Fordham Basketball

Fordham head coach Tom Pecora has delivered the message before—in games and in practices, to his team and to the media. As the Rams practiced Saturday inside the Rose Hill Gym, it was time to convey it again.

"You're not going to get what you want, you're going to get what you deserve," Pecora told his players at the conclusion of a drill he thought they ran through lackadaisically.

"You have to make your own breaks," he added.

The Rams haven't had many breaks this year, this season or this century for that matter. On Sunday, Fordham dropped its eighth straight game, a 101-77 loss at Dayton. But Pecora, who's been at the helm since 2010, remains optimistic that his program is headed in the right direction.

"I see a young group that's growing and getting better," Pecora told Bleacher Report a few hours before Fordham flew out to Ohio for Sunday's game. "Obviously, we have some flaws.

"I'm still inspired by these guys. They work hard every day, they practice their tails off, they're trying to get better. I keep telling them 'just keep your chin up, there's wins out there, just don't break, don't let your spirit be broken.'"

So far that hasn't happened, just like it didn't happen last year when the Rams lost their last eight regular-season games but nearly pulled off upsets in the final week against La Salle and George Washington. Last March, Fordham won the play-in game of the Atlantic 10 tournament, defeating George Mason, 70-67, before bowing out a day later with an 87-74 loss to Dayton.

New season. Same results. Only this time around, the Rams' slump is taking place earlier in the year. Timing aside, their resolve is once again being tested.

"I just think it's the timing of it," Pecora said when asked how this year's group was handling the losing compared to the 2013-14 team. "[Last year] was going through February. The fact that they never just laid down and said 'let's get this over with' I thought was impressive.

"[This year] we knew the early part of this schedule was going to be tough and February would soften. The question is...you still have to believe as you go into February. But I still believe as we go into this month there are some games that are out there that we're going to win. We go about every game preparing to win."

That can't be argued. Take Fordham's two recent games against Rhode Island as examples.

"We've played them to one possession twice," Pecora said. Rhode Island is 15-5 while Fordham is 5-14.

"If we can get the effort we gave against Rhode Island every game the rest of the year we're going to win some basketball games and then win some games in this tournament if we hit our stride."

Fordham is 0-8 in A-10 play and it's finished above .500 one time in its 19 years in the conference prior to this season. Pecora has a 39-99 record at the school after winning 155 games in nine seasons at Hofstra. He's still confident he can get it done at Fordham.

"I still think we're going to turn the corner here, and this is going to be the group that does it," Pecora said. 

He added: "I want to win basketball games more than anyone for a lot of reasons, but first and foremost for these young guys. They deserve it. They love being a Fordham basketball player. They want to win, and they want to be part of turning this around. That's why they came. They all had other options, and they decided to come to Fordham and be part of this challenge of turning this program around. I want it for them first and foremost. I want it for the alumni and the student body. They deserve it."

Not that any of this has been easy on the coach.

"I'm not going to lie to you, I don't sleep much," Pecora said. "But during the season most coaches don't sleep much.

"My concern is the pressure on these kids [thinking] 'when are we going to win one?' When we win one, the floodgate's going to open and all of a sudden we might win a few. But we've got to get that win that gets us moving in that direction.

"The pressure is more on them in that aspect," he continued. "They're college kids who have never won in college. I've had winning teams, I understand the process, so I don't feel incredible pressure. Like any coach, you're out there to compete, you're out there to win. I'm looking at the way we're performing. Part of being young is we're not consistent. We've got to get consistent and give consistent effort. That falls on me. It's my job to figure out ways to get them out there doing those things."

Pecora isn't the only one who thinks a turnaround is possible. He isn't the only one who thinks the Rams' young roster just needs time to develop.

"When I talk to basketball people who I respect and who have had great success in this business, that's their mantra," Pecora said. "They're like 'you're young and those young guys are good.' That comes from other coaches in this league and people throughout the basketball world.

"Young guys need to develop a little bit. And I think the three players we have coming in—Jesse Bunting, Joseph Chartouny and Matt Zignorski—are good ones that can come in and really make a difference early on as they develop and become part of the rotation...That's something in the spring we'll look at and figure out where the pieces in the puzzle will go as we move forward."

"It's not my job to make a case about next year," he added. "It's my job to win some games this year." 

Still, it can't be denied that this is the ultimate rebuilding project.

"I think the young talent that we have, when you see what their abilities are, I think they can be difference-makers in the A-10," Pecora said. "It's a challenge.

"This A-10 is like no other. The A-10 was the best it's been last year getting six bids. It continues to be a league where everybody's going after it, everybody's competing in every aspect of a basketball program.

"You get it done by having players," he added. "But I still believe that this group can do it, I believe that they can turn the corner. Once we do turn the corner then the next challenge is going to be, are we going to be committed enough to stay on that level and go find and get the next Eric Paschall and be able to do it on a consistent basis?"

That's to be determined. Fordham has a long way to go to get to that point. A win would be a good start. 

"Whether you're winning or losing its a grind," Pecora said. "It's just a nicer grind when you're winning."

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

Fordham has to catch a break at some point. On Wednesday night, all it needed was a rebound.

Holding a 63-62 lead with nine seconds left in the game, Rhode Island grabbed two offensive rebounds, and Gilvydas Biruta scored at the buzzer to give URI a one-point victory in front of 1,622 stunned fans inside the Rose Hill Gym.

Moments after it ended, Fordham head coach Tom Pecora was still trying to make sense of it all.

"We've lost one just about every way this year," he said at the start of his postgame press conference. "I thought we had that basketball game. Obviously we had a couple great opportunities in the last minute or so of the game. The last play, all we have to do is deflect the ball, knock the ball out...or God forbid somebody grabs it and we walk away with a win."

Rhode Island ended up with the win, its 14th of the season, while Fordham dropped its seventh in a row to fall to 5-13 on the year. The Rams are winless (0-7) in Atlantic 10 play.

"I just told them, 'Nobody's giving you anything,'" Pecora said about the message he delivered to his team after the game. "But here's a team that's [14]-5 and we've played them to one possession twice."

On Jan. 7, Fordham lost at Rhode Island, 68-65. Compared to some of its other A-10 losses, that was an encouraging performance, just like it was when the two teams met again, this time in the Bronx. But ultimately, the final score is what matters.

For Fordham, the results haven't been good since conference play began in early January.

"We have to just find a way," Pecora said. "We have to take wins. No one's going to give us anything. It's that good a league."

The period in between last Thursday's loss to George Washington and the opening tip against Rhode Island was a crucial one for Fordham. Major changes took place, and there's reason to believe that some fixing was done.

For starters, Fordham put in a new flex offense, and the first-half results were encouraging, as the Rams shot 50 percent (13-for-26) from the floor. Facing increased pressure, that number dipped to 32 percent (8-for-25) in the second half.

There was also more production across the board. Jon Severe, who's missed nine games as a result of a suspension, a leave of absence and an injury, scored 17 points in 24 minutes. Ryan Rhoomes, who's had an up-and-down year, had 10 points and 16 rebounds in 39 minutes. Eric Paschall, who only played eight minutes in the first half after picking up his second foul, scored 19 points.

Rhoomes looked like a different player out there—far more assertive—and the results showed. This can't be a one-and-done deal for him. The Rams need his size and presence on both ends of the floor as well as on the glass. Against Rhode Island, Rhoomes showed what he can do.

"He's more than capable to get 10 rebounds a game in the Atlantic 10," Pecora said. "His numbers dropped drastically after we got into A-10 play. But this will bring him back up, and he's got to continue to do this, especially against Dayton on Sunday.

With a young team trying to find its way, there's always the other side to every story. Fordham is well aware of that part of the plot.

[Ryan Rhoomes] and Christian [Sengfelder] had 16 and nine rebounds [respectively]," Pecora said, "but we have to get the backcourt rebounding the ball a little bit more. All the things that we're going to continue to work on as a team."

As for Severe, who's had a rocky season to say the least, he finally got going against Rhode Island. If he plays like he did Wednesday night, the Rams have a chance to win some games. We still haven't seen Severe and Paschall at their best at the same time, which could change the direction of the Rams' season.

"Offensively I thought he did a decent job," Pecora said of Severe, who was on the court two hours prior to the game working on his jump shot and doing a little coaching as well. "He's a rhythm shooter, and if he gets it going he can make a couple big shots for you."

"We need him to score," he added. "When we have scoring coming out of him and coming out of Eric like that and then everybody else can fill in with six, seven, eight, nine, 10 points, we're going to put some numbers on the board."

That hasn't happened consistently enough, but one thing that also didn't happen was actually a positive: Fordham didn't fall behind right out of the gate. To alleviate the bad starts it's been so prone to having, Pecora and his staff changed up the Rams' game-day routine.

"We practiced instead of just having a walk-through, and that's what I'm going to continue to do," Pecora said. "We're practicing game days. We were doing rebounding drills and we were doing a bunch of things today, and we're going to continue to do it."

One thing is for sure: Pecora isn't giving up anytime soon.

"I only know one way," he said. "When things aren't going good, you work harder at it. We just have to continue to work hard. The harder I work the luckier I get, so I'm just going to continue to work really hard.

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

On Jan. 17, the NCAA's Power Five conferences (Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern) voted in favor of providing cost-of-attendance scholarships that will give student-athletes money for certain costs not currently included in traditional scholarships.

Though not part of the Power Five, the Atlantic 10 Conference committed to cost-of-attendance scholarships last November. In an email sent to beat writers on Jan. 18, the A-10 announced its plan to implement the scholarships for men's and women's basketball following the NCAA ruling.

What does this mean for Fordham, a member of the conference since 1994?

"It's good," Fordham athletic director David Roach told Bleacher Report last Thursday. "You want to be competitive, and if people are doing it, we want to do it to be competitive.

"And in fairness to a lot of kids, it's probably what we should be doing."

Roach first discussed the issue with Bleacher Report last summer. He said then that he supported full cost of attendance for scholarships but added, "it's kind of a troubling road we're going down."

Now that we're further down that road—though far from home—Roach offered this assessment of where things stand.

"You almost have to back up a little bit and kind of say, 'How did we get to this point?'" he said.

"We got to this point because what they're calling the Big Five power conferences went after the TV dollar, and to go after the TV dollar, they realigned conferences and really have gone after more and more money. And they're all revenue driven.

"Because of that, they get heat and pressure from the media saying, 'You just hired [Jim] Harbaugh at $5 million a year, Nick Saban is making $7 million a year, Mike Krzyzewski is making $9 million...and Shabazz Napier is going to bed hungry, if you believe that...the coaches and the schools are getting all the money, and what are the kids getting?'

"You've gone from intercollegiate athletics being part of the educational process and great for everybody and a learning experience and all the things everybody always talks about...so now, we're at the point where they've got to do something."

Roach said that four years ago, when NCAA President Mark Emmert held a presidential summit, the idea of providing cost-of-attendance scholarships was brought up.

"Even some of the big schools didn't want to do it because they didn't want to do it for every sport," Roach said. "Now, they've been backed into a corner, and they feel like they have to do something because there are so many lawsuits, everybody's all over them."

Roach said athletes would be free to use the money at their discretion while adding cost of attendance "is a federally regulated number that your financial aid office determines depending [on] your student body.

"If we bring someone in here who comes from a tough background and you just give them tuition, room, board, books and no spending money or money to go back and forth, that's not fair. So they came up with cost of attendance to alleviate some of that."

He then went on to explain the A-10's thinking.

"The A-10 is saying, 'Because we're a basketball-centric league, we're committed, and everybody's going to do it in men's and women's basketball, and then after that, it's kind of up to the institution.'"

For now, Fordham will offer the scholarships only to men's and women's basketball players. Roach said that any future action to provide money in other sports will be an "institutional decision." (In November, the school announced it would offer four-year athletic scholarships as opposed to the one-year renewable scholarships it currently offers.)

He said the full cost of attendance at Fordham would be in the neighborhood of $2,700 to $2,800 per person, a figure that isn't "earth-shattering." 

"It's different for different schools," Roach said. "In the A-10, I know a couple are as low as $1,500. Some might be more than us; some are obviously less. It's never going to be the same."

It's becoming clearer by the day that neither will college athletics.

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

Fordham head coach Tom Pecora said this was coming. Right after the Rams lost to Dayton on Jan. 10, he said personnel changes could be on the way.

Pecora proved to be true to his word four days later, when the Rams visited Saint Joseph's. Junior forward Ryan Rhoomes didn't start for the first and only time this year. Manny Suarez, a redshirt freshman, started in his place. In the Rams' next game at La Salle, senior Bryan Smith got his first start since Nov. 20.

But no move may have been more significant than the one that occurred Wednesday night, when Mandell Thomas moved from shooting guard to point guard. He's the third different player to start at point guard for Fordham this season.

Thomas, a starter in 13 games prior to Wednesday, has been one of the Rams' most productive players this season. Going into last night's game, he was averaging 12.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists per contest.

Pecora compared the transition Thomas was making to the one made by Branden Frazier, who wrapped up his Fordham career in 2013-14 by averaging a team-high 18.2 points and 4.3 assists per game.

This time around, however, there might be a bit more desperation involved.

Nemanja Zarkovic, a freshman, began the season as Fordham's starting point guard. After five games, Antwoine Anderson, a redshirt freshman, took over.

Wednesday night might not be a permanent changing of the guard, but it was change nonetheless, and certainly worth a try after Fordham dropped its first five Atlantic 10 Conference games.

The odds still appeared to be stacked against the Rams, and they may be for the foreseeable future.

George Washington came in with a 14-4 record. Fordham started the night 5-11. The Rams found themselves down 8-0 two minutes and 22 seconds into the game and they trailed by as many as 22 later in the half.

In the second half they trailed by as many as 25 before closing the gap to 10 with just over four minutes left to play. But the Colonials would go on a 10-0 run to end the game, leaving the Rose Hill Gym with a 79-59 win and handing the Rams their sixth straight loss.

After the game, Pecora didn't hide his frustration.

"I'm not going to talk to you the way I just talked to them," he said at the start of his postgame press conference. "We have some growing up to do. We've lost the last three games in the first five minutes. We haven't come out and played with the passion and intensity that we need to."

"We just have to get better," he added.

Pecora talked about the need to change things beyond the lineup.

"Whatever they do when they're away from us with their pregame preparation has to change," he said.

"I don't know the answer," he added later. "If I did, I would change it immediately."

He did offer some ideas as to how he plans on approaching things going forward.

"I'm going to change the way we go about our pregame and I'm going to get their attention and make sure they understand it's game day and things are going to be a little bit different," he said, later adding, "You can't be afraid to change."

This is a young team—seven freshmen and only three upperclassmen—and right now things aren't clicking. Nobody knows that better than Pecora, who isn't trying to hide the fact that things aren't going well.

"I'm trying to allow them to learn a little bit on the go, and it's not working," Pecora said. "I have to change the way I'm approaching this as well."

Thomas played 38 minutes against George Washington and finished with 15 points, five assists and eight rebounds. Pecora said he made "a couple bad decisions," but he did offer a tepid endorsement of his play.

"I didn't think Mandell did a horrible job," Pecora said. "He filled up a box score for a guy playing with the ball in his hands. Overall I don't think it was horrible."

Pecora said the plan right now is to keep Thomas at the point.

"Antwoine (Anderson) will come off the bench and back him up for now, and we'll see how things progress," he said. "Hopefully we can get everybody back at their normal positions in time."

It won't get any easier for Fordham. Rhode Island is next, followed by Dayton and UMass. Welcome to the Atlantic 10.

"The schedule's been brutal, but what are you going to do?" Pecora said. "This is who we play.

"I said to them, 'If you don't change your ways and start competing for 40 minutes, it's not going to just happen.'"

He added: "I think there are guys that are taking possessions off and getting a little too comfortable in their spots. It doesn't matter what year you are, you're going to compete for minutes here."

Then it all came back to the biggest news of the night, which broke before the game even started: Thomas moving to the point.

"Right now Mandell's our starting point guard," Pecora said.

He then offered his assessment of Anderson and Zarkovic, not counting either out, but admitting that both needed to improve in certain areas.

"I think Antwoine (Anderson)'s performance over the two games prior to this was not very good," Pecora said. "I think he was overwhelmed by game-planning and all of the things that go into a game and running a team at this level. I think the best thing for his development and for ours as a team was to put Mandell into that spot.

"Nemanja (Zarkovic)'s been shooting the ball well," he continued. "He gets more shots when we play him off the ball. Obviously he was struggling with double-teams and things of that nature early on. Everyone sees film. When people see film they were jumping him. By moving him off the ball, we're getting him a couple more looks and allowing him some time to develop."

The team has proven it needs time to develop as well.

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

Tony Reali isn't one to forget his roots.

Reali joined ESPN in 2000, and since 2004, he's been host of Around the Horn, one of the network's most popular shows. Last September, he joined ABC's Good Morning America as a contributor.

Many affectionately know him as "Stat Boy," the title he was given during the 13 years he spent with Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption.

Truth be told, however, Reali got his start at Fordham working at WFUV Radio. There, he did play-by-play announcing for Fordham basketball and football games, hosted One on One—New York's longest-running sports call-in show—and was a beat reporter for the Yankees, Mets, Giants and Jets.

Reali graduated from Fordham in 2000. Thursday, though it won't be his first time back, he plans on returning to the school as Fordham celebrates the 90th anniversary of the Rose Hill Gym, which first opened in 1925 and is now the oldest Division I basketball facility still in use.

Come out Thurs. to wish the Rose Hill Gym a Happy 90th Birthday & get a FREE maroon t-shirt! http://t.co/UIGeStHXGG pic.twitter.com/AJrapfAc6U

— Fordham Athletics (@FordhamRams) January 20, 2015

In addition to Reali, other prominent sports media figures who graduated from Fordham will be part of the evening's festivities when the Rams host George Washington in an Atlantic 10 matchup.

A video montage of the Rose Hill Gym featuring Michael Kay, the Yankees play-by-play announcer on the YES Network and the host of an afternoon-drive radio show on ESPN New York, and Bob Papa, the radio voice of the New York Giants, will be shown during the game, the school announced Tuesday.

Fordham will wear throwback jerseys, and maroon T-shirts will be given out to the first 2,500 fans in what the school is hoping will be a "Maroon Out."

There's the celebration and there's the game. There's also Reali, who could very easily steal the show, if he hasn't done so already.

Last week, prior to his Around the Horn broadcast, Reali led a group of reporters—the New York Daily News' Frank Isola, ESPN's J.A. Adande, the Dallas Morning News' Tim Cowlishaw and longtime Boston Globe writer Bob Ryan—in a Buy-or-Sell discussion regarding the Rose Hill Gym.

Reali described it as "a mock segment we made solely for the tribute, to be played at halftime or pregame" Thursday night.

Of the four on the panel—we'll get to Reali in a second—Isola proved to be the arena's biggest fan.

"I love the old place," Isola said before mentioning two great memories he had of the gym: the Rams' 1990 win over P.J. Carlesimo's Seton Hall Pirates on Jean Prioleau's last-second shot and former Kentucky and NBA star Jamal Mashburn winning the city championship there that same year playing for Cardinal Hayes High School.

Cowlishaw and Adande didn't show much love, voicing a few wise cracks about the building's age. Ryan showed more kindness, saying the place "remembers when Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] wasn't Kareem."

Reali, a Fordham guy through and through, provided the most passionate defense of a gym that is so often under attack. He said his first experience inside Rose Hill was a dunk contest broadcast on ESPN in 1996. Darvin Ham, who went from Texas Tech to the NBA, won the event.

Also that day, Santa Clara's Steve Nash won the three-point shooting contest. Nash went on to become one of the best point guards in the NBA. And there was ESPN commentator Dick Vitale, who knocked down 24 straight free throws.

Reali talked about his memories of Nick Macarchuk, who coached Fordham from 1987 to 1999. And he joked about the VIP seating on press row reserved for WFUV's student broadcasters. Actually, they were stationed upstairs. They've since moved courtside.

The Rose Hill Gym hasn't brought home many accolades of late. There isn't that much about the place that will impress you. Except for its history, of course. That has to count for something.

"Fellows, let's raise a glass to an American original," Reali said in the piece he put together on the gym. "Here's to 90 more years."

Quotations in this article were obtained firsthand and from ESPN's Around the Horn segment on the Rose Hill Gym.

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

Fordham's Rose Hill Gym opened in 1925. It's the oldest Division I basketball facility still in use.

Written on the back of the team's media guide is a reminder that the Rams' home arena was labeled a "Cathedral of College Basketball" by ESPN The Magazine and that USA Today deemed it one of the "10 Great College Basketball Arenas."

Last Saturday, the old gym added one more feat to its record book: it became the visiting team's home court.

I'm half-joking, of course, but in the Rams' 76-58 loss to Dayton, the crowd of 2,872 was mostly wearing red (Dayton's colors) and could be seen and heard throughout the night. You had to really look hard to find a Fordham fan.

It should be noted that the university's students were returning from break the next day, but it wouldn't have made much of a difference. This night belonged to the Flyers, on and off the court.

It started with a "Let's Go Flyers" chant. Then encouragement for Dayton on the defensive end. There was also the ever-so-popular "We Are UD." All took place as soon as the game started and carried on well into the night.

If you didn't know any better, you would have thought you were in Ohio, not in the Bronx. Dayton travels well. Fordham stays locked in the basement.

To be fair, so much of that is understandable. Fordham has been a losing program for a long time. In 19 seasons in the A-10, it's finished above .500 just once. More recently, the Rams have won 44 games since the start of the 2008-09 season.

Fans have been beaten down. They're tired of waiting. They no longer believe.

But it's also true that the university as a whole, its basketball coaches and players and the program's true fans, deserve better. You can't let an opposing team come into your building and turn you into the visiting team. I half-expected the Rams to come out after halftime in their road maroon.

Of course, we could also go here: Fordham needs a new arena.

The Rose Hill Gym is a comfy, quaint facility, but it can't compare to the new modern arenas that have sprung up, notably the ones that Atlantic 10 schools have built. It can't compare to most arenas for that matter. It's not going to impress recruits, and it doesn't help attract fans (unless you consider those the opposing teams bring in).

For now, and since there are no plans in place for a new facility, the Rams are forced to deal with what they have.

Fordham athletic director David Roach addressed that reality in an interview with Bleacher Report last July.

"I like to say, 'Focus on what you have, not what you don't have, and be positive and move forward,'" Roach said. "It [Rose Hill Gym] might not be the best venue, but we're in New York City. ... Let's get it going enough to where this place is rocking and packed and you can't get a ticket."

On Saturday, you couldn't get a ticket. Dayton's fans had them all.

In the final seconds of the game, Fordham head coach Tom Pecora stood a few feet away from his team's bench with a quizzical look that said it all. Sure, he was upset that the Rams had lost their third in a row to open A-10 play. A few minutes later he'd express frustration with his veteran players, who all seemed to have off nights at once. Shortly thereafter, he promised there would be changes.

But as Pecora stood there motionless and staring across the court, you know he heard it. How could he not? By then, Dayton didn't just take over the house; it became their house.

"It stinks," was how Pecora responded when asked about the pro-Dayton chants and all the support the Flyers got. "Everyone was saying we were selling a lot of tickets. I said to people here, 'I hope they're all Fordham people,' but I kind of knew what the outcome would be."

Like he always does, Pecora took the high road. He didn't knock Fordham's fans. He didn't question their loyalty or their support. He has too much class to do that.

Instead, he talked about Dayton.

"The University of Dayton is a storied basketball program," Pecora said. "We played Dayton my first year here in a blizzard, and I was silly enough to think people wouldn't come out. I came out of that runway, there were 10,000 people in red sweaters. Snow was coming down sideways, and it was two feet on the ground."

He was exaggerating a bit about the attendance that day, but he made his point: Basketball is a big deal in Dayton, Ohio. In fact, Dayton basketball is a big deal anywhere the Flyers are playing.

Dayton has a winning basketball tradition. This year it's 14-2 overall and 4-0 in Atlantic 10 play. Last year the Flyers made it to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament. In 1967 they lost to UCLA in the NCAA championship game.

Pecora knows the power of the Dayton brand. It was on display Saturday night. It always is, he said.

"The commitment to men's basketball there, the level of history of basketball...you know the deal. You say 'Duke,' it's a basketball school. You say 'Notre Dame,' as good as they are in hoops, it's a football school. You say 'Florida State,' people think football. Dayton is a basketball school."

Fordham is a great school, but it's still trying to find itself on the basketball court. That's what makes this story, a story that's been told many times through the years, so compelling.

The Rams have some really good fans. If you're around the program—off days as well as game days—you see them. Many are proud alums who made it big but would give anything for some wins. Some are New York basketball fans who love the game and would love to see the Jesuit school in the Bronx finally make it one day.

And you have the families of the coaches and parents of the players, who passionately watch the team they've adopted as their own. There's emotional support, and there's financial support. No different here than anywhere else.

Don't let anyone tell you that what was on display Saturday night tells the whole story. But it is part of the plot, part of the last two decades of basketball at Rose Hill. Fans want a winner; I get that. But they have to do their part, too. That means showing up. That means not letting another team's supporters school you on what it means to be a true fan.

"[At] a pregame party they had 250 people," Pecora said about Dayton fans. "They travel well. They did it last year [at the A-10 tournament] at Barclays. I wasn't surprised by it."

Still, there was a part of Pecora that couldn't help but notice that his team was so heavily outdrawn in its own home. Everyone knew Fordham would have a tough time against one of the A-10's elite programs. What we didn't know was that the Rams would be playing a road game on their own campus.

"Obviously it's not a good feeling," Pecora said. "You don't expect that in your home gym."

Which raises the question: If the Rams lose a game and nobody is there to see it—nobody from Fordham, that is—does it still count as a loss?

I checked the standings. It does.

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

Fordham head coach Tom Pecora opened Saturday's press conference after the Rams' 76-58 loss to Dayton explaining how he's seen this all before.

Fordham and Dayton were tied at 25 at halftime. The Rams led by as many as four after the break and were ahead 32-29 three minutes into the second half.

Then, everything changed. The Flyers went on a run and took over the rest of the way. Dayton, which has 13 wins, is now 3-0 in Atlantic 10 play. The Rams, who have five wins, are 0-3.

"I've seen this movie," Pecora said. "We played our tails off for about 30 minutes, and then we just get worn down. We don't have the grit of a veteran team."

That's where it gets interesting. After the loss, Pecora talked up his freshmen while at the same time issuing a challenge to everyone else.

"Obviously, I thought there were some bright spots tonight in a loss," he said. "I thought Manny Suarez did a good job. And the young guys—Eric [Paschall], Antwoine [Anderson] and Christian [Sengfelder]—led the way, and the vets didn't." 

Then, he said changes could be on the way.

"If we have to go with a total youth movement as we move forward, and they start getting more minutes, so be it," Pecora said. "Guys are going to get what they deserve."

This isn't a case of Pecora airing his grievances. It's a message he's delivered to his veterans since day one, privately as well as publicly. Some nights, they've gotten it. On Saturday, they didn't.

Pecora wasn't afraid to let the vets have it after an effort he deemed unacceptable. According to Pecora, a veteran is anyone who is not a freshman. That includes senior Bryan Smith, juniors Ryan Rhoomes and Mandell Thomas and sophomore Jon Severe.

"Our defense in the second half was atrocious. It was bad," Pecora said after the loss. "I hold the vets accountable for that. 

"I always take the heat on losses. That's my job. But we will be working on defensive drills." 

He added: "Guys who are not bearing down and giving a little bit more effort will be veteran role players. We have to get more in that category."

Pecora was asked what he can do to get his team to play well for a full 40 minutes instead of just being competitive for a half and fizzling out after that.

"You can get through it with personnel changes and come to the conclusion that there are certain guys that are just not going to answer the bell in the late rounds," he said. "You can put more of a burden and more of a responsibility on some of the guys who have been [answering the bell], some of the younger guys."

Pecora knows what he needs from all his players, especially the aforementioned veterans, on a daily basis in order for the team to be successful.

"It's about grit, it's about toughness, it's about competitive nature, in my opinion" he said. "That's just something I have to put on them every day in practice."

Don't expect excuses. Expect changes.

"The easy thing to say is, 'This is a group that hasn't won yet, this is a program that hasn't won in a long time, losing breeds losing.' I'm not using those as excuses, whether they're the truth or not. My job is to find a way to get them fired up to play for 40 minutes and find a way to win."

If that's going to happen, it will be done with a team of seven freshmen. Paschall is averaging 30.8 minutes per game (16.3 points, 6.2 rebounds), Sengfelder is averaging 34.2 minutes per game (11.6 points, 6.5 rebounds), and Anderson is averaging 25.8 minutes per game (8.4 points, 3.8 assists). Their roles may actually expand. 

"Are our young guys good enough? They're pretty good right now," Pecora said. "I feel real comfortable in time they will be. But I need the vets, and that's everyone who's not a freshman, to step up and have big games. Players make plays."

On Saturday, the four veterans did not make plays. Rhoomes didn't score a point in 24 minutes. Thomas had seven points on 3-of-9 shooting in 33 minutes. Smith had zero points in 11 minutes. Severe missed the two shots he took in his 10 minutes on the floor. Seven points, seven assists and 11 rebounds in 78 combined minutes.

That lack of production won't be tolerated for much longer.

"The term I use all the time is, 'Hope is not a game plan,'" Pecora said. "You can't hope you're going to make your next shot. That's when you have to just dig in defensively and extend that lead." 

"Whether it's trying to get from four to eight, or eight to 12, or 12 to 16, we've struggled with that," he added. "We don't have a go-to guy. I guess it's becoming Eric, an 18-year-old freshman." 

One week into their Atlantic 10 schedule, the Rams are 0-3 after losses to VCU, Rhode Island and Dayton. Next up is Saint Joseph's on Wednesday and then La Salle on Saturday, both on the road.

Despite the three losses, Pecora said he's pleased with some of the things he's seen.

"I was very proud of their effort up at [Rhode Island]," he said. "We took them to the wire. The thing is getting over the top."

Then, Pecora returned to his vision for how that might happen.

"I'm pleased with the way the young guys are progressing," he said. "But I don't want the vets to think [they] can't get a lot better. There are guys who blossom. We just have to get them to work and get them playing at a higher level."

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

Fordham athletic director David Roach told Bleacher Report in July that he wants to see "significant improvement" from this year's team.

He wouldn't put a number on how many wins he expects, instead saying it's something he "can feel."

Roach sat down with B/R again on Wednesday, right before the Rams' final nonconference game against South Carolina State. He was asked for his overall assessment of Fordham's season up until that point.

"I would say, first of all, it's a marathon not a sprint when you play 29 games plus the conference tournament and everything," Roach said. "[We have] some really good young talent that we haven't had in a while—probably the best talent we've had.

"Obviously the two losses to UMass Lowell and Maryland Eastern Shore were disappointing. You look at some of those games on paper and you kind of go 'well, they're games you should win.' But sometimes what should happen and what actually happens isn't the same.

"You can see the younger guys starting to meld and become more comfortable with each other and kind of understand what [head] Coach [Tom] Pecora and the coaching staff want. I think we've rebounded nicely from those two games."

Roach said it's too early in the season for him to perform a full evaluation.

"With any of our programs, we always sit down with the coach and go over every year and talk about the future and what we're looking for," he said. "As I said this summer, it's kind of a feel for [whether] we're headed in the right direction and [whether] the program's improved."

When discussing the first 10 games of the season (Fordham was 4-6 at the time but picked up its fifth win later that day), Roach acknowledged the Rams' youth, a fact that will be part of the narrative all year.

"We're young. We have seven guys that weren't playing last year. It's going to take time to get them going. There are some really good things that you see from a bunch of those guys," Roach said.

"I think we've grown and learned a lot during the nonconference [games]," he would later add.

Last month, prior to Fordham's game against St. John's at Madison Square Garden, Roach set off a bit of a firestorm with comments he made to the New York Post's Zach Braziller about Pecora's future.

“I’ll evaluate everything at the end of the year and see where we’re at,” Roach said in the article.

“After the last couple of years, we’re looking for significant progress in the program," he added. "That means we’ve got to feel like we’ve improved quite a bit and the program is moving forward.”

Not all that different from what he told B/R last summer, but given the timing—Fordham was 3-4 and had those losses to UMass Lowell and Maryland Eastern Shore on its record—and considering that the New York Post is a major New York City newspaper with a large local following, there were plenty of raised eyebrows.

Pecora couldn't have been very pleased. In most cases, an athletic director would either choose not to comment or he or she might go with the vanilla "we support our coach" response. Looking back on it, Roach understands why some may have interpreted his comments as a knock on the head coach.

"In retrospect, I tried to say it in general terms, that we do it in all sports," Roach said. "But it didn't really come out that way. I probably should have said 'it's a marathon, you've got the whole season, we're young, we've got more talent than we've had, Tom's proven in the past he could take young talent and blend them and we fully expect that to happen heading into the A-10 season.'"

Roach was most concerned with the effects his comments may have on recruiting, and didn't think what he said would lead Pecora to have doubts about his future at Rose Hill.

"In retrospect, you might say if I had of said it differently it wouldn't be perceived by potential recruits the way it might have been," Roach said. "That's really what I'm concerned about."

To his supporters, the idea that Pecora could be on the hot seat is troubling. It's true that he's 39-91 since taking over the program prior to the 2010 season. But it's also true that up until this season he hasn't had much to work with, that he's shown he can recruit talent and, perhaps most importantly, that he's trying to rebuild a program that's finished above .500 only once in its 19 seasons in the Atlantic 10. The fact that he runs a clean operation where student-athletes are held accountable in the classroom and on the court is something that must be recognized in this day and age. It also happens to be the Fordham way.

When Pecora was at Hofstra, he won 155 games and got to three National Invitation Tournaments in nine seasons. He won there and, given time, he can win here. But if you go back and look at it, Fordham basketball has had a complicated relationship with time.

Nick Macarchuk, who took the Rams to the NCAA tournament in 1992, lasted four seasons once Fordham made its move to the Atlantic 10. Bob Hill took over and was out the door after four years. And Dereck Whittenburg stayed for six-plus seasons before he was let go. This is Pecora's fifth year. The school can ill afford to start over yet again.

In response to that, Roach insisted there are things in place now that weren't in place in the past, essentially saying that Pecora has more to work with than his predecessors did.

"I think when you look back as an institution, we wanted to be good in basketball but we may not have done the things necessary to be good," Roach said. "Maybe we should have been doing those things 15 years ago, but as an institution we weren't quite there yet. Now we are. I think things are in place and things are different. We expect to be competitive."

Roach understands what the Rams are up against beginning Sunday when VCU comes to town in what will be the first of 18 games against conference opponents. Last year, the A-10 sent six teams to the NCAA tournament. That may not happen this year, but this is still one of the top basketball conferences in the country.

"The A-10 might not be quite as strong as it's been from top to bottom," Roach said. "I think there's some optimism heading in, but it's obviously a tough league."

"I think when you look at it realistically, we're more talented, there's no question, with all the guys," he added. "I think it's very doable to get a bunch of A-10 wins especially at home, [but] tough on the road."

Then, when the season ends, he says he'll be able to evaluate how things went.

"You always look at every season in its full entirety," Roach said.

Unless otherwise noted, 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