Men's Basketball | Players may have eyes elsewhere for next season

The prospect of change after this year’s disastrous men’s basketball season may seem appealing to some, but there may be changes in the offing that could set the team back further.

For now at least, the team is focused on what they have ahead of them in George Washington and La Salle, and head coach Phil Martelli is convinced that his team hasn’t given up despite five straight losses.

“If you’d given up, there would be little cracks,” he said. “Now some of that could be naïve. Our situation changes with every game we play. If there was going to be give up, it would be those oldest guys, because they’ve experienced winning and this, there’s no manual for it. They don’t have a process for it…. But you can see by body language there’s disappointment, more disappointment than frustration.”

It’s a sentiment that Martelli’s players are echoing.

“It’s just been one day at a time and just trying to keep looking forward and we can’t dwell in the past,” said team captain Garrett Williamson, ’10. “Right now, we’ve only got two games left so we just got to keep our eyes clear and keep looking forward at what’s in front of us and go after it.”

“The attitude is positive, to know that we’re still here to get better and work hard everyday,” said Justin Crosgile, ’13. “The season’s not over, we’ve still got a chance to be in the Atlantic 10 Tournament, so right now we’re just focusing on the next game, just focusing on getting our stuff better and moving forward.”

The conversation about potential changes has yet to take place, as Martelli reserves such discussions for after the season has ended, regardless of the player, team, or situation. He has no reason to believe this year’s process will be any different.

“At the end of the year we will have individual meetings,” he said. “I will say, ‘Grade yourself. What’s your goal, truly your individual goal?’…We’ll do the same thing with these individual guys. No one on this team will be asked to leave. It’s not in my nature. I made a decision; I recruited these guys. We can discuss and can say, ‘Is this guy really an Atlantic 10 player? Is this guy?’ That answer’s in the record; the answer’s in the number of minutes they played. What we are going to do is we’re going to be realistic on, ‘This is what you can expect; this is what you want, this is what we need.’ Do they need? If they do need and it’s too hard, they give up too much to play college basketball. Let’s decide what’s best for you.”

Martelli also added that he hasn’t given the matter much thought yet, and such conversations at this point would be “a waste of energy” for him and his team. To this point, no player on the basketball team has been granted a release to speak with other colleges.

But the team’s losing ways have provided fuel for the rumor mill fire, led by speculation over Carl Jones, ’13. The diminutive guard billed as a rising star just three games into his college career may not stick around for a year two on Hawk Hill.

A recent Facebook post on Jones’ account, which was quickly removed, said that he would be in California with the palm trees in a few months playing ball. While he didn’t specifically mention anything relating to a transfer, several comments by friends on the post did mention the prospect of him changing schools. USC was one of the schools that finished behind St. Joe’s in the race for his services.

Whether he is in jeopardy of following a similar pathway as Jawan Carter, ’10, who left St. Joe’s after a year as a starter and the main ball-handler in 2006-07 for the verdant pastures of Delaware where he was given more offensive freedom, is yet to be seen.

Other bench players may also be looking for new accommodations next season. With the arrival of highly touted big man CJ Aiken next season, things could get extremely crowded in the frontcourt. Someone like Temi Adebayo, ’12, who has seen limited time as it is this season, would get pushed to the fourth on the depth chart for the center position, a log jam that may not be in either the player’s or university’s best interests.

Someone like AJ Rogers, ’12, may also be a prime candidate to move on after not being able to establish himself at all on Hawk Hill in two years. He’s managed just 22 games in two seasons and has never averaged more than 3.1 minutes per game over a season. His skill set as a 6-foot-6, 220-pound power forward doesn’t fit in the A-10 against the likes of Chris Wright and Terrell Vinson, and he lacks the long-range game to transition into a small forward. He may however have something to offer at a lower level.

Though he’s not a scholarship player, the fact that Mike Auriemma, ’12, hasn’t seen a minute on the court yet this season fuels speculation that he could be changing addresses this off-season. His lack of playing time would save him a year of eligibility, giving him three years to play at a new school.

There’s not a lot of reason to believe the other three members of the sophomore class, Chris Prescott, Bryant Irwin and Todd O’Brien will be on the move. But one of the unique facets of this year’s team is that fact that they’re a quiet bunch whose attitude can be tough to pinpoint.

“I think that because it’s a team that is not very emotional either way, that it’s a hard read, but all I can react to is human nature,” Martelli said. “Human nature is when you’ve been kicked and stomped and talked about and every other thing, I think the right word is probably frustrated.”