Coach: Jaspers b-ball 'moving in right direction'
By Jason Eisenberg
It is the first week of November, which in the world of sports means college basketball season is upon us.
For Manhattan Jaspers head coach Barry Rohrssen, this means that an offseason filled with months of planning and recruiting can now be seen through the rearview mirror and all focus has turned toward a new year on the court.
“I am always very excited whenever another basketball season is about to begin,” said Coach Rohrssen. “We are coming off a year where the team had the most wins overall and the highest finish in the MAAC Conference since they hired me, so things are moving in the right direction and now I am looking for even more progress and improvement during my fourth year with the program.”
Despite the graduation of two senior starters and the departure of standout sophomore Chris Smith, who transferred to Louisville, the Jaspers will have their most deep and experienced lineup in years. The team will rely heavily on the leadership and scoring ability of senior forward Darryl Crawford, who emerged around midseason last year and went on to lead the Jaspers in points, with an average of nearly 15 per game.
“I really like to emphasize a team approach but there is no doubt that we will likely look for Darryl to make the biggest impact,” said Coach Rohrssen. “He is certainly our most complete player and he can score, pass and rebound the basketball.”
Crawford will not be expected to do it alone. The Jaspers have four seniors on the roster this season, double the number on last year’s squad. Rohrssen will look for a better performance from talented, yet streaky, guard Antoine Pearson, as well as from returning starting forward Andrew Gabriel and fellow senior Brandon Adams. In addition, the coach is hoping that junior guard Rico Pickett, a multi-skilled transfer from Miami-Dade Community College, will step right into a starting role and provide his explosive scoring and playmaking ability at the Division I level.
The main focus will probably be on what happens with the wide-open battle for the Jaspers’ starting center position. Six-footnine junior Laurence Jolicoeur would seem to be the favorite, at least for now, if for no other reason than that he has more experience than the other two candidates. Right on his heels are a pair of underclassmen, in sophomore Djibril Coulibaly and incoming freshman Kevin Laue. In particular, all eyes will be on the 6-foot-11 Laue. He immediately became the tallest player on the team and he has attracted nationwide interest for being awarded a basketball scholarship despite the fact that his left arm stops one inch below his elbow due to a complication at birth.
“When we graduated our starting center from last season, we knew we were going to use an available scholarship at that position and Kevin fit the bill,” said Coach Rohrssen.
“Obviously his work ethic and the determination to overcome this disability left a great impression on me, but from a basketball standpoint, I know that Kevin can help us because he is long, he can rebound, run the floor well and he is a phenomenal shot blocker.”
However, Coach Rohrssen says Laue will have to earn his minutes just like every other player on the team because he will “not play the five best players, but rather the five players who play the best.”
Rounding out the roster are junior guard and Riverdale resident Nick Walsh, incoming freshman guard George Beamon — who demonstrated his innate ability to put the ball in the basket while averaging 34 points per game for Roslyn High School on Long Island — as well as potential substitutes in Marty Higgins and Victor Jackson.
According to Coach Rohrssen, last year’s top MAAC teams — Siena, Niagara and Rider — return most of their core players and are likely to be very strong again. But he also believes there will be much more of a competitive balance than in recent seasons throughout the conference.
In addition to playing each MAAC rival twice, Manhattan will also play a tough non-conference schedule that features opponents like Vanderbilt, Hofstra, Princeton and Morgan State, which was one of two NCAA tournament participants the Jaspers beat last season.
Manhattan will open its 2009- 2010 schedule with a game against New Jersey Institute of Technology, on Saturday, Nov. 14, at 2 p.m. in Draddy Gymnasium. Other key dates on the schedule include; the 102nd “Battle of the Bronx” against Fordham on Saturday, Nov. 28; the first MAAC contest of the season, versus Niagara, on Friday, Dec. 4; a trip to Nashville for a game against SEC powerhouse Vanderbilt on Wedneday, Dec. 30; and a home “Bracketbuster” game against a yet-to-be determined opponent, on Saturday, Feb. 20.
“We certainly have a gauntlet waiting for us in December, with a stretch of seven straight road games that includes a few MAAC contests and one against a top- 25 team in the country in Vanderbilt,” said Coach Rohrssen. “But we have to take things step by step and get off on the right foot because there are plenty of challenges this month before we even get to December.”
The Jaspers will be looking to prove the early preseason predictions wrong (the MAAC coaches’ poll placed them eighth among the 10 teams in the conference.) However, Coach Rohrssen made it clear that his team is not reliant on the naysayers for motivation and he’s not concerned with any rankings that take place before a single game has even been played.
“We cannot control a preseason ballet, but what we can control is how hard we work and show the attitude and effort we will need in order to achieve the desired results,” said Rohrssen. “If we play well defensively, rebound the ball on both sides of the court and increase our shooting percentage across the board, then I think we will improve as a team, improve our record and improve our ranking in the standings.”
This is part of the November 5, 2009 online edition of The Riverdale Press.
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