Fordham coach Jeff Neubauer off to good start

JEFF NEUBAUER'S first time in Fordham's ancient Rose Hill Gym was Jan. 27, 1990. He was a deep freshman reserve on a great La Salle team featuring Player of the Year Lionel Simmons, a team that would finish the season 30-2.

"At the half it was a close game and then it got so ugly in the second half that I even got to play," Neubauer remembered. "Keith Morris threw a length of the court pass, I caught it, threw it to Mike Stock and Stock dunked it. Stock and I have talked about that play for 20 years. That's like his one shining moment."

Fast-forward 26 years and that is Neubauer on the Fordham bench as the head coach, taking over one of America's most thankless jobs last spring.

When he got the job after a strong run at Eastern Kentucky, I texted him congratulations and he texted back: "Chris Mullin, Jeff Neubauer and Phil Jackson. Bringing basketball back in New York!"

I had a bit more optimism for Mullin and Jackson. After all, Fordham was 49-157 over the previous seven seasons, had not won more than 10 games in any season and was consistently ranked 250th or below in defensive efficiency.

Halfway through the season, Mullin's St. John's team is 7-10, Jackson's Knicks were 19-20 going into Tuesday night and Neubauer's Rams are 10-4. Fordham was 94th in defensive efficiency until getting torched for 13 threes and two career highs Sunday against Richmond.

Fordham contacted Neubauer while Eastern Kentucky was still playing in the College Invitational Tournament. He did an interview over Skype. The next thing he knew he was headed to New York for a press conference.

The administration showed Neubauer the respect of someone who had a track record of success as a head coach and as an assistant under John Beilein at Richmond and West Virginia.

Back in October, Neubauer told me he took the job because, "It was a chance to coach in New York City and a chance to coach at Fordham. The biggest reason was the Atlantic 10, 21 (NCAA) bids over the last five years. That's what I'm after. We expect to win right now. This isn't some five-year plan.''

Neubauer promised 90 percent of the offensive concepts would be what he learned from Beilein. Defensively, he said it would be a 180 from Beilein, much more aggressive concepts from assistant Rodney Crawford, whom he hired at Eastern Kentucky and brought with him to the Bronx. Neubauer's last EKU team was second nationally in steals.

"We believe steals are as valuable play as there is in basketball,'' Neubauer said.

Certainly, the Rams benefitted from an easy home schedule, but even that needs context. For years, Fordham has been everybody's favorite opponent. Early A-10 play shows just how far the Rams have come in a very short time. They played well at George Washington before losing 69-63, beat La Salle and had a 15-point lead against Richmond before Chris Mooney's team went off. They are at Saint Joseph's Saturday, a trip back to the city for Neubauer who went on to have a very nice career at La Salle, playing a key role on the 1992 Metro Atlantic champions and was a coach on the floor as captain in his final season.

By the way, Fordham beat St. John's, 73-57. The Knicks are not on the schedule.

The kenpom.com predictions were on Saint Joseph's before anybody else, but may have been a bit too kind to La Salle and Drexel.

Here were the team by team predictions: Villanova (24-6), St. Joe's (18-12), Temple (16-12), Penn (13-15), La Salle (13-16) and Drexel (11-16).

That is the heading on West Virginia's media guide. Nobody plays like the Mountaineers, an all-out press for 40 minutes.

It all began quite by accident before the 2014-15 season when Pacers scout Kevin Mackey, the former Cleveland State coach, was at practice. He watched WVU and told coach Bob Huggins that his team was just average five on five, but if he played 11 guys, his 11 would be better than everybody's but Kentucky's so he might want to think about pressing.

Huggins thought about it, asked Mackey to come to another practice and installed a press. West Virginia created havoc all season and upset Maryland in its second game of the NCAA Tournament, wearing the Terps completely out with its pressure. They got to the Sweet 16 where they were promptly routed by Kentucky, just as Mackey predicted in the fall.

SMU is 15-0, halfway to a possible 30-0 regular season that will also be the end of the line for Larry Brown's team. The Mustangs are on probation and ineligible for the American and NCAA Tournaments. Not sure if they would have been national title contenders, but they certainly would have been a tough out in March.

* Only nine active coaches have been at one school for 20 seasons or more: Mike Krzyzewski (Duke), Jim Boeheim (Syracuse), Tom Izzo (Michigan State), Greg Kampe (Oakland), Rick Byrd (Belmont), Bob McKillop (Davidson), Dave Loos (Austin Peay), Fran O'Hanlon (Lafayette) and Phil Martelli (Saint Joseph's)

* NJIT senior Ky Howard, son of St. Joseph's Prep and Maryland great Mo and brother of Villanova assistant Ashley, is closing fast on 1,000 points and just set the school Division I record for assists. I still remember being at a prep schools event in 2011 where Ky, a Shipley School grad then at St. Thomas More (Conn.), was playing and Mo, asking me why no city schools were giving his younger son a look. I did not have an answer then nor do I have one now.

* Anybody who was there in 2013 at the Wells Fargo Center to see Florida Gulf Coast will never forget the NCAA show when Andy Enfield's team beat Georgetown and San Diego State and made basketball into pure entertainment. The show has moved west. After 12-20 and 11-21 in his first two seasons at USC, Enfield now has the right players and the Trojans are not only fun to watch, they are also 14-3 after sweeping Arizona State and Arizona at home last weekend. It took the Trojans four overtimes to get the Wildcats, but get them they did.

* The Atlantic 10 has a 112-56 non-conference record, which suggests around three at-large bids. The league is 10-7 against the Big Ten, SEC and Pac-12, 8-22 against the Big East, ACC and Big 12.

On Twitter: @DickJerardi