BY CHARLES COSTELLO

The damp and dark weather outside the Rose Hill Gym Sunday turned into doom and gloom inside for the host Rams as James Madison used a 15-0 first-half run to hand Fordham their fifth consecutive loss to open the season.

For the first time this year, the Rams outrebounded an opponent (37-34). The assist-to-turnover ratio that has plagued them at times this year improved (15 assists to 13 turnovers). The 55.6 percent they shot from the floor in the second half was a far cry from the 17.6 percent they shot in the first half. And the defense was noticeably better, keeping the game within reach when the shots weren’t falling.

Still, though, the cold first-half shooting, combined with James Madison shooting 65.2 percent in the second half, was too much for the Rams to overcome as the Dukes left Rose Hill with a 73-53 win, dropping Fordham to 0-5.

“Let’s give James Madison credit,” Fordham head coach Dereck Whittenburg said after the loss. “They held onto that lead in the second half. They made some shots and we struggled shooting the ball. Obviously we’re having trouble scoring.”

In the first half, that was an understatement. Fordham simply couldn’t throw the ball into the ocean during the game’s first 20 minutes, shooting just 6-of-34 from the floor, including 1-of-12 from 3-point range. The Rams had a 10-8 lead with 10:47 to go in the half, but the Dukes went on a 15-0 run as Fordham did not score a point over a 7:35 stretch. In all, after Fordham’s brief lead early, James Madison would close out the first half on a 24-5 run as the Rams couldn’t buy a bucket.

“They’re a young team,” James Madison head coach Matt Brady said of the Rams. “They have some young guards who are talented. I think we did a real good job at flying at the shooters.”

While the Dukes deserve some credit for the defense they played, the 1526 in attendance watched a first half that saw Fordham shoot the ball as poorly as they have all year.

“We had some good shots,” Whittenburg said. “We just didn’t make them.”

In the second half, they did. Unfortunately, James Madison made their fair share of shots as well, and the 32-17 halftime deficit was too much for the Rams to overcome. Nevertheless, four 3-pointers by Jio Fontan in the second half (14 total second-half points), three 3-pointers by Alberto Estwick, and 11 points from Chris Bethelkept Fordham alive. But Kyle Swanston (21 points), Dazzmond Thornton (15 points), Julius Wells (11points) and Andrey Semenov (nine points) led a balanced attack for the Dukes, never letting Fordham get any closer than 12 points.

“I thought that both teams were trying to feel each other out for the first 10 minutes,” Brady said. “I thought we played well from up front.

“Today, for a day, I thought maybe our defense was a little better than theirs for 40 minutes.”

There were positives, however, for the Rams. The improved rebounding being the most noticeable.

“We team rebounded today,” Whittenburg said. “That’s one positive we can take out of today.

“This is the first time we outrebounded someone so this goes to prove to you that if we concentrate on it we can do it. The next phase is we have to be patient on offense and we need to make some shots. If we can put the rest of it together we know we’ll get this thing turned around.”

And as far as the poor shooting is concerned, Whittenburg knows the teaching continues.

“The younger guys have to learn that basketball is not a one dimensional game,” he said. ”When a guy’s shot doesn’t go in it deflates them. I’m trying to take the pressure off of them telling them to focus on defense and rebounding. They want to do well but they’re thinking about it too much. You still have to play defense.”

Bethel led the Rams with 18 points while Fontan added 16 points, eight assists, and six rebounds.

The Rams will return to the hardwood Wednesday night when they take on the Hofstra Pride in Hempstead, New York. The 7:00 contest can be heard life on 90.7FM and WFUV.org beginning with the pregame show at 6:55.

Fordham head coach Dereck Whittenburg appeared today in his weekly spot on WFUV’s One on One. Here are highlights of the live interview: 

On the loss to Princeton and the team’s 0-4 start:

“We played a lot harder than we did the first three games. There was some energy there. I just liked our energy and our defense was a little bit better. We have to give Princeton credit. They just made big shots and they executed and didn’t panic.”

“We’re a brand new team, I didn’t know at the outset what to really expect. I called it the unknown. We’ve got some talented freshman. This is a brand new team. It’s a very inexperienced team. We’re going through a very tough period right now.”

“They get down on themselves because they don’t make shots because they think it’s about the offense. We have to buy into the defense and rebounding. If we do those things then we’ll be a successful team.”

On Brenton Butler:

“He doesn’t look like the Brenton of old. We need for him to be consistent, not just offensively, but a consistent voice and leader out there. If he struggles we are definitely going to struggle. I’m confident he’s going to get it together and once he does we’ll get it together.”

On Alberto Estwick:

“Alberto Estwick has probably been the most consistent. He’s played defense. He’s very unselfish. He’s bought into what we’re doing.”

On Jio Fontan:

“Jio Fontan’s ability to penetrate is something we’ve never had here before. He’s playing a lot of minutes. We’re asking him to be the point guard, the quarterback, of our team. He’s trying to learn at the same time. He’s certainly got the talent. I think he’ll be fine as he gets more experience.”

On Chris Bethel and his decision to leave him on the bench for most of the second half against Princeton:

“We’re down 14 points to Princeton, we don’t need the productive offensive player, we needed some defense. If we don’t have enough defense that’s going to be a 20 point loss. It’s not about points, it’s about the concept of a team. Everyone has to buy in to defense and rebounding. Sometimes we have to sacrifice what we think is offense. My decisions are based on what’s better for the team and not offense. I thought Luke (Devine) was playing great. We came back. You’ve got to give Princeton credit. They made some shots, they made some free throws, we made some inexperienced plays. Chris Bethel is a senior because of his years but he’s really like a freshman. This is his first year starting.”

On Luke Devine:

“Are all our guys as committed as Luke Devine? Do all our guys work as hard as Luke Devine? I don’t know.”

On 6’9 sophomore Jacob Green, eligible to play on December 23 after transferring from West Virginia”

“Jacob doesn’t play for another couple of weeks but certainly he will help us with the rebounding. We’ve got to be a better rebounding team with Jacob or without Jacob.”

On the team pressing and trying too hard:

“That’s part of being inexperienced. They’ve got to trust in what we’re doing. Until they do it’s not going to work for them. That’s what we’ve got to learn. They’ve got to learn how to play basketball, how to finish a game. We’re running up against some teams that are experienced and understand what they’re doing.”

On the transition from last year to this year:

“When I got this program no one said this program was in position for the NIT. Last year should have been the icing on the cake but we didn’t get there. We’ve had some adversity we haven’t had before. The program’s in great shape. We’ve got talent coming in, we’ll be fine. I don’t want to panic. This is part of a program. You’re going to go through a little adversity, things are going to happen. You just can’t panic.”

“I understand we have to go through a tough time. I’ve stayed with the guys and I still have my confidence. This is a time when you really find out what character is. We’re finding out what kind of men we are and how we’re going to hang in there.”

On his goals for the season:

“Buy in, play defense, rebound, worry about the process. If you worry about the process the wins will take care of themselves. I played for a Hall of Fame coach and not once did he mention wins. I’ve worked for guys who have been successful and we understand that there’s a process.”

“It’s about buying in. It’s not a hard game, these guys make it a hard game. I believe we’re going to get better at it. We just have to hang in there. I tell my players, ‘they’ll blame it on me, they’re not going to blame it on the players. Let them blame it on me. I believe in you guys.’ We’re going to keep on working and its going to work itself out.”

On tomorrow’s matchup with James Madison:

“We know they’re a good basketball team. They’re building a team as well but they’ve gotten some wins. Everyone comes in here and thinks they’ve got a chance to win, why shouldn’t they? Any night in Division I, anybody can beat you on any given night if you’re not ready to play.”

On finding the right mix of lineups:

“It changes every day. I’m trying to find some rythym and consistency. A lot of that is predicated on who’s going to produce and who isn’t.”

On the recently signed recruits who will be coming to Rose Hill next year and possible additions:

“It’s certainly going to bring us a lot of athletic ability, a lot of toughness, a lot of talent. It’s going to be the kind of team I envisioned. We’ll be smarter. As this thing grows it will be nice to have those guys. We’re going to look at another solid guard to sign this year who can come in and help us in the backcourt.”

On developing a winning attitude:

“I don’t let guys interview with the media when they have a high scoring game and we lose. That’s the wrong message that we’re sending. That’s not a championship message. That’s not a winning message.”

The future look of the men’s basketball team continues to take shape as head coach Dereck Whittenburg announced the signing of three new future Rams.

Lance Brown, a 6’3 wing player from Paterson Catholic High School in New Jersey, Chris Gaston, a 6’7, 210-pound forward from New Hampton Prep School in New Hampshire and a graduate of St. Anthony’s in Jersey City, and Brian Freeman, a 6’8, 220-pound forward from Potomac School in McLean, Virginia will join the Rams for the 2009-10 season.

The signings have caught the attention of recruiting experts nationwide.

“None of the guys are in our top 100, but I thought of Fordham’s recruiting class as a Top 25 class in the nation,” Scout.com’s Dave Teleps said. “This is a program to keep an eye on.”

Whittenburg  is excited about the signings given the potential of the three. Here are Whittenburg’s comments about each of the recruits, as reported on fordhamsports.com:

On Lance Brown:

“We are excited to have a quality young man from one of the premier high school programs in the country. Lance is an athletic wing player who plays with great intensity. He will bring toughness and a winning attitude to our program.”

On Chris Gaston:

“Chris is an outstanding talent that gives us versatility at our forward position. He was a very highly recruited young man who will give us a lot of offensive firepower.”

On Brian Freeman:

“Brian Freeman is one of the most athletic recruits we have had at Fordham. He will give us the effort and energy that we need in our program.”

Gaston joins current freshmen Jio Fontan and Alberto Estwick as St. Anthony’s alum now playing for Fordham.

“He’s very, very versatile,” St. Anthony’s head coach Bob Hurley said about Gaston. “He’s a long 6’6 or 6’7, who was a guard in grammar school. We were 28-1 with him here in 2006-07, and he was our best all-around player. If he were to have waited (with his recruitment), I think he would have exploded.

BY CHARLES COSTELLO

In sports, it is common for a young team to be labeled a work in progress. It is a guarantee that a basketball team with a brand new nucleus is going to take some time to gel. It is all but certain that a team’s identify does not take shape overnight. It is also expected that the inexperience will show, especially early on in the year. All of that, and more, is happening right now to the Fordham Rams.

Wednesday night at the Rose Hill Gym, before a disappointing crowd of just 1107, the Rams dropped their fourth game in a row to open the season, a 73-61 defeat at the hands of the Princeton Tigers.

While games are not won or lost on paper, and as much as statistics can often times be misleading, it’s hard to ignore the poor shooting numbers that did Fordham in tonight. The Rams shot 23-for-62 (37 percent) from the floor, including 2-for-13 from 3-point range. Meanwhile, the Tigers shot 54 percent from the floor and were 9-for-16 from beyond the arc.

“We shot more shots tonight, we just didn’t make the shots,” Fordham head coach Dereck Whittenburg said following the loss. “You’ve got to give them (Princeton) credit. They shot the ball well. They made some big time 3-point shots.”

And the 3-pointers seemed to come early and often as the Tigers were lights out from 3-point range early on, connecting on five 3-pointers in the game’s first 10:02 to take a 25-11 lead. After Princeton went up by 17 with 6:04 to play in the first half, the Rams went on their best offensive run of the night, scoring 12 unanswered points to cut the deficit to 31-26 with 3:40 left in the half. The Rams would go into halftime down 33-26 after it looked earlier like Princeton might run away with this game. Though the Rams began to convert offensively, it all started for them on the defensive end where they forced six Princeton turnovers in the first half.

“We really got after them defensively and started to cause turnovers and got a lot of easy baskets,” Whittenburg said, referring to his team’s 12-0 run. “That’s what happens when we start to play defense.”

Unfortunately for the Rams, after Mike Moore converted on the first basket of the second half for Fordham, the Tigers went on a 10-0 run to take a 43-28 lead with 16:06 to play in the game. That was the biggest lead Princeton would have in the half, as Fordham went on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 45-39 on a Jio Fontan jumper with 12:38 to play. Fontan had a strong offensive second half, scoring all 14 of his points in the half on 6-for-10 shooting from the floor. Mike Moore led the Rams with a season-high 21 points, but it wasn’t enough as Princeton made their shots down the stretch to hold on for the win, evening their record at 2-2.

“I thought we played a little bit better tonight,” Whittenburg said. “We have to find the right combination of guys who can play. We just have to keep going. It’s still a long season.

A long season that gives the head coach an opportunity to see what his players are made of.

“We need some guys to step up who’ve been here before,” Whittenburg said. ”We just have to get more production. We’re not a very good team right now.”

The famed “Princeton Offense” makes its way to Rose Hill tonight as the Fordham Rams host the Tigers in the first meeting between the two schools since January 7, 1989.

The Rams enter tonight’s contest with an 0-3 record, while Princeton is 1-2 on the year. The Tigers lost to Central Michigan and Maine to open the season, but picked up their first win of the year at Army on Sunday. As for the Rams, home losses to Columbia and Manhattan, with a road loss to Villanova sandwiched in between, leave the team looking for their first win of the year.

Princeton is led by freshman guard Doug Davis, who enters tonight’s game averaging 19.3 points per game. No other Tiger is averaging more than 7.7 points. Senior forward Chris Bethel leads the Rams with 16.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game, while Trey Blue (14.3) and Brenton Butler (12.0) are also in double figures in points. Princeton’s defense allows, on average, 52 points per game, while Fordham gives up, on average, 84 points.

The Tigers are coached by Sydney Johnson, now in his second season as head coach. Johnson graduated from Princeton in 1997, after helping lead the Tigers to two NCAA appearances while winning the 1997 Ivy League Player of the Year award. Before taking over at Princeton, Johnson was an assistant coach for three seasons at Georgetown. In his first year as head coach last season, the Tigers went 6-23, 3-11 in the Ivy League. 

The Tigers lead the all-time series, 15-11, and have won the past three meetings. Princeton has not made the trip to Rose Hill since January 9, 1988. Meanwhile, the Rams have not beaten Princeton since December 9, 1981, a 42-40 win at Rose Hill.

The Atlantic 10 Conference and CBS Sports announced today a multi-year agreement that will bring the A-10 men’s basketball championship game to CBS beginning in 2010. The conference also announced a new format for the men’s tournament, which calls for continuing the first round bye for seeds one through four, but giving the next highest four seeds an opening round home game. Click on the link below for the official announcement from the Atlantic 10.

http://atlantic10.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/112508aac.html