Coach Masiello expects young players to step up

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It’s been eight months since the Manhattan Jaspers men’s basketball team pulled off its latest March magic act when they won their second straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Association (MAAC) conference tournament crown and advanced to the NCAA tournament in back-to-back seasons.

The high of their 79-69 victory over archrival Iona in the MAAC tournament title tilt followed by the upsetting 74-64 loss to Hampton University in the first round of the NCAA tournament are all but memories now. And that’s the way Manhattan likes to do business. Don’t forget what you have accomplished, but there is no living in the past.

“We like to stay focused on what is ahead of us, the right now,” Manhattan coach Steve Masiello said. “We are well aware of what we accomplished last season and now we’re looking to make history by winning the championship three years in a row.”

And like past seasons, the Jaspers will be looking to retool and reload on the fly as rebuilding is not part of Masiello’s vocabulary. Two seasons ago when the Jaspers won their first MAAC title under Masiello, Manhattan saw the heart of that team — Michael Alvarado, George Beamon and Rhamel Brown — walk out the door due to graduation and there weren’t many who gave Manhattan much of a chance last season to defend its title. But after struggling through a 2-7 start to their season, the Jaspers began to jell and ultimately ended up in the same place as their predecessors — clutching championship hardware with a trip to March’s Big Dance.

This time around the Jaspers will be looking to replace both Emmy Andujar and Ashton Pankey — two major players in last season’s run — who graduated last spring. Not a problem, says Masiello. The answers are already somewhere on his roster.

Manhattan College, NCAA Basketball, MAAC Conference, Steve Masiello, Sean Brennan
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