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.”