Return of two of MAAC’s top talents has Rider in prime position to capitalize in largely unknown league

After disappointing MAAC tournament showing, Kevin Baggett has retooled and hopes Rider can once again contend for league crown. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

Last season, Rider lived up to a large part of its preseason billing, finishing second in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference behind eventual league champion Iona, whom the Broncs had stunningly upset in the quarterfinals of the MAAC tournament the year prior.

But despite the program’s first advance into the semifinals under Kevin Baggett, Rider was unable to duplicate the feat in its attempt at an encore last year, going one-and-done in Atlantic City after being knocked off by Saint Peter’s. The early exit begat a period of soul searching and diagnosis that prompted Baggett to reassess the program he now enters his 12th season at the helm of.

“Every year, we try to advance,” he said. “It’s disappointing, and it’s led to a long offseason of evaluating and just trying to figure out what wrong, and how we can correct the wrong. But we’ve got a new team and we’ve got to figure that out.”

Nine newcomers invade Lawrenceville this season as the Broncs acclimate themselves to life without Dwight Murray, Jr., the perennial first team all-league talent who graduated this past May. But while Baggett attempts to replace a point guard with one of the more unique skill sets in the MAAC, he enters the coming season with the peace of mind that comes with having the other two prongs of his veteran trio returning in Allen Powell and Mervin James, with the latter of whom potentially vying for preseason player of the year plaudits.

“You don’t,” Baggett said of replacing Murray. “You try and find another DJ, hopefully, and if you don’t, try to find a couple guys that can try and fill his shoes. We’ve got a couple options with Ruben Rodriguez and DJ Dudley, Corey McKeithan’s another young man who’s a veteran coming back, so hopefully the three of those guys can try and somewhat fill that void. When you have guys like Dwight Murray, two out of three first team all-conference players, those guys are hard to replace and hard to find. I hope we did a good job recruiting, but time will tell.”

Mervin James hopes to contend for MAAC player of the year honors this season. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

“To have (Powell) and Mervin both back is important. Anytime you can have experience back, there’s nothing greater than having experience. Last year’s team had a lot of experience and we’ve got to get the rest of the guys caught up, but there is a value to have guys returning. With the way of the world in the portal these days, it’s going to be hard for most of us, especially the mid-majors, to continue to coexist the way we’ve been doing.”

While Rodriguez and Dudley are two of the nine new arrivals in the Broncs’ locker room, McKeithan is the image and voice of experience as a fifth-year senior. The reserve has had the privilege of learning from two of Rider’s better floor generals of recent memory in both Murray and Stevie Jordan, an apprenticeship Baggett is hopeful will be vital to both McKeithan’s individual development and to the team as a whole.

“I hope it’ll be his time,” he said of McKeithan’s increased role this coming season. “I hope he can learn from that. He sat behind two really good point guards we’ve had in our program, so if he knows anything, he knows the value of a point guard, being a leader, being an extension on and off the court and a guy that I totally trust at that position. I always refer to that point guard position as a quarterback. If you’re going to be successful, you’ve got to have a good quarterback, so I think he’s grown. He’s done some really good things, but time will tell as he gets more minutes here coming up this season.”

Rider’s front line, which undergoes a significant makeover this season following the graduation of Ajiri Ogemuno-Johnson and transfers of Tyrel Bladen and Nehemiah Benson, is also a work in progress. Fortunately for the Broncs, Tariq Ingraham is back in the Garden State to take on a greater share of the load in the paint. The 6-foot-9 Philadelphia native blossomed as last season went on, and is being counted on to provide a greater impact after getting a full season under his belt for the first time following two years at Wake Forest where he did not see significant playing time.

“Tariq was another returning guy for us,” Baggett said of Ingraham. “He started actually most of the season, but last year was his first year — having missed both seasons at Wake Forest — last year was really his freshman year. I’m hoping that that experience will carry over for us and plateau even more, because we’re going to need him to really get a lot of minutes in the post. He really came on nicely toward the middle to the latter part of the season.”

Between Powell, James and Ingraham, Rider has an established core that can lead it back to the top half of the MAAC standings. However, it is the influx of arriving talent that has Baggett intrigued for what lies ahead. The Weeks brothers — 6-foot-4 graduate student T.J. and 6-foot-6 sophomore Tyriek — lead a group that includes Rodriguez and Dudley in the backcourt, with interior reinforcements in the form of 6-foot-11 Moustapha Sanoh, 6-foot-8 JT Langston, Jr., and 6-foot-6 Ife West-Ingram. Nic Anthony and Anthony McCall will also offer depth in the backcourt and on the wings, something Baggett cited as a need for this year’s iteration of the Broncs following a season where Rider’s shooting woes capsized its long-term chances more often than not.

“Until we can play, I believe we have a better shooting team,” Baggett surmised. “We went out and really focused on trying to find guys we thought could make shots. We couldn’t make 3-point shots because we weren’t very good this past year, so hopefully we got better there. I’m hoping we got better ball handlers as a whole, because we lacked enough ball handlers too. With the want to play, we need more ball handlers and floor shooters. My job is to put them in place to be successful and play to their strengths.”

One strength of the program has been its consistent and often underrated defense, which has ranked at or near the top of the league in points per possession against for the majority of Baggett’s tenure. The coach discussed his philosophy of embracing the defensive end of the basketball at length, and hopes it is a facet his roster’s collective game can grow through an ambitious non-conference slate that includes trips to Marquette, Nebraska, Maryland and Penn State.

“It’s just a staple,” Baggett said of the defensive mentality. “It’s something we preach every day, something that these guys have to buy into and understand because I allow them the freedom on the offensive end. Most of these kids are offensive-driven anyway, so for them to meet me halfway, that’s all I’m asking. Commit to the defensive end, buy into it. Defense is a will, not a skill. Obviously, if we can teach them the details of it, if they’re willing to do that and commit to it, I think we’ll be fine again.”

All in all, Rider’s identity is already established when the ball is not in its hands, but it is what the Broncs do on offense that needs fine tuning. In Baggett’s own words, his group needs to be more assertive in dictating tempo.

“I just think we need to run more,” he stated. “I don’t think we ran enough. I didn’t think we got enough transition baskets, I thought we spent way too much time in the half-court trying to execute offense. I want us to get up and down, I want us to push the ball. I want us to dictate what’s going on as opposed to our opponents.”