’ve ever done in this program, it’s not going to be tolerated. We talk about those things all the time, and how we handle adversity is really important.”

As for the supporting cast, that group has been fortified as well. Mainstays such as Elijah Buchanan, Samba Diallo, Josh Roberts and Samir Stewart are all back for their senior seasons as well, joined by freshmen Adam Walden and Raziel Hayun — the latter being a sharpshooter who played for the Israeli national team before arriving stateside — as well as Omar Silverio, the former Rhode Island and Hofstra combo guard brought back to the Bronx; where he played in high school at St. Raymond’s, by his Dominican compatriot Perez.

“I think it’s really important that we shoot the basketball from all positions, and we will, except for the five,” Masiello said of the wholesale roster upgrades. “We know Jose’s going to get a lot of attention, playing through him in the mid post, we want to have shooters around him at all times that can catch and shoot the basketball. And I think we addressed that a lot with Raziel and Omar, and obviously Samir. O is a grown man. He knows how to play, plays with a great pace, great speed, very mature. I think it’s more about his mentality, getting back to being an alpha, being a lion and not deferring. I think similar to Shane Richards, there’s a lot there that (Hayun) can bring to this program. He's got a great feel for the game, shoots it at a really high level, great kid, lives in the gym. (He’s) just a dream come true, so I know he’s going to be terrific.”

“I think you could see us play small with Samba sometimes at the five, I think we can play Logan Padgett at the five sometimes and play small ball. I think Adam Walden’s going to be a terrific addition for us, he’s 6’10”, 260, and his job is to come in and be able to anchor our defense for eight minutes, 10 minutes. Josh wanted the challenge to play 30 (minutes). He wanted the role and now he’s got it, but he’s got to live up to it and deliver.”

Masiello admitted Manhattan's precursor to conference play may be a little more than the Jaspers may be able to chew, but immediately credited his players for their resolve and willingness to embrace challenges, aspects he hopes will be instrumental in a resurgence that will be fueled by the on-court product after two years of COVID pauses and circumstances beyond anyone’s control.

“I think I overscheduled,” he confessed. “But you know what? That’s what the guys wanted. They wanted to play the Bryants and the Providences and those types of opportunities, so unfortunately, the downside is whether you’re 9-2 or 4-5, it always comes down to a weekend in March. I’ve learned after years of being in this league, you want to steady the ship, you want to make sure you’re getting better all the time, challenge your team in the non-conference, and then try to have them playing their best basketball in February and March.”

“I think losing Samir (last year) was a big body blow for us. We shouldn’t have lost him, but you have to deal with situations and circumstances, and we also had a COVID shutdown. I think if we can keep it about basketball this year, I like our chances. We can’t let outside things — hopefully this COVID stuff is all over — creep into the basketball side of things. My hope is we can build on the basketball side of things.”