BY CHARLES COSTELLO

After transferring from West Virginia in December 2007, it wasn’t until the ninth game of this current season that Jacob Green was eligible to suit up for the Rams. Few moments this year have produced the same anticipation as did the night of Dec. 23rd when Green came off the bench early in the first half against New Hampshire, the first opportunity Rams’ fans had to see the 6-9 forward in game action. In 29 minutes that night, the sophomore scored eight points and grabbed eight rebounds. Not a bad start to his Fordham career. And one of the rare wins on the year for the Rams, a 60-56 victory over the visiting Wildcats.

In 17 games this season, Jacob Green has just 47 rebounds. Head coach Dereck Whittenburg expects more from the sophomore. (Photo courtesy of Joe DiBari)

Here’s some of what Fordham head coach Dereck Whittenburg had to say about Green following that game:

“Jacob Green is going to be a help for us. He came in and gave us some rebounds, gave us some presence. It gives us a guy with some size. You’ve got to remember he practiced for two years against Big East competition, practiced against Big East players. Now, if someone comes to the basket we’ve got some guys to bang around in there.”

Two months later, however, Green remains green. And while that’s to be expected of  a guy who, for all intents and purposes, is still a freshman, Whittenburg expects more from Green, especially in terms of rebounding.

“We’re not getting a lot of rebounding production from Jacob (Green),” Whittenburg said after last Wednesday’s game. “Even though he’s in the game he’s not rebounding. I’m kind of disappointed in him because we need him. He’s the one guy we know is very capable of rebounding.”

Whittenburg’s comments are valid. With the first season of his Fordhamcareer winding down, Green’s stats are unimpressive. In 17 games, he has pulled down just 47 rebounds. He’s only averaging 6.4 points per game. His team-leading thirty blocks notwithstanding, the Rams need Green to produce more. With his 6-9 frame, Green is a rare commodity at Fordham these days. With the exception of Luke Devine, Zach Wing, and Lamar Thomas, Fordham is playing with mostly guards. That made Green’s one rebound performance in Wednesday night’s loss to Richmond even more disappointing. And it makes the need for drastic improvement in his overall game even more urgent.

Mike Moore scored 25 points in 29 minutes before fouling out of Wednesday's loss to Richmond. (Photo courtesy of Joe DiBari)

BY CHARLES COSTELLO

Though they were standing on the sideline sixty minutes before the start of Wednesday night’s game, Fordham’s Chris Bethel, Brenton Butler, and Trey Blue couldn’t have been further away from the court. Leaning against the scorer’s table wearing dress pants and ties, the three B’s could do little other than watch. This isn’t the way things were supposed to work out for the talented, yet at times frustrating, ballplayers. But it’s been that kind of a year for the Rams.

Bethel (knee) and Butler (ankle), two veterans Fordham was counting on this season, are done for the year, and it looks like the same can be said for Blue, who has left the team twice for personal reasons in what’s been a very trying season for the freshman guard. So the Rams entered Wednesday’s game against the Richmond Spiders already shorthanded, with just 10 players dressing for the Atlantic 10 contest. Then, in what seemed like a game of dominos, Jacob Green, Herb Tanner, and Mike Moore fouled out midway through the second half. That would eventually leave the Rams with a bench consisting of just Ryan Hage, a walk-on, and Lamar Thomas, a rarely used freshman. Fordham finished the game with just four scholarship players available.

“I was a little worried that I might have to play tonight,” Fordham head coach Dereck Whittenburg said after the game. “We were in so much foul trouble. We’re kind of down numbers. [Even] with three guys fouling out of the game, we still had our chances. We just can’t quite get over the hump and make that big play. And at the end (Richmond) made some terrific plays and closed the game out.

“But there were some positives. We finally got our shooting together a little bit. Once again it’s the same old story: Our productivity offensively. We had two guys in double figures. We’re looking for that third and we just didn’t get it tonight. And then [we had] entirely too many turnovers tonight and that really got us at the end.” (Fordham turned the ball over 17 times.)

With that said, the Rams still put up a fight. In fact, this was by far Fordham’s best effort since their win over St. Bonaventure back on Jan. 28. After six disappointing losses in a row, where the Rams were blown out in each contest, the team needed this one. And the fact that they did it shorthanded, in a season that has delivered one punch after another, makes the 78-68 defeat to Richmond one of the easier losses of the year to stomach for the 3-22 Rams.

Against the Spiders (15-13, 7-6), the Rams shot the ball well, a season-high 52.2 percent from the floor and 16-of-20 (80 percent) from the free-throw line. The Rams outscored Richmond 38-30 in the paint, and they were only outrebounded 31-24. Both teams committed 23 personal fouls, but the Spiders had 31 chances at the charity stripe, to Fordham’s 20. Fordham’s bench, or what’s left of it, was outscored by Richmond’s by a margin of 29-9.

“A lot more bright spots,” was how Whittenburg described his team’s performance. “Our defense was okay at times. I just think we missed a lot of key blockouts. [With] those little fundamental things, that’s when the youth comes in. Now we’re getting a little closer, now we’re shooting the ball well, but now we have to do the fundamental things like the key blockouts, making layups, and not fouling. If we can do those things maybe we can get a little closer and get a win here.”

After trailing by as many as 16 points in the second half, and never having the lead in this game, Fordham made a couple of spirited runs in the second half, getting as close as nine points on several occasions. But Richmond relied on the scorinig of Kevin Anderson (18 points), David Gonzalvez (17 points), and Justin Harper (14 points) to hold on for the win.

“We’ve got to make a shot, make a play, and then we’ve got to come down and play solid defense,” Whittenburg said of his team’s comeback attempt. “At the end it’s all predicated on our confidence. You’ve got to make that shot. The difference in the game when it got to the end was that they had a couple guys that just finished the game for them. And that’s what we need, for guys to step up and make those plays. That’s the difference in the game, especially at the end.”

For Fordham, Mike Moore followed up a 28-point effort against Rhode Island by scoring a game-high 25 points. And Jio Fontan continued his impressive play by scoring 18 points, shooting 7-of-15 from the field. Fontan also turned in the effort play of the night when he dove over the scorer’s table going after a loose ball in the second half. This for a freshman who is already playing with a hurt right shoulder. For the Rams, that play exemplified the no-quit attitude the team brought to the Rose Hill Gym Wednesday night.

The Rams are now 1-12 in conference play with three games remaining. Saturday they will travel to Charlotte for a 2 p.m. game against the 49ers . Then it’s off to La Salle next Wednesday night and back to Rose Hill for the season finale next Saturday against Saint Joseph’s. The Atlantic 10 tournament begins on Wednesday, March 11 in Atlantic City. It’s now official: Fordham will be sitting this one out.

BY CHARLES COSTELLO

Don’t be surprised if there’s a new addition to Fordham’s starting lineup tomorrow night when the Rams host the Richmond Spiders at the Rose Hill Gym.

After watching Matt Beck play 23 minutes in Saturday’s loss to Rhode Island, 18 of those minutes coming in the second half,  and hearing head coach Dereck Whittenburg speak glowingly of Beck in his postgame press conference, it seems logical that the junior walk-on could get the starting nod Wednesday night.

Beck is a 6-1 guard who was averaging just over one minute of playing time before Saturday’s game. If Beck does get the start, it would most likely be in place of Herb Tanner, who has underperformed this year and who scored just one point in 22 minutes against URI. That would leave the Rams with a probable starting lineup of Jio Fontan, Mike Moore, Jacob Green, Luke Devine, and Beck.

If Whittenburg is looking to shake things up, inserting Beck into the starting lineup makes sense. First, Beck gave the team 23 minutes of hustle and gritty play Saturday, particularly on the defensive end, inspiring Whittenburg and the bench to give him a huge hand as he left the game late in the second half. Beck also started the second half in place of Tanner.

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of him,” Whittenburg said in his postgame press conference Saturday. “He came out there and hustled. He epitomizes some of the things that we want in some of our other guys.”

Beck doesn’t bring much to the table offensively. In 50 minutes this year, he hasn’t scored a single point, and two of his shots Saturday didn’t come close to hitting anything. But when it comes to exemplifying what Whittenburg expects from his players, with his commitment to team and his hustle on defense, there’s no question Beck has earned the head coach’s respect.

“Here’s a kid who’s grateful,” Whittenburg said. “He’s not on scholarship. He understands team. He just wants to contribute. And it’s all about the team. He’s the kind of kid that I love. I talked about Matt Beck in the locker room (after Saturday’s game). I wish most of the other guys would think like him. Matt doesn’t even have to take a shot. He played defense (on Saturday) better than anybody other than Jio. He guarded and he got back in transition. He was wonderful and he’s probably going to start the next game (Wednesday night). We need somebody out there [who's] going to be totally unselfish, [who's] going to play hard and not really worry about scoring, [somebody to] give us some of the essential things we need to give us a chance to win.”

Alberto Estwick and the Fordham Rams lost for the sixth straight game Saturday at Rose Hill. (Photo courtesy of Joe DiBari)

BY CHARLES COSTELLO

Jimmy Baron is a coach’s son. And when a coach’s son dedicates his life to basketball, the likely result is a fundamentally sound ballplayer. For Baron, the son, that means possessing one of the prettiest and most accurate jump shots in the nation. For Baron, the father and coach, that meant a 77-58 victory over the Fordham Rams Saturday at the Rose Hill Gym. A victory dominated by the sharp-shooting Baron, who connected on 10-of-12 field goals (6-of-8 from three-point range), as the senior guard finished with a game-high 29 points. And for Fordham, that meant a sixth straight blowout loss, as the Rams drop to 3-21 on the season, 1-11 in Atlantic 10 play.

“I think they’re very talented,” Fordham head coach Dereck Whittenburg said of URI. ”Rhode Island is a very capable team. They have good size and they have one guy (Baron) who’s an excellent shooter, one of the best players in our league. They’ve got a lot of other good role players and they’ve got a veteran team. They’re very capable of possibly going a long way in the (Atlantic 10) tournament.”

Baron scored 19 of his points in the first half, connecting on four three-pointers and dazzling the crowd with every shot. Despite the box-and-one defense Fordham played on him, Baron was unstoppable, hitting from everywhere on the court, and combining with teammate Kahiem Seawright (13 points, six rebounds) to dominate Fordham.

“We were playing a box-and-one and we were doing pretty good,” Whittenburg said. ”Then all of a sudden on offense we got a couple turnovers that they scored on and it kind of got them going a little bit. Then Baron, who we’ve kind of contained over his four years - he’s never really had games of this magnitude - he had a terrific game. A lot of those shots were NBA-range shots. He hit some big-time shots. You have to give him credit. Baron is really the one who got it going today.”

Fordham was led by sophomore Mike Moore, who one day earlier was named to the Atlantic 10 Honor Roll after averaging 22.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in losses to Xavier and Temple last week. Saturday, Moore scored a career-high 28 points, though 19 came in the second half when the game was pretty much out of reach. Rhode Island led 43-27. They led by as many as 28 at one point in the second half.

Jio Fontan had 19 points and eight assists for Fordham, while Matt Beck, a walk-on senior who was averaging just over one minute of playing time per game, played 18 minutes in the second half, 23 for the game, as Whittenburg rewarded him for his hustle and the energy he brought to the court. For the game, Fordham shot 37 percent from the floor, while Rhode Island shot 50 percent. In front of 2,887 at Rose Hill, the URI bench outscored Fordham’s, 25-4, and they outscored Fordham 16-0 in fast-break points. Fordham never had the lead.

“I saw some positive things,” Whittenburg said. ”They were capable of really blowing us out but I think our team fought, kept fighting, and we kind of came back and brought the lead back a little bit. Hopefully, starting with our next game, we can learn something from that.”

We expect Dereck Whittenburg’s pregame interview on WFUV tonight to be a good listen. Fordham fans have been waiting since the weekend for Whittenburg to clarify comments he reportedly made to the Daily News.

When asked whether Fordham was in over its head playing in the Atlantic 10, Whittenburg said, ”I think that’s a question for the administration. To be honest with you, I don’t know why they’re in the A-10.”

When asked whether the Rose Hill gym adversely affects recruiting, Whittenburg said, “No question. It’s a disadvantage. We have to be honest here, the joke is over. It was a great tradition in this gym. (But) when a guy comes and sees our gym and a guy comes and sees Rhode Island’s gym or he goes and sees Xavier’s, it’s not even a question of what he’s going to like more.”

And when asked whether the school’s academic standards hamper recruiting, the head coach said, “We have a very good academic school in this league. One of the best. If you look at other programs, they’ve got good academics, too. But they’re not as academically inclined as we are. But by the same token, they want their basketball program at Xavier to have success. And they’re going to invest in it. Xavier’s goal athletically in basketball is to be one of the top teams in the country. Our goal is to try and compete (in the A-10) and competing is going to be cyclical, like a roller coaster. Change the coaches, do what you want, but you can bring Bobby Knight in here, and if you have these same things, their ability to recruit is going to be the same.”

All of Whittenburg’s quotes were reported by Sean Brennan.

Now, there are some of us who believe that Whittenburg has been unfairly criticized for his comments, that he deserves the time and platform to address what he truly meant by saying what he did. After all, we don’t know the context of his comments or what his tone was. We also believe it’s important for Jeffrey Grey and Frank McLaughlin to be accountable for comments they made in that same Daily News story.

That’s why tonight we expect the WFUV game announcers to ask the coach to clarify his comments, and to react to comments made by the Fordham administration. 

Tonight’s game can be heard beginning at 6:55 on 90.7FM and WFUV.org.

Charles Costello

We’re an hour away from the opening tip at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, as the 3-19 Fordham Rams get set to take on the 15-9 Temple Owls. The Owls have won their last three games, including two road wins at Saint Louis and Duquesne. Meanwhile, the Rams are playing their worst basketball of the season, having been blown out in their last four contests. Brenton Butler and Chris Bethel out for the year with injuries, Trey Blue has taken a leave of absence for personal reasons, and we received word late today that Jio Fontan is listed as probable for tonight’s game. Though we expect Fontan to play tonight, any word of a possible injury is alarming considering the freshman point guard is Fordham’s best player, and the Rams are already shorthanded.

Charles Costello