Fordham Rams the Best Men's College Basketball Team No One Is Talking About
When national analysts for men's college basketball get asked who's the best team that no one is talking about, we typically respond with a fringe AP Top 25 team, or one that appears to be turning a corner after failing to live up to the preseason hype.
You know, major-conference teams that plenty of people are definitely aware of but that might be worth buying low as a title contender.
But the best team that absolutely no one is talking about this year?
The 11-1 Fordham Rams.
More than half a century ago, Digger Phelps coached Fordham to a 26-3 record, a No. 9 ranking in the AP poll and a first-round victory in the 1971 NCAA tournament.
And the program has not been nationally relevant since.
The Rams haven't been ranked since that final poll in 1971.
Since shocking 18th-ranked Georgetown at the end of the 1977-78 season, Fordham has lost 53 consecutive games to AP Top 20 opponents. (At least the games of that ilk in the 1980s were occasionally competitive, though. The Rams have lost by double digits in 32 of their last 33 games against Top 20 foes.)
They have gone to just one of the past 50 NCAA tournaments, getting pummeled in the first round of the 1992 dance by a Massachusetts team coached by an up-and-comer named John Calipari.
And unless you're trying to count Eric Paschall—who spent one season at Fordham before transferring to Villanova for his final three years of college hoops—this program hasn't had a player drafted since 1983. That year, Edward Bona and David Maxwell went in the sixth and ninth rounds, respectively, and never played a minute in the NBA.
Fordham simply has not mattered in men's college basketball at any point in my life.
Yet, out of absolutely nowhere, the Rams have one of the best records in men's college hoops, entering Thursday's home game against VMI at 11-1, with eight of those wins coming by double digits.
On Dec. 11, they became the second team this season to reach 11 wins against D-I competition, hitting that plateau just 24 hours after Connecticut did.
It's not often that we get to put Fordham in a two-team club with arguably the best squad in the nation, but there you go.
Granted, the schedule has had a lot to do with that early success. Per KenPom.com, the Rams entered play Wednesday with the worst strength of schedule in the country.
But that's also nothing new. Fordham's nonconference slate has been a joke for the past decade, ranking in the bottom 10 percent of the nation in each of 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2021-22 and in the bottom 33 percent every year since 2012-13. (Except 2020-21, when Fordham played no games outside the Atlantic 10.)
Those weak slates never produced anything quite like this.
The last time the Rams won even 10 nonconference games was in 1990-91, and it wasn't until their 15th nonconference game in late February that they got that 10th victory.
And the last time they won 11 nonconference games during the regular season was in 1974-75, when they went 12-13 overall as an independent team.
11-1 is just unheard of for this program, regardless of the schedule.
In fact, it's the first time Fordham has gotten to 11 wins within its first 15 games since that mythical Phelps-coached team that started 18-1 in 1970-71.
So, what exactly is going on in the Bronx?
Well, the simplest answer is that shots are going in for a change.
Fordham is shooting 53.0 percent from inside the arc, 37.2 percent from beyond it and 75.5 percent from the free-throw line. The Rams have not finished a season at or above any of those three marks since the aforementioned 1990-91 squad, which shot 38.5 percent from three-point range.
And, to be clear, 53.0, 37.2 and 75.5 aren't outlandish, unsustainable numbers. Fordham is somewhere in the 41st-best to 125th-best range in the country in all three categories.
However, it's an uncommon degree of bucket-getting success for this program.
Fifth-year senior Khalid Moore has surprisingly been the biggest factor in that offensive outburst.
Moore had started 63 games and played in 117 total games over the previous four seasons at Georgia Tech, but he was much more of a versatile glue guy than a designed scoring option for the Yellow Jackets. He averaged just 4.4 points per game, only once scoring 15 or more in a contest.
Lo and behold, the 6'7" stretch 4 is averaging 15.5 points per game for Fordham, transforming into a linchpin for an offense averaging at least 72 points per game (75.5) for the first time in over two decades.
"[Moore had] always been a role player from high school to AAU to Georgia Tech," Fordham head coach Keith Urgo said in a recent interview with Andy Katz for the NABC. "... He knew what he wanted his last year in college. ... And he's performed at a high level in a much bigger role than he ever had."
In one of Fordham's two wins outside Quadrant 4, Moore went for 23 points, 10 rebounds and four assists at Tulane. And after scoring a career-high 25 points on Dec. 11 against Central Connecticut State, he has already put up more points this season (186) than his previous career high (166).
And on the career scoring front, Youngstown State transfer Darius Quisenberry is averaging 18.1 points per game this season while rapidly approaching 2,000 points—as well as 400 rebounds and 400 assists.
This is DQ's second year on the team, and he entered this season as a career 30.6 percent three-point shooter. But he's connecting at a 45 percent clip for the year and has made 22 of 38 (57.9 percent) over his last six games.
Quisenberry almost had his first career triple-double in November, too, going for 14 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists in a win over Holy Cross. Had he gotten there, it would have been the first triple-double in Fordham history.
Beyond that Batman and Robin (as Urgo calls them) scoring tandem, Fordham has a formidable one-two punch at the 5 with Abdou Tsimbila and Rostyslav Novitskyi combining for 14.1 points, 12.9 rebounds and 3.9 blocks per game.
A light version of what Purdue had last season in Zach Edey and Trevion Williams, they're pretty much never on the court together, but the Rams almost always have one of those big men anchoring them in the paint.
Fordham also has a veteran point guard averaging 4.7 assists per game (Antrell Charlton) and a senior wing who does a little bit of everything (Kyle Rose).
Again, the schedule has been pathetic. And Fordham did commit 27 turnovers while getting trounced 74-48 by Arkansas (sans Nick Smith Jr.) five days into the season. I'm not suggesting you visit your nearest sportsbook and ask what sort of odds you can get on this team winning a national championship.
However, the Rams have made the most of their pathetic schedule, and they just might be a legitimate mid-major to watch out for in March.
I watched the games against Tulane and Central Connecticut State, and when that offense gets into a groove—and isn't shooting itself in the foot with turnovers—this looks like a veteran-heavy team that can hang with just about anyone.
The Rams haven't finished a season rated in the top 160 on KenPom since 2007-08, but they entered play Tuesday at No. 159—up 70 spots from where they started the season.
And, like, have you taken a look at the A-10 lately?
It's normally a multi-bid league, but it is a disaster this year. Dayton, Saint Louis, VCU and newcomer Loyola-Chicago have all fallen well short of expectations, as every team except for Fordham has already suffered at least three losses.
That league is so far down and so wide open that—despite playing under its fourth head coach in less than three calendar years and despite a 54-197 record in league play during 15 consecutive losing A-10 seasons—even Fordham could win it.
While I said not to bet on them to win the national championship, Fordham at +8000 to win the A-10 regular-season title was too tempting for me to resist.
That's partially because the schedule remains favorable for the Rams. Their double dips are against Rhode Island, St. Bonaventure, Duquesne and Davidson, none of whom look like a top-five team in the league. And Fordham's games against the two supposed favorites (Dayton and Saint Louis) will both be played in The Bronx.
Jump on the bandwagon while you still can, because by the time noted alumnus Denzel Washington starts saying that King Kong ain't got s--t on Fordham men's basketball, it'll be too late.
Odds via DraftKings. Statistics via WarrenNolan.com, Sports Reference and KenPom.com unless otherwise noted.
