Back in Big East, Hurley and UConn are confident in return to where Huskies feel they belong

Now back in Big East, Dan Hurley is reinvigorated with drive to lift UConn past its prior heights under Jim Calhoun. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

To know Dan Hurley is to love him, even if one arrives at that destination in a circuitous route.

Hurley has met his share of critics over his decade as a head coach, and got to know them earlier than that from his days as a player and upbringing as the son of a basketball legend in his father, Bob, but has addressed them all with a blend of determination and self-deprecating humor that is ultimately appreciated when broken down to its most rudimentary elements.

It has been a journey for the 47-year-old scion to get to where he is, now entering his third season as head coach at the University of Connecticut, and while the obligatory preseason chatter makes the rounds in the days leading up to the November 25 tipoff to a season shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, the buzz in the room may as well be dead silent to the man tasked with leading the Huskies back to the Big East Conference and by extension, UConn’s perch among college basketball’s elite.

“Postseason awards, to me, are the only things that matter,” Hurley said at Wednesday’s Big East media day, shrugging off the fourth-place prediction bestowed upon UConn in the preseason coaches’ poll. “I like where we’re at as a program going into the season, I think we’ve got a lot of momentum, we want to be able to continue to build on that momentum.”

“The return to the Big East has been a really incredible infusion of energy, just a much-needed jolt for the fan base, for the program. It created another level of excitement. For us, the difference from where we’ve been in the last couple of years is these games are high-profile. Everyone’s watching Big East basketball. This is a national stage, absolutely no nights off, home or away.”

Indeed, the mood in and around Storrs has returned to fever pitches not seen since UConn’s fourth national championship six years ago, and perhaps before that, as the Huskies have been lifted from an American Athletic Conference that felt to UConn supporters like a wasteland, a basketball purgatory. But regardless of where the program was affiliated, the upward trajectory was already in motion.

“We were well on our way to getting the level of talent in here back to the level it needed to be,” Hurley reaffirmed. “Our first recruiting class, when there was no end to the Big East, was (James) Bouknight, Akok Akok, Jalen Gaffney and RJ Cole, so we were already recruiting at a very high level. But it certainly has enhanced that and just added to the excitement level surrounding us.”

“We’ve raised our intensity level significantly. Just from going live, I see we’re going to have to make hard decisions on who’s going to start as opposed to — the last couple of years — just finding five guys to throw out there. We’ve got a number of good players.”

Intensity is synonymous with the Hurley brand. So, too, is swagger and confidence. And for those who know UConn’s coach, it comes as no surprise that when he was tipped off to Seton Hall head coach Kevin Willard’s tongue-in-cheek comments about the return of the Huskies, quotes that were taken out of context on social media, Hurley would deliver an impactful rebuttal.

“We’re all competitive,” he stated. “I just think the stronger your conference is — and Seton Hall under Kevin has had incredible success with NCAA Tournament appearances, playing at the top of the Big East — I don’t think that’s going to change. I think UConn’s going to add one of the most passionate fan bases in the country, a program that in the last 20 years which is Top 5 in the country in terms of national championships and producing lottery picks and first-round picks. I see UConn doing nothing but enhancing the league.”

“And as we get our act together — hopefully we’ll become a perennial Top 20, Top 15, Top 10 program consistently every year — we’ll be adding an element of excitement to the conference that will allow it to stand up to the ACC and the Big Ten, and the SEC and the Big 12. We want to be considered the best basketball conference in the country, so logically it would make sense to be excited about a program of UConn’s brand coming back in.”

5 Thoughts: Seton Hall’s predictions and expectations at Big East media day

With Myles Powell no longer around, Sandro Mamukelashvili has embraced newfound role as Seton Hall’s leader. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

NEW YORK — The scenery was different, yet the content remained the same.

Big East Conference media day, traditionally a Madison Square Garden spectacle, was shifted to a virtual setting Wednesday amid the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing league officials and teams to operate in a Zoom call. The change in locales did not alter the tone of the proceedings for Seton Hall, however, as the Pirates projected a tenor consistent with the program’s recent Big East results: Somewhat disregarded in the beginning, yet among the best in the room by the final buzzer.

Picked fifth in the Big East preseason poll, Seton Hall is once again strapping the seemingly perennial chip onto its collective shoulder, unleashing a determined confidence and perhaps its most balanced look in the past three years. Head coach Kevin Willard was unfazed by the stage as well, delivering his trademark combination of refreshing candor and dry humor from the comfort of his New Jersey home while playfully roasting media members as only he can.

What became clear throughout the day, as the Pirates prepare to defend the regular season championship they claimed a share of last year, is that this group shows no sign of a dropoff despite graduating Myles Powell five months ago. That continuity is one of several things to take away from today’s festivities as we offer our first set of thoughts for the 2020-21 campaign:

1) COVID, COVID, COVID

While President Donald Trump has grown understandably frustrated with the media coverage of the coronavirus pandemic in recent weeks as he gears up for his re-election bid, there is no denying the indelible mark COVID-19 has left within the college basketball landscape. Such changes to what appeared to be a timeless routine were touched upon early and often by each of the Big East’s 11 coaches, and in great detail for the South Orange residents.

“I think the biggest difference is how I interact with them,” Willard revealed. “I don’t get within six feet of them anymore, none of the coaches do. We don’t have team meetings anymore, everything’s spaced out on the court. But as far as the basketball side, we’ve tried to treat it as normal as possible.”

The normalcy has come in handy as non-conference schedules have been changed more frequently than we change shirts — a brutally honest Willard referred to that process as a “total, total s***show” — and it raised a question from Forbes.com’s Adam Zagoria of perhaps going into a bubble if need be, similar to how three of the four major professional sports have.

“They better have a lot of wine, Adam,” Willard quipped before delving into an introspective take on the positives and negatives of bubble play. “I think it would be a lot more feasible around February, when we get all the other sports and all the other students back on campus. I hope as we move forward and testing becomes more available and quicker, we can use the backlog of tests to keep moving forward without such a huge disruption, but as you get towards February, I think a bubble could definitely be an option.”

2) The Fifth Element

Willard did not reference the Pirates’ standing among the pundits, but the prognostication was not lost on his three seniors, who have been down this road before and are eager to make debtors out of their skeptics.

“I don’t think they really understand the potential and talent we’ve got left,” Sandro Mamukelashvili emphatically declared, taking a swipe at anyone rating the Pirates lower in the wake of losing Powell. “I feel like everybody’s going to step up a lot more. Myles (Cale) is going to step up, we can’t wait to have Bryce (Aiken) playing with us, Jared Rhoden has improved.”

“I feel like all the guys have taken major steps, so I don’t think coaches really understand how much talent we have on this team. We’ve always been underdogs, so I feel like it’s just in our DNA to come out and play with our hearts out and just play hard. I feel like coaches are going to regret this decision, but we’ll see.”

3) Checks and Balances

To expound on Mamu’s point, yes, Seton Hall is losing a once-in-a-generation talent in Powell. But just because the Trenton native is gone, does that mean the Pirates are thinner in terms of impactful pieces to the puzzle? Absolutely not.

“We lost a lot of power in our starting five last year,” Cale admitted, also mentioning the graduations of Romaro Gill and Quincy McKnight in addition to Powell. “But I feel like we didn’t lose anything. We have the right stuff, we’ve got a good point guard that came in (Aiken), Sandro, he’s back, so I’m looking forward to this year and I don’t think it’ll be a surprise.”

“I like my team even though we lost who we lost,” Willard echoed. “Jared Rhoden had a phenomenal summer, I love where Tyrese Samuel is, Shavar Reynolds is playing phenomenal right now, I love Takal Molson, he gives us a layer of toughness and scoring in different ways. I just think we’re so much more balanced.”

4) The Bryce is Right

Seton Hall lost out on Aiken four years ago when the former Patrick School star passed on the chance to play alongside Powell, signing instead at Harvard. Now back in the Garden State as a graduate transfer, Aiken will assume the point guard duties and follow in the footsteps of McKnight, Khadeen Carrington and Isaiah Whitehead, a legacy his new coach sees no issue with him upholding.

“Where I’m excited about Bryce is, for the first time in a long time, he’s a point guard who understands the game at a coaching level,” Willard gushed. “He sees the game and calls plays where I don’t have to do stuff, I don’t have to run the team or call plays. He’s one of those who just has a feel.”

As for replicating Powell’s place on the scoreboard? Aiken is certainly qualified, but the need for him to don Superman’s cape is nonexistent.

“He doesn’t have that pressure on him,” said Willard. “He doesn’t have to go out and score 30. Is he capable of doing it? Absolutely, and that just makes us that much more dangerous. But he doesn’t have that pressure, or I don’t feel like we have that pressure where he has to play like a Myles Powell.”

5) Big Mamu’s House

Mamukelashvili, who tested the NBA Draft waters this summer before returning to Seton Hall for his senior season, is clearly the face of the team despite its massive depth and talent. And by all accounts, the Georgian is already proving himself to be quite acclimated with living in the limelight, the universal dream.

“Just going through the process was a blessing,” Mamu recounted. “Going into it, I didn’t know how many interviews I would have, so I just got nervous. Right now, knowing what teams are really interested and know a lot about me, I just feel like I took the opportunity to kind of showcase what kind of person I am. Coming into this year, I want to be the leader, I want to be the guy my teammates can rely on. This is like a new adventure for me. I’ve never been in the spotlight like this, so I’ve got to stay level-headed.”

“I think the whole NBA Draft process helped him grow up a lot,” Willard reflected. “He got so much positive feedback from so many teams, and I think that helped his confidence. I think he’s really stepped up his personality and his confidence to the point where he’s ready to put us on his shoulders. I’m expecting a really big year from him because I think he wants it, and I think he’s ready for it.”

St. John’s picked ninth, but unfazed as growth and depth exceed perception

Julian Champagnie and St. John’s were taken lightly in Big East preseason poll, but sophomore forward and his teammates insist predictions are irrelevant. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

NEW YORK — Far too often, greater stock is placed in preseason predictions than the pundits’ speculation deserves. For teams picked to finish near the top of their leagues, it is a validation. For those selected toward the bottom, it is usually a prevailing opinion that the number next to the name does not matter at the end of the day.

St. John’s proved itself befitting of the latter description Wednesday morning, as the Red Storm — picked ninth and third-last in the Big East Conference’s preseason poll, unveiled this morning before the league’s annual media day kicked off in a virtual setting — is largely unfazed by the low expectations that were created by an influx of new talent the likes of which have not been seen by a majority of Big East programs outside of recruiting.

“Personally, I’m not really a guy to look into politics and preseason polls,” Julian Champagnie said of St. John’s perceived stature among its conference brethren. “I don’t really expect anything from anybody. Opinions are opinions, and that’s what it is. I feel like the only thing I’m worried about is as a team, we ended the season really well and I would like to pick up where we left off.”

“It seems like last year, because I think last year we were picked ninth, too,” head coach Mike Anderson observed. “I keep using the analogy that I was my wife’s third choice, so I didn’t turn out that bad. It ain’t where you start, it’s where you finish. I don’t take it personal. All that means is we've got to work and continue to prove that we can be the best team. That’s all I want out of our guys.”

St. John’s did win 17 games last season and threatened to upset Creighton in the Big East tournament before it was canceled at halftime of the Red Storm’s quarterfinal matchup, a testament to the gradual and marked improvement of a group that ultimately became comfortable with its coach’s in-your-face, 40 Minutes of Hell style.

“Even as we look at our team last year, we came out of the gates and we played well in the non-conference schedule, then we got to the conference schedule and we got popped upside the head,” a candid and succinct Anderson assessed. “It took us a while with injuries and guys understanding their roles, but I thought by the end, we were playing well.”

“I think we’ve addressed some issues. Our guards were our strength last year with our basketball team. Our forwards were lacking, and having a year in the Big East going up against some good coaches and some really good talent, we figured we had to bring in some forwards to make us a little more balanced.”

The depth in Queens is perhaps the most conspicuous takeaway looking at St. John’s roster compared to last season. While a core of incumbent players the likes of Champagnie, Greg Williams, Rasheem Dunn, Marcellus Earlington and Josh Roberts has improved, so too have the newcomers. And to expound on Anderson’s need to address the Red Storm’s front line, graduate transfer Arnaldo Toro and 6-foot-10 junior college import Isaih Moore have already gone a long way toward tilting the scales closer to an equal split.

“I’ll tell you what: I really like what Toro brings to the table,” Anderson gushed. “I think he brings maturity, he’s just one of those who will do whatever it takes to help your team win. He brings a calmness, the experience factor. I think he’s going to be really, really good in what we do. Marcellus Earlington, you saw him come in. Isaih Moore gives us a versatile forward. It’s going to be a contribution of multiple guys, and you can’t look past what Julian did last year. Going down the stretch, this guy almost averaged a double-double, and I think he’s hungrier.”

“I wouldn’t want to put anyone above anyone else,” Champagnie said of the new arrivals. “I’d say they’ve all come in and done what they had to do. They’ve all impressed me a lot, but I’d say Toro surprised me. He knows what it takes to win and he knows things other guys don’t, including myself. He’s a piece that we needed.”

Junior college wing Vince Cole — currently limited for the past three weeks due to a knee injury — as well as freshman Posh Alexander have drawn rave reviews from both their teammates and coaches, but at the end of the day, the two — and everyone else donning the red and white jerseys in the corner of Union and Utopia this season — are vital cogs in a machine whose main goal is to be versatile to the point where opposing teams will he unable to focus primarily on one or two main scorers.

“Our job is to put a team out there that you’ll have multiple guys you’ve got to worry about,” Anderson cautioned. “My best teams have been when you have multiple guys who, on any given night, can get you 25. And we saw that last year. Marcellus had one of his better games against Georgetown. Greg, against Creighton, he just went off. Julian had a game at Butler where he played extremely well. We’re going to have a bunch of guys you’ve got to worry about.”

“For us individually, we have the mindset to go out and make everyone better, including ourselves,” said Williams. “I think that we have to expand our leadership role to make sure everyone is working as hard as they can and just bringing everything they have to the table. It’s our job to bring what we have to the table, and therefore increase the level of our play.”

Kevin Willard quote book: Big East media day

By Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette)

On Sandro Mamukelashvili being named to the preseason all-Big East first team, and his expectations:

“I think it's phenomenal, to be honest with you. It goes to show how much hard work he has put in. I think everyone started to see the player he was emerging to be. Obviously, last year, we had Myles (Powell), but he was our second-best player, very dependable. I think this whole (NBA) draft process gave him a lot of confidence, a lot of information for what he has to work on and what teams are looking for, and I love how aggressive he's been in practice so far. I'm expecting a really big year from him because I think he wants it, and I think he's ready for it.”

On preparing for COVID-19 related disruptions and potentially moving to a bubble:

“I think it's part of life right now. You just prepare to play games. We've been going since July 20, and we've been testing, we haven't had a positive test yet. I think Wojo (Marquette head coach Steve Wojciechowski) was surprised that he got one. I think we're all going to have to deal with it when it happens. I wish we would come up with a policy that we could keep moving forward if we did get one because we're testing, I think, every two days, so I don't understand why we're testing so much if we're not going to be able to use the test to get out of the 14-day quarantine. I understand it for the general public, but the general public isn't getting tested every two days. I hope as we move forward and testing becomes more available and quicker, we can use the backlog of tests to keep moving forward without such a huge disruption, right now it's 17 days until you can play another game. For my team, we're doing our best to really social distance, I think that's the biggest thing, trying to stay away from everybody. They understand it's a part of life right now, there's really nothing you can do. It's a virus, you can't really hide from it. I think we're all going to have to deal with it at some point, and hopefully as testing and policies get a little bit better, we can use the tests to make the disruption not 14 days, but maybe seven days. I think that would help the season dramatically.”

“They better have a lot of wine, Adam (chuckle). I think it could work. I think it would be a lot more feasible around February when we get all the other sports and all the other students back on campus. For right now, we're going to be the only ones on campus for almost two months, so we have to take advantage of that time. But as you get towards February, I think a bubble could definitely be an option.”

On feasibility of a season with 14-day quarantine recommendations, and whether a bubble makes more sense:

“It's probably going to be almost impossible. Let's just say Wojo just had one kid test (positive), so now he's under quarantine for 14 days. You need four days to get your team back, and then you're still going to be testing. What happens if another kid tests positive? Now you're down for another 14 days. It just doesn't make sense to me why we're not using the tests to keep moving forward. We're testing every two days, so we're going to know exactly where someone got it, when they got it. We can isolate that person, you can test in two days and know if they spread it, or if anyone else has it, so I think we have to use the fact that we're testing so much to our advantage. Football did it, baseball did it, hockey did it, other sports are doing it right now. For basketball, I think we have to use the history of the tests to keep moving forward.”

“I think eventually you might have to get to that point. You just never know. That's one thing that's been tough on our players, I think not a lot of people are talking about the mental health of our players. We had our MTE cancelled the other day, and I had 13 guys saying, ‘Why are we practicing? Won't the same thing happen again? The season's going to get cancelled.’ And I said, ‘Guys, we just kind of have to go with the flow.’ It's tough because, mentally, these guys are all ready to play, they're all looking forward to the season. They're excited to play, they want to play against someone besides themselves. But we have to figure out a way to do it. I think there's a way to do it safely, we just have to be smart about it.”

On the season being near after the trials of getting through the pandemic and offseason:

“I think it's great. A lot of people worked really hard on every college campus to get to this point. I'm just excited for the players. I can't tell you what it was like to be on the bus after the Big East Tournament and the NCAA Tournament got cancelled, dealing with 13 kids who put their heart and soul into this game that they love. More than anything, I'm glad for these kids because they've put so much work in to get back to this point. This game means the world to them, so for them to have this chance, that's what it means to me. We've just been focused on their mental health and their game, getting them back to before all this happened.”

On UConn returning to the Big East and what it means for the league:

“It sucks for us, to be honest with you. I didn’t vote for it, I voted against it. I’m still really not that happy about it. If you don’t know, no one in this league listens to me, so I’m not used to getting my way anyway. But for the league in general, I think it’s great...great program, great tradition, great history. I think the program, where it is now with Danny (Hurley), is on the rise. They have great players. I’m a big fan of what Dan does, how he coaches, and how his teams play. I think it’s only going to make this league better. We’ve been the best basketball conference in the country in three of the last four years, and I think that helps us continue that trend.”

On Bryce Aiken:

“Bryce isn’t quite back to practicing yet. He’s been full-go with individual instruction and lifting, he’s done dummy offense with us…our goal was always to get him back around this time. He looks great, he’s been a phenomenal leader even though he hasn’t been on the practice court with us. He’s been unbelievable off the court mentoring some of the younger kids. He looks great physically, it’s just going to be getting over the mental hurdle of the injuries, which is always tough. We’ve just taken it really slow with injuries, so we’re taking it really slow with him. We expect to get him back on the practice court in early November. He’s an older kid, he knows what he’s doing, he knows how we play. We’ve talked a lot about it, so I don’t think he’ll need that much time to get back into the flow of things.”

On this being a rebuilding year for the Big East:

“No. I look at the coaches’ poll, and I’m really high on a couple teams. I think Villanova’s the best team in college basketball with (Collin) Gillespie, some of the younger guys they have. I think they’re top-to-bottom really good. I like Providence with David Duke, their seniors are really good. I think everyone’s sleeping on St. John’s a little bit. I think they are much deeper, and they’re going to be used to playing like Mike (Anderson) does. I like my team, even though we lost who we lost. Jared Rhoden had a phenomenal summer. Obviously, we have Sandro, Myles Cale, I love where Shavar Reynolds is. You add Bryce, so I like where my team is a lot. I haven’t even talked about Creighton, as good as they are. We’re six, seven teams deep as always, and I think the bottom always gets slept on. I think this league is so balanced and so well-coached, it’s going to be as good as it always is.”

On Tyrese Samuel, preceded by a back-and-forth banter with John Fanta of the Big East Digital Network and Fox Sports:

“I thought you’d have a Browns question! I’m always so happy to see you, I don’t know why. You always make me smile, Johnny. You lost Odell Beckham, I thought we’d start off with that, you’re all excited tweeting about your guy Baker Mayfield, I thought you would definitely have a Cleveland question for me, but if we’re going to talk about Tyrese Samuel, I’ll go there. I have a burner account just so I can follow you and Zach (Braziller of the New York Post).”

“I love where Tyrese Samuel is. He’s gotten stronger. I think one of the reasons we struggled a little bit toward the end of last year was his ankle injury made us really thin at that spot. He had a really great freshman year. I expect him to make the same jump as Myles Powell did from his freshman to sophomore year. He’s going to be playing a lot more minutes. Without Myles shooting the ball 30 times, everyone’s going to get a lot more shots. So I think he’s going to have one of those production jumps almost like Sandro did his sophomore year. I‘m looking for him, he can be a 10-and-10 guy to be honest with you, because he’s got the physical ability, and I think he’s starting to get confidence in his game.”

On taking this year one day at a time:

“I think as coaches, that’s the way we’re looking at it. With my players, I’ve been aggressive in trying to get them to take a long-term look. I want them to be focused not only on the precious present… but also their futures, because I don’t want them to lose sight of what’s coming.”

On his conversations with last year’s seniors, and helping Myles Powell with his professional prospects:

“It was difficult. I had the team over at my house on Selection Sunday like I usually do for what we call a family meal, and just explained to them that as you get older, it gets more difficult in life and bad things happen. As far as helping Myles, we’ve been in constant contact. He’s doing great. His body looks great- he’s in great shape. He’s getting unbelievable feedback from the NBA teams. Romaro (Gill’s) on campus, I see him all the time, Quincy (McKnight) is doing good. I’ll get them back (to recognize them) as soon as I can get them back. They can come back right now, I don’t care. They’re family. If one of those guys gives me COVID, I don’t care, because they’re just like my kids. The end of the season was hard on everybody. It’s something that you can’t explain, but I think my kids have really bounced back mentally, and I think they’re excited for this year.”

On blending basketball with COVID-19 protocols:

“I feel I have one of the best athletic trainers in all of college basketball in Tony Testa. When we brought our guys back in July with all of the testing protocols, one of our main things was to try and make this as normal as possible for them. We’ve kind of gone more on the normal side than most people, to treat it as much like a normal year as possible while adding the protections to make sure our kids are safe. We don’t have team meetings anymore, everything’s spaced out on the court. Everything’s so much cleaner, that’s one of the positives of COVID. You try to keep them socially distanced from other kids on campus, but as far as the basketball side, we’ve tried to treat it as normal as possible, and Tony was very big on their mental health. He thought that we were not going to bring them back and keep it, like, one guy in the gym at a time. Eventually, we’re all going to have to jump back into the pool and swim together, and we did that right when they got back on campus. I think the biggest difference is how I interact with them. I don’t get within six feet of them anymore, none of the coaches do. We don’t have team meetings in rooms, we had a film session, and I used the whole Walsh Gymnasium for a film session. But for the most part, we’ve been normal. We had individual instruction all summer long. We just started team practice because I didn’t think they were in good enough shape to do team practice (earlier). I don’t start yelling until November 3, 4, 5, that area. They get tired of me really quick. Right now, we’ve just really focused on getting them back in shape, getting their games back because they took four months off. That’s a long time for a player. Normally, you take two weeks off, and you’re right back at it. We focused on individual instruction stuff. We didn’t do any team stuff until late September.”

On potential schedule disruptions:

“Scheduling’s a s***show right now. Anyone who’s saying otherwise is lying. I got a text right before I came on that I can play in an MTE with these three teams in one location, and then I got a text from another guy saying he had two of the same teams in a totally different location. It’s really difficult right now because everyone’s trying how to get to 27 games. I wish we wouldn’t tie in the MTEs. I love the MTEs, last year in the Bahamas was phenomenal, we were supposed to go the Charleston this year and I love Charleston. I wish we wouldn’t tie the 27 games into the MTEs. It’s making it really difficult because everyone’s trying to get into the MTEs to play as many games as possible, but no one knows who’s going to be in what MTE because of the cancellation of the ESPN one. So, I wish the NCAA would come out and say, ‘just play 27 games any way you can get them.’ Even if I had to play four extra conference games at this point, that might be a possibility. Right now I wouldn’t even use the word ‘disaster,’ because that would be too light of a term. It’s just a total, total s***show.“

On his concerns and expectations for Aiken:

“I’m not looking at Bryce that way. He doesn’t have to score 30 points a game for us this year. Sandro’s going to have a big jump in scoring, which he had late last year. I think Jared Rhoden’s going to be a first or second team all-Big East player by the time all is said and done this year. Myles Cale is a senior. We’re deep enough at all these spots that we’re not going to play the same way we played the last two years with Myles (Powell). Where I’m excited about Bryce is he’s — for the first time in a long time — he’s a point guard who understands the game at a coaching level. He sees the game and calls plays where I don’t have to do stuff, I don’t have to run the team or call plays, he’s just one of those who just has a feel. So if he can’t play a game or two, then Shavar Reynolds is playing phenomenal right now, he’s probably our best player on the floor. He doesn’t have that pressure on him, he doesn’t have to go out and score 30. Is he capable of doing it? Absolutely, and that just makes us, I think that much more dangerous. But he doesn’t have that pressure, or I don’t feel that pressure that he has to go out and do that for us. I just think we’re so much more balanced. I love Takal Molson, we haven’t talked about him, he gives us a layer of toughness and scoring in different ways. We’re going to run a lot of offense through Sandro in the high post, so we’re going to play a different offense than we have in the past. So Bryce doesn’t have that pressure. If anything, Bryce has total freedom, so when he goes out and gets 30 in a game, it’s going to be great, if he goes out and gets four points and 15 assists, that’s great, too. So he’s got enough pieces around him to where he doesn’t have that pressure, or I don’t feel like we have that pressure where he has to play like a Myles Powell.”

On Mamukelashvili being “the guy” this season:

“Absolutely. I think he’s ready to be the guy. I think Jared Rhoden’s going to be right there with him. When we won 10 in a row last year, Jared was starting for us and playing at a really high level. I think he’s taken his game to the next level. I think those two guys are going to be night-in, night-out guys. And Myles Cale is our best defender, and he’s a four-year senior. So those three guys are going to be my guys. I think the whole NBA draft process helped him grow up a lot. He got so much positive feedback from so many teams, and I think that helped his confidence. I think he realized that he’s a lot closer to achieving his goals than he thought, and I saw a huge difference just between the end of the season and when we came back in August, a difference in the way he carried himself. I think he’s really stepped up his personality, his confidence, to the point where he’s ready to put us on his shoulders.”

Monmouth senior cast ready to lead Hawks closer to promised land

 George Papas made highlight reels with dunk at Kansas, but senior guard is seeking to make headlines by leading Monmouth to top of MAAC. (Photo by ESPN)

Even though both of its regular season Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship campaigns stopped short of the ultimate goal of reaching the NCAA Tournament, Monmouth saw a common thread in each year, that of a deep and strong upperclassman presence on the Hawks’ roster.

Three years removed from Justin Robinson’s graduation, the one-time national media darlings have reloaded the car for a similar destination, with the same backdrop on the Jersey Shore. Four seniors, including all-MAAC guard Deion Hammond, and a junior combo guard in Samuel Chaput who played well above his experience level last season, have banded together early and often in an offseason ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic to make sure their last ride is a glorious one.

“We just want to deal with this year,” head coach King Rice said of the final encores for Hammond, George Papas, Melik Martin and Marcus McClary, not referencing the proposed additional year of eligibility that could eventually be on the table later this season. “We just want to keep their heads clear. People are going to start talking about kids getting another year, and if they get another year, then we’ll deal with that when they get it.”

But as far as here and now has gone, the Hawks’ elder statesmen are building off last season’s 18 wins. Papas will be freed to play more off the ball this season while Chaput and Donovann Toatley will likely share point guard duties in the wake of Ray Salnave’s departure. Martin and McClary will reprise their roles on the wings as Monmouth's high-energy defensive presence, and together, each of them have augmented both the alpha dog in Hammond as well as the team’s overall mindset.

“We’ve been in a pandemic, and I’d say George, Deion, Melik and Marcus have led our team as well as we’ve been led since I’ve been here,” said Rice. “We’ve had some great leaders through the years, but under these circumstances, these four young men, they were reaching out to the young guys all summer, they were talking to each other throughout the summer. Deion stayed up at George’s house (in Jersey City) almost the whole summer so they could work together and really get on the same page. When guys become seniors, special things happen for them most of the time.”

On paper, Hammond commands most of the attention in opposing scouting reports, the expectation for anyone ranking among the conference scoring leaders and offensive specialists. But once one gets past the Maryland native, where the Hawks make teams pay are by showcasing the ancillary options. McClary has proven to be an offensive spark on many an occasion, Martin has shown a deceptively strong shooting touch, and Papas — whose dunk in the final seconds at Kansas last season went viral and attracted national headlines on SportsCenter — will be a greater presence on the scoreboard as Salnave’s productivity must be replaced. As for the 2021-22 season, the program is inclined to let the chips fall where they may.

“We’ve had a great run with our seniors here, with Mustapha (Traore) and the guys last year, and now this group has come in and been playing since their first year,” Rice declared. “Now they’re the grown men of the group. They’re telling me how they want things done and we’re listening to them, because we trust them that much, and they’ve been great mentors to the young guys thus far.”

“Those four guys are definitely going to make a mark this year, and we’ll deal with what happens after that after we get the word from the NCAA.”

In Donovann Toatley, Monmouth hopes it has floor general and leader

Donovann Toatley finally arrives for Monmouth after sitting out last season, and should help Hawks fill void left by Ray Salnave. (Photo by University of Tennessee-Chattanooga Athletics)

Last season, the man who was perhaps the most potent weapon in Monmouth's deep and talented arsenal of guards did not even have a chance to display his value, restricted to a spectator after the NCAA denied a waiver for his immediate eligibility.

At 5-foot-9, it may be easy for the casual fan to miss Donovann Toatley on the hardwood, but what he lacks in stature, he more than compensates for in both drive and scoring punch. And after a year of learning the ropes and preparing himself for a return, the redshirt sophomore is eager to prove that good things not only come in small packages, but also to those who wait.

“Donovann can do a lot of things,” King Rice said of his new floor general, one who will assist incumbents Samuel Chaput and George Papas in helping replace Ray Salnave, who transferred to DePaul in the offseason. “I’m so anxious to have him on our team in games, because we could not guard him at all last year in practice.”

In his one season at Chattanooga, Toatley averaged 11.4 points and three assists per game coming primarily off the bench, but the Maryland native did start eight of the 27 contests he played in for the Mocs. And while his height and immediate impact may bear a slight resemblance to Monmouth legend and two-time Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Player of the Year Justin Robinson, it is Toatley’s experience as a high school teammate of Deion Hammond that is sure to excite Hawks fans more than any comparison to the program’s all-time leading scorer, as Monmouth's senior leader has already praised Toatley effusively.

“He can score pretty much at will,” Hammond told Steve Edelson of the Asbury Park Press about Toatley. “And for his size, that’s pretty impressive. He knows how to get guys the ball, he knows how to facilitate, and me and him have a chemistry already, so that should be interesting.”

“It was very frustrating for our guys when we would work on our traps and all our stuff, and we just couldn’t get the kid slowed down,” Rice gushed. “So I’m anxious to see how he does when the lights turn on. I’m excited because I know how much he scored in high school, and then he averaged 10 as a freshman.”

Toatley enters his first of three seasons in West Long Branch with the relief of not being expected to carry the bulk of the offense, as Hammond will be counted on to shoulder the majority of the load for the Hawks. Regardless, the shortest player on the floor will no doubt be one who leaves one of the strongest impressions by the final buzzer.

“He’s definitely ready,” said Rice. “He and Deion played together in a lot of games, so they know each other well, and that young man can really do a lot of things on the basketball court. We’re super happy that we have Donovann able to go this year.”

Monmouth's experience, guard depth will make Hawks a factor in MAAC

King Rice loses Ray Salnave, but brings deep Monmouth team into a MAAC where Hawks should challenge Siena for conference supremacy. (Photo by Vincent Simone/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

Toward the end of last season, it appeared as though the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference battle between Siena and Saint Peter’s was going to welcome a third entrant, until the coronavirus pandemic scrapped the remnants of the 2019-20 campaign before even the slightest strand of a net could be clipped.

Seven months later, Monmouth, the aforementioned third team in the mix after a resurgent stretch drive, has reloaded in the wake of losing Ray Salnave but also returning its trademark deep roster, and like everyone else in the nation, is adjusting to basketball life in a COVID-19 world.

“Anytime you get a game canceled, it’s devastating for anybody in the program,” King Rice reflected as the Hawks pick up the pieces after not even getting to take the floor in the MAAC tournament this past March, as the NCAA pulled the plug on the season several hours before Monmouth was to face Quinnipiac. “My first thing was just to make sure that my kids were okay and explain to them that this is something nobody’s ever dealt with in college athletics. It’s really a terrible situation, but at that time, we were all scared and we didn’t know anything about it. I just wanted to make sure my kids were safe and our families were safe, then we had to deal with what was in front of us.”

“Our staff and our players have done a tremendous job of just keeping their minds in a good place, trying to stay healthy, working out, finishing school. That was way different than anything they had ever dealt with before.”

Adjustment to a new set of guidelines and routines is going to be one of the biggest keys to navigating an obstacle-littered season over the next five months, and Rice was his usual candid self when assessing the hardest part of coaching in a pandemic.

“The unknown,” he declared. “You think, ‘Okay, this will be done by the summer, and then we’ll go out recruiting and we’ll be working with our guys all summer.’ As a dad and a husband, it started getting to me and my staff. When you get dealt a hand that you don’t like, you still have to figure out the next move. And then you throw in — on top of this — all the racial things going on in our country and what guys were seeing on TV during this time with George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and basketball just didn’t seem as important. If we get this chance to play basketball, that’s going to be our blessing. This country’s been dealing with a lot of stuff, so hopefully getting to play basketball will give us some relief. These kids really, really want this.”

The kids of whom Rice speaks comprise one of the deeper and more experienced rosters in the MAAC, something that gives the Hawks a leg up in a league that is younger than it was last season. Ray Salnave has departed, having headed to DePaul as a graduate transfer, but Monmouth returns a cadre of guards in George Papas, Samuel Chaput, Marcus McClary and Melik Martin to go with MAAC Player of the Year contender Deion Hammond and newcomer Donovann Toatley, as well as a burgeoning front line that will feature Nikkei Rutty and Jarvis Vaughan more heavily after Mustapha Traore and Sam Ibiezugbe graduated this past May.

“Nikkei is ahead of schedule,” Rice said of Rutty, whose offseason injury was to sideline him until January. “He’s one of those kids who, because of his injury, got to come to campus early and work with the trainers, he got his surgery right away and started doing his treatment. He’s been here working on his body, he’s jogging, he’s shooting. They said sometime in January, I’d say he’s in front of that (timeline). We’re not rushing him, we want him to get healthy before we do anything.”

“Jarvis has been tremendous. They also thought he would be shut down until November-December, and Jarvis came back this summer and is probably about 90 percent. He’s super athletic, he plays with so much energy, and he can do a lot of things on the floor. We haven’t had a lot of guys with Jarvis’ skill set.”

With the frontcourt — which also welcomes freshmen Myles Foster and Klemen Vuga — a work in progress, the backcourt becomes even more integral to a program that has thrived on guard productivity even before Salnave and Justin Robinson, going back to the days of Dion Nesmith and Jesse Steele.

“With Nikkei being out and Jarvis coming back from an injury, I think our strength is with our guards right now,” said Rice. “I think Deion is a kid that could be Player of the Year and I think he fits in with that group. Donovann can do a lot of things, our young guys are super good, and you can throw Melik and Marcus in there with the bigger guys, but our strength is our guards.”

It is not inconceivable to suggest that with the roster turnover at Iona and Rick Pitino’s inability to get as much time with his team as he may have liked due to the pandemic, Monmouth could perhaps be the biggest challenge to likely MAAC favorite Siena, who returns reigning Player of the Year Jalen Pickett and senior forward Manny Camper after the latter averaged a double-double last season. Even without a star the likes of Salnave, the Hawks’ coach remains confident, not worrying about anyone else but his own team and maintaining a clear set of expectations in West Long Branch.

“I don’t worry about what people say we can’t do,” Rice proclaimed. “I spend no time worrying about naysayers. I want to watch these kids flourish, I want to watch kids from other teams with big smiles on their faces because they get this opportunity to do what they’ve always dreamed about doing. I think we’ve shown we’re going to play hard, we’re definitely going to play smarter. I think my staff has gotten better over this time and getting our mind to what’s important, and helping these young men have a great year is the most important thing. That’s what we’re focused on.”

After massive leap forward last year, Pikiell excited to see how Rutgers handles expectations

 

Steve Pikiell shepherded incredible growth last season at Rutgers, and will now guide Scarlet Knights into a year of many question marks with significant and real hype. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

Save all the jokes about Rutgers.

The punchlines and cannon fodder that populated the banks of the old Raritan for years are dead and buried now, replaced by real punches and cannon fire from a scrappy outfit in the image of its born fighter of a head coach, a group that would have reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time in nearly three decades had COVID-19 not imposed its path of destruction seven months ago.

The circumstances in which Rutgers reached the precipice of something special only to have it ripped away beyond its control are still a burning fire, but as life and basketball have begun the nascent stages of resumption, so too have the Scarlet Knights in turning the page to bigger and better, and to finish what was started last season.

“It was kind of surreal,” Steve Pikiell recounted when assessing the confluence of events that swept basketball off its collective feet and into a tsunami of an international crisis, made even more incomprehensible by the normalcy just hours prior to the NCAA’s cancellation of the remainder of the 2019-20 season on March 12. “I thought we were going to play that day with no fans, and then right before tipoff, they canceled that. Never in my wildest imagination did I realize the NCAA Tournament (would be canceled). It was kind of bizarre, and obviously something you’re not prepared for, but it was a big step for our program in a lot of ways.”

“To have 20 wins, a winning season, we were going to be in the NCAA Tournament, we were ranked in a year where the league commissioner (Jim Delany) said it was the best year in the Big Ten in basketball. To do those things — and I’m thankful that Akwasi Yeboah and Shaq Carter were part of building the program — this is who we are now. We’re a team that’s going to compete.”

Rutgers enters a year of unknowns with one proven quantity, that of being the hunted as opposed to a perennial hunter. No one is sleeping on the Scarlet Knights this season, as everyone other than Yeboah and Carter returns to Piscataway, with senior Geo Baker leading a cadre is guards while Ron Harper and Myles Johnson continue to develop in the frontcourt while simultaneously mentoring a four-man freshman class who could be thrown into the fire sooner rather than later depending on how Pikiell and his staff can navigate the pandemic with a deep and talented roster.

“When you have continuity and consistency in your program, I think it’s a huge thing,” Pikiell said. “We’re doing stuff now that we wouldn’t have gotten to until November with what we’re doing in practice already. Having veteran guys that know you and the expectations of your program — on and off the court — really helps, especially during an unprecedented pandemic.”

The experience in the program has already proven to be a life-saver to some degree this offseason, as Caleb McConnell recently announced his intent to take a medical redshirt this year and resume his eligibility in 2021-22. Without McConnell, who was one of Rutgers’ better on-ball defenders last season, Baker will still be the focal point on both sides of the floor, but will not have to go it alone, having the luxury of leaning on fellow backcourt partners Montez Mathis, Paul Mulcahy and Jacob Young.

“We’ve had good depth, and you’re going to need more depth this year than ever before,” said Pikiell. “You’re going to go through quarantines and days off, and even when a kid has symptoms, they put him on the list. So I think just having the depth bodes well for us. Paul Mulcahy can run the point, Jacob Young can run the point, Geo can run the point, and they can all play off the ball too. I like the multi-position guys we have, during a pandemic certainly with the obstacles we’re going to face with it. It’s great to be able to move guys around. Ron Harper can run the point for us, too. I’m excited to have guys who don’t just play one position.”

On top of the depth, the suffocating defense that has been a longtime calling card of every Pikiell team remains as stingy as ever, and to no surprise, the architect of it believes it is capable of improvement.

“You know what? I thought we made a really huge step last year defensively,” Pikiell said of the commitment to defense, spearheaded by Harper and Mathis. “I thought we did more, I thought our guys got a better grasp of what we want to do. This year, we’ve put in a lot more things that we couldn’t do last year because we had a lot of newcomers. We’re doing more things with our defense, which is really good. I think we can improve a lot in that area even though people give me the metrics on that. I just know we can do a lot more because we’re a veteran team now, because I’m not teaching things for the first time to guys. I can implement more defenses and do some more full-court stuff, some more trapping, those kinds of things. I’m excited about the improvements we can make on that end of the floor, so I look forward to growing in that area.”

As the ball is tipped for the first time on November 25, two major factors will affect Rutgers, the first being the lack of fans in the stands at the RAC, where the Scarlet Knights fed off raucous crowds en route to an 18-1 home record laced with upset victories over Wisconsin, Penn State, Indiana, Purdue and Maryland. The second is the first dose of legitimate buzz around the program, something that has not existed in quite some time at the State University of New Jersey, which means the motivational ploy of reminding the team that it was picked twelfth in the Big Ten last season no longer applies.

“We’re not going to have the advantage of having people at the RAC, which is so disappointing,” Pikiell reflected. “We’ve creates such a great environment here and I’m going to miss all the people at the RAC, but we also play in the toughest league in the country, and when you go on the road to Indiana, it’s packed, Purdue is packed. You’re not going to have to face that on the road like you did in the past and you’re not going to get that advantage at home. If you can keep your roster COVID-free, that’s going to be the most important thing, how you navigate this pandemic. That’s going to be more important this year than ever before.”

“I also just think we have to play with expectations. We’ve never been in that place before, where now we’re expected to be good. Can we play under the expectations? We try to have our own expectations internally, but how much of the phone are these guys going to let affect what we do? If we can navigate all those things, I think we have a chance to have a really good season, and hopefully Rutgers basketball is like this every year, with these expectations every year.”

Witherspoon brings sleeper Canisius team into life without Malik Johnson

Reggie Witherspoon must replace Malik Johnson and Corey Brown this season at Canisius, but Golden Griffins are poised to take next step with incumbent core. (Photo by Vincent Simone/NYC Buckets)

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the country, very few programs have felt its wrath as much as Canisius has in the past seven months since basketball was brought to a screeching halt on March 12.

Like many others within the state of New York, the Golden Griffins were in a holding pattern as the virus held a vise-like grip over almost all operations within the Empire State, forcing governor Andrew Cuomo to gradually reopen over the summer. As it stands now, the Griffs are back in the gym, but still recalibrating to a world that will have a distinctly different look and feel to it as the country continues to recover.

“All of our preparation has changed,” head coach Reggie Witherspoon reflected. “First of all, the opportunity to get in the gym (consistently) hasn’t been there, specifically in the summer. It puts you so far behind and it’s so different, even with the guys you already have in the program. With the newcomers, it’s insanely different. In some ways, the preparation’s not just limited, it’s cut off.”

“It’s so different on so many different campuses that it’s just so strange. We’ll have to see how we adjust. The main thing, though, is staying healthy. That’s what we have to do. We’re never going to make up for the lost time to prepare, but it’s an issue just trying to stay healthy and get as much preparation as we can.”

Canisius, and to an equal extent, the Griffs’ local rival, Niagara, are in an even tighter spot as far as travel in relation to the other nine schools within the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, a factor of major concern to Witherspoon as he and his team prepare to embark on a season that begins in November without four-year point guard Malik Johnson and fellow senior Corey Brown.

“That’s a good question,” he said. “Our travel and Niagara’s travel is so different because of the distance. It’ll be difficult for us to come in the day of the game, unless we’re playing Niagara. The other trips, with winter travel, would be extremely difficult to execute that without putting your team at risk or at a disadvantage.”

Without Johnson, whom Witherspoon praised for his hardwood exploits being just a fraction of what he brought to the program; and Brown, who grew as the season went on as a graduate transfer, Canisius will rely heavily upon Majesty Brandon, but also on a supporting cast that should take a significant leap forward. With the likes of Jordan Henderson, Jalanni White, Scott Hitchon, Armon Harried and Jacco Fritz, Witherspoon likes what he sees in his group, a unit that also welcomes back Akrum Ahemed from injury and introduces 6-foot-7 Malek Green, who sat out last year after transferring from Morehead State.

“The biggest thing is Majesty’s adjusting to the structure of the game, the approach and the details,” Witherspoon said of Brandon, who led the Griffs in scoring last year despite coming off the bench, and who will likely threaten for a MAAC scoring title this season. “He has grown throughout. Early on, he was just trying to do what he does best as often as he could, which is a good approach, but I think as the season went on, he began to realize the preparation that opponents put into him, and his understanding of what our approach is. He was able to learn some things, and I’m confident that he knows the basics of what we do, and our approach to doing it.”

“That experience is tremendously helpful in terms of their understanding,” Witherspoon said with regard to Henderson, White and Hitchon as upperclassmen. “They all had some setbacks in terms of injuries last year — Jordan was trying to fight through — and I think right now, they as feel as though they’re healthy and they’re encouraged by the minutes and opportunities they have, and now being able to put those into play. You always need a nucleus of guys who don’t feel overwhelmed by the details of the game and the season, and those guys don’t feel that way right now.”

In Ahemed, Fritz and Harried, Canisius has a trio of sophomores who may appear young on paper, but are poised to impact the team and the game beyond their years on a burgeoning roster which may take many in the MAAC by surprise.

“Akrum, although he wasn't in a lot of games, got a chance to feel it a little bit, and I think that should help him. Armon and Jacco were thrown in there a lot for freshmen, so I think they at least feel good that they understand the questions. They may not have all the answers, but they understand the questions and they feel as though some of those questions, they have answers for. That’s always a good thing when you’re trying to build a nucleus. Malek sat out a whole year, but he understands our approach to the game and he’s been on the practice floor. We’re looking forward to getting him healthy and getting him on the court.”

The Griffs also bring in junior college imports George Maslennikov of Ukraine and Ahamadou Fofana from the Bronx, the latter having played literally down the street — in Witherspoon’s own words — from Canisius while at Erie Community College, and attended several practices and games, as well as freshmen Siem Uijtendaal and Asa Beyah. All told, Witherspoon is looking for progress and relishing the opportunity to bring a group that flies under the radar into battle.

“I think our guys will play hard,” he said. “For us, sometimes it’s difficult to tell since we haven’t been in the gym with them a lot. I think they’ll play hard, they’ll play together. We’re learning each other and it’ll certainly be a challenge to see how well we play together, and I think we’ll have some versatility. Depending on how the new guys develop, there’s a chance we could have some depth as well.”

Evolution: Jalen Pickett’s rise from unheralded recruit to undisputed face of Siena

 

With head coach Carmen Maciariello, Jalen Pickett (left) is halfway to forging legacy among Siena’s all-time greats. (Photo by Jaden Daly/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

It began as an afterthought for Jim Boeheim, the legendary head men’s basketball coach at Syracuse University.

Two years later, a recommendation by the Hall of Fame mentor to a fellow coach in the central New York region has turned into more than just valuable advice, perhaps a tip that struck gold in the Capital Region.

That was how Carmen Maciariello first met Jalen Pickett.

“I still remember Jim Boeheim had a nice relationship at the time with Gwen Pickett, Jalen’s mom,” Maciariello — then an assistant coach at George Washington before returning to the Siena program he played for and served as an assistant coach — said of the courtship of Pickett, who hails from Rochester. “He would always be there because Buddy Boeheim (Jim’s son) played on the same team, the City Rocks, and Jim would sit with me. He said, ‘Hey, you gotta make sure you look out for Jalen if he needs a junior college, his mom’s a great lady.’ And so I just developed a relationship with Jalen over that time.”

“Small world. I told Jamion Christian about him, I’m at GW, and the next thing you know, I’m helping coach him. Now I’m coaching him, and he’s bought in. I’m doing him a disservice if I don’t teach him and coach him, and instill life lessons into him.”

And so it has gone for Pickett, initially recruited as a wing out of prep school but thrust into the point guard position after a preseason injury to Khalil Richard, who has taken the proverbial ball and run numerous marathons with it since. In addition to his credentials on the court, which include being only the second sophomore in the 40-year history of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference to be named its Player of the Year, perhaps the most impressive trait the precocious talent has demonstrated is his willingness to learn, to improve, to incorporate every possible nuance into his perennially developing game.

“I think he’s stepped up in that leadership role by being more vocal on the court,” said Maciariello. “As a freshman, you want to just go out and play, and it’s still kind of new to you. As a sophomore, I think he still had to understand there are so many ways to play basketball. He had a great year in Jamion’s system, and then coming into our system where we led the league in scoring and had a chance to play faster, I think he understands what it takes to be a special player and how much more he’s going to have to do.”

“We had a great talk with C.J. McCollum this summer, and it was great to hear the guys ask him questions,” he continued, citing a Zoom call Siena had with the former Lehigh star now on a similar trajectory with the Portland Trail Blazers. “Jalen was asking him how he budgeted his time and how often he worked out, what C.J.’s biggest jump was in having to understand it wasn’t just about getting extra shots up after practice, it was about early morning routines, late night free throws, so many different things. I think he picked up some great knowledge from that conversation.”

Pickett has already proven he is more than capable of being the reputable hand at a young age. An avid wrestling fan, Pickett’s ability to grasp the subtleties of the game and the business draw parallels to WWE superstar Randy Orton, a third-generation talent who became the company’s youngest-ever heavyweight champion at age 24 and has not looked back on the way to becoming one of the biggest names in the rich history of the squared circle. And when asked if there was any reason why Pickett could not do the same for Siena, his coach doubled down on the maturation and examples already exhibited as proof.

“For me, it’s not about wins and losses,” Maciariello declared. “It’s about building this program to where we want it to be, year in and year out, and he’s just a student of the game. He loves talking game plans, Xs and Os, he loves getting on the white board, and that’s a credit to him being a high IQ point guard. That’s what we love about him.”

“He’s just grown as a young man should. He understands he’s looked up to by all the young guys on the team, and he and Manny (Camper) are the guys that are going to be the ones to give everyone those shoulders to lean on when they need to.”

In life, everything happens for a reason, just the natural process of evolution.