| |
LOCATION: Teaneck, NJ
CONFERENCE: Northeast (NEC)
LAST SEASON: 12-16 (.429)
CONFERENCE RECORD: 9-11 (7th)
STARTERS LOST/RETURNING: 2/3
NICKNAME: Knights
COLORS: Blue, Black & White
HOMECOURT: Rothman Center (5,000)
COACH: Tom Green (Syracuse '71)
record at school 272-190 (16 years)
career record 272-190 (16 years)
|
ASSISTANTS: Ellonya Green (Upsala '80)
Rob Orellana (Regents College '87)
Neal Biscaldi (Rowan '95)
TEAM WINS: (last 5 years) 16-7-18-23-12
RPI (last 5 years) 149-257-105-92-207
1998-99 FINISH: Lost in conference quarterfinal.
ESPN.com Clubhouse
|
Fairleigh Dickinson coach Tom Green is forming his own League of Nations in Teaneck, N.J. His starting power forward is from Cameroon. His center calls Arhus, Denmark home. His backup center is from Iceland, while Green also has twin brothers from Belgium (both swingmen) on his roster as well as a seldom-used 7-footer from Germany and a new recruit from Paris, France. The foreign invasion started a couple seasons back when Green and his staff spotted a zone-busting shooter, 6-3 guard Jesper Rasmussen from Denmark, playing junior college basketball in sunny California. Weeks later, Rasmussen visited FDU and became the team's first foreign import. During his visit, Rasmussen noticed that the Knights needed a center. So he told Green about a friend of his from back home a near-7-foot friend named Jonas Sinding. Rhode Island, then coached by Al Skinner, had expressed an interest in the 6-11 Sinding, but he eventually opted to join his buddy Rasmussen at Fairleigh Dickinson. All of a sudden, Green was a full-time participant in the foreign import business, whether he liked it or not. It actually makes perfect sense for Green to take a global approach to recruiting. Seven miles from Manhattan but far away from college basketball's elite, Green isn't going to win head-to-head recruiting battles against St. Johns, Seton Hall and Rutgers for tall local talent.
|
Blue Ribbon Analysis |
|
BACKCOURT C BENCH/DEPTH C-
FRONTCOURT C+ INTANGIBLES D
When blending players from various nations, consistency is often a problem. And it was last season for the maddeningly inconsistent Knights. With three of its top four scorers gone from that team, including top point producer Daryl Todd (10.8 ppg), FDU will be hard-pressed to move up in the NEC standings. Sure, 6-8 junior power forward Chris Ekwe of Cameroon is a budding NEC star and 6-11 Jonas Sinding is a one-man block party (totaling 127 blocked shots in his first two seasons), but there are more unanswered questions here than in a months worth of episodes of Jeopardy. There are no returning double-figure scorers other than Ekwe. There are wide-open competitions at the shooting-guard and small-forward spots. And while starting point guard Lamont Perry can handle the ball and team, his shooting is about about as accurate as the editorial content of most supermarket tabloids (.306 FG, .596 FT). Add it all up and its another second-division NEC finish for the Knights. |
"If we're going to recruit in New Jersey, in the (New York) metro area or in the East, it's impossible for me to get a 6-10 player that can play a little bit," Green said. "He's going to be over-recruited, especially if he's a good student. "We've been knocking our heads out for years trying to get that caliber of player. So to look across the water, so to speak, and to bring somebody over who has some size to him is something that you'll probably see a lot more of as the years go on." Book it, in fact. Seven of Green's 11 players in 1999-2000 will be international players. And with his recent hiring of Rob Orellana, an international recruiting expert who helped turn around the sagging fotunes of St. Francis (N.Y.) earlier in the 1990s, Green is in the importing business to stay. Green's top returning player is 6-8, 250-pound junior Chris Ekwe from Douala, Cameroon. Ekwe (10.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 23 assists, 18 blocked shots, 22 steals) shot .610 percent from the floor to lead the Northeast Conference last season. He scored in double figures 14 times, including a career-high 22 points against both Youngstown State and St. Francis (Pa.). Not surprisingly, Ekwe was voted to the 1998-99 NEC All-Newcomer team by the conference head coaches. "I think Chris is going to be a force," Green said. "Teams are going to have to adjust to how they play him. He had a huge adjustment to basketball in the states, and he's like fine wine. He'll get better with time." Starting alongside Ekwe will be the aforementioned 6-11 junior center Sinding (5.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 26 assists, 63 blocked shots), who is poised to shatter the school's all-time blocked shots record this winter. The shot-swatting pivot returned 63 shots to sender last season one shy of the single-season mark he set in 1997-98. He needs 23 blocks to break the school record held by Damari Riddick (149). Sinding still has miles to go offensively and is foul-prone (he fouled out of six games last season), but his best days are ahead of him just like Ekwe. Because Sinding often ends up with a courtside seat next to Green, 6-10 sophomore Baldur Olafsson, from that noted hoops hotspot of Reykjavic, Iceland, actually had plenty of opportunities to strut his stuff as a freshman. And Olafsson (3.5 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 12 blocked shots) had his moments, including a career-high 10 points on five of six shooting against nationally ranked St. Johns. Olafsson started the last six games of the 1998-99 season, and he figures to be a regular part of Green's eight- or nine-man rotation. The same can't be said for certain about 7-foot, 250-pound sophomore Joern Grundmann of Hamburg, Germany. At least not right now. Grundmann (1.0 ppg, 0.5 rpg) is as raw as a winter day along the Great Lakes. He saw just four minutes of playing time last season but hopes that his arduous weight-room work (he's added nearly 20 pounds of muscle since his arrival) will result in more playing time. The final starting frontcourt spot is very much up for grabs, depending on whether Green opts to go with a three-guard lineup or a more traditional look. If he wants a true small forward, then junior college import Keith Martin (Lackawanna JC/Scranton, Pa.) will get the nod. The 6-6, 220-pound Martin was the leading scorer the last two seasons at Lackawanna, averaging 17.3 points as a freshman and then 14.8 points last year. He was voted to the NJCAA All-Region 19 Division II team both years and helped Lackawanna post a 42-11 record during that span. Martin is the odds-on favorite to land that starting spot, but he could be challenged by 6-8 sophomore Wim Van der Keere. Van der Keere started nine games last year, and had his moments including, a 14-point outburst against Rutgers. Van der Keere (5.4 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 20 assists, 13 steals) isn't afraid to shoot from long distance, connecting on 31 of his 100 tries from behind the three-point line. But he isn't the most athletic guy in the world either, so he figures to be an off-the-bench bomber rather than a starter. His twin brother, 6-7 sophomore Tom Van der Keere, should also get some minutes at the perimeter spots, along with 6-4 freshman Lionel Bomayako from Paris, France. Tom Van der Keere (1.8 ppg, 1.0 rpg) saw limited action in 19 games a year ago, but there are minutes to be had with the graduation of top scorer Daryl Todd (10.8 ppg) as well as that of the guy who started this import business in the first place, Rasmussen (7.0 ppg). But Van der Keere figures to be pushed for those available minutes by Bomayako, a 210-pounder. Bomayako and the two Van der Keere brothers will also see time at the two-guard spot, along with JC import LaMarque Ward. The 6-3, 180-pound Ward averaged 13.3 points and 4.3 rebounds last season at South Plains Junior College in Levelland, Texas. He's the most athletic of Green's two-guard options. While there are questions as to who will start at the two wing positions, there is no debate as to who will run the show. The keys to the offense will once again be handed over to Brooklyn product Lamont Perry. After a year of learning the Knights' offense and adjusting to playing with so many foreign players, the 6-3 senior figures to be better this season. The more Perry (6.0 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 93 assists, 28 steals) played, the better, albeit slightly, his numbers got. Perry averaged 6.5 points and shot 32 percent (23 for 71) from three-point range in NEC play. That shooting was actually a marked improvement for this often unsteady marksman (.306 FG). "Lamont's level of comfort and style of play will show a tremendous improvement," Green said. "I expect him to have a banner senior year." Walk-on guard Austin OReilly, a 6-0 junior, rounds out FDU's roster. Like Perry, he's a rare local boy on a team filled with lots of international flavor. But unlike Perry, OReilly (1.0 ppg, 0.6 rpg in five appearances) rarely gets into the fray.
 | The 19th edition of Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook is on sale now. To order, call 800-828-HOOP (4667), or visit their web site at
http://www.collegebaskets.com
|
| |
Conferences
America East
ACC
Atlantic 10
Big East
Big Sky
Big South
Big Ten
Big 12
Big West
Colonial
Conference USA
Independents
Ivy League
MAAC
Mid-American
Mid-Continent
Mid-Eastern Athletic
MCC
Missouri Valley
Mountain West
Northeast
Ohio Valley
Pac-10
Patriot
SEC
Southern
Southland
Sun Belt
SWAC
TAAC
WAC
West Coast
|
