Fordham Basketball: Takeaways from the Atlantic 10 Tournament

The Fordham Rams men's basketball season came to an end Thursday afternoon, when the team fell to the VCU Rams, 63-57, in the second round of the Atlantic 10 tournament.

After beating the George Mason Patriots Wednesday night, No. 12 seed Fordham nearly pulled off an upset over fifth-seeded VCU. The game was tied at 30 at the half, and Fordham had a five-point lead with nine minutes, 10 seconds to go.

When it was over, Fordham's season ended exactly where it did a year ago: in the second round of the Atlantic 10 tournament.

You have to like what you saw from Fordham over the course of nearly 24 hours at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

As nice as it would have been to upset VCU, many noteworthy stories emerged over Fordham's two days in Brooklyn. Each speaks to the direction the program is going in.

The most significant moments were the ones that showed what could be in store for this team next season and beyond. They all happened when the lights shined brighter, when the season was on the line and when nobody gave the team much of a chance.

Here are Fordham's top takeaways from this year's A-10 tournament.

Fordham beat George Mason, 71-65, in the first game of the tournament. Yes, the Rams should have won this one, but they also did it without their best player. Still bothered by a high ankle sprain, freshman Eric Paschall played only 11 minutes.

Hours after they beat the Patriots for the second time this season, the Rams were minutes away from knocking off VCU—the preseason favorite to win the A-10.

Similar to last year, the Rams entered the tournament with little fanfare and low expectations. For the second year in a row, they left everything they had in Brooklyn.

The A-10 doesn't give out any medals for trying.

If it did, Fordham would take home gold.

The 2014-15 season was not a good one for Jon Severe.

The sophomore was suspended, took a leave of absence and averaged only 6.7 points per game. This was all coming off a freshman campaign during which he scored 536 points, the most for a freshman in school history.

Thursday afternoon, Severe was as good as anyone else on the court for Fordham. He scored 14 points in 25 minutes and showed flashes of being the player he was when he led Christ the King High School to titles just a few years ago.

He wasn't perfect (shooting 3-of-10 from the floor), but when you consider what he went through this season, it was encouraging.

There's no reason to think that Severe can't become an elite scorer and defender on a consistent basis. A lot of this will come down to how much effort he puts into it—how badly he wants to live up to the reputation he had when he arrived at Rose Hill.

Mr. New York Basketball showed signs Thursday—signs pointing in the right direction.

Eric Paschall was the Rams' leading scorer this year (15.9 points per game). He was Fordham's biggest recruit since the school joined the A-10 two decades ago. He's going to be the face of the team for the next three years.

It's fair to say that his injury may be the reason why Fordham didn't make it past the second round.

Last Tuesday, Paschall injured his ankle in practice. It was diagnosed as a high ankle sprain, and he missed the Rams' last two regular-season games.

In the opener Wednesday night against George Mason, he was limited to just 11 minutes and one point. It was obvious from the start that his ankle wasn't going to cooperate—something that was apparent at practice Tuesday, when Paschall spent most of the time riding a stationary bike and shooting at a side basket.

You can't help but wonder how Thursday's game might have played out if Paschall was able to go. Yes, Fordham beat George Mason without him. But VCU is a huge step up, and Fordham needed its star player.

It was another reminder of how good Paschall is and what a difference he makes.

The record does not speak for itself.

Tom Pecora is 44-106 in five seasons at Fordham. 

David Roach, the school's athletic director, told Bleacher Report that he expected to see improvement this season—how he'll measure that isn't known—and that he'd evaluate Pecora at the end of 2014-15. 

If the month of February and the A-10 tournament proved one thing, it's that no one should be questioning Pecora's future at Rose Hill. Nobody should have been doing so in the first place.

Pecora kept a team that lost its first nine conference games focused and together. The Rams rebounded to win four of six. Then, after losing three to close out the regular season—and with the team's best player on the sidelines—Pecora nearly pulled off what would have been one of the biggest wins the program has ever had.

"I think only a fool would not see that the future is bright," Pecora told Bleacher Report on Tuesday, one day before the A-10 tournament began.

Then he went out and showed why.

Quotations in this article were obtained firsthand.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Follow him on Twitter: @CFCostello.