Bronx, N.Y. - The clock has started officially ticking towards the 2015-2016 season as the Fordham men's basketball Rams had their first official practices of the season this past weekend.
First year head coach
Jeff Neubauer led the squad through its paces as they ready for the season opener at Texas Arlington on November 14. Neubauer joins Fordham after ten years at Eastern Kentucky where he led the Colonels to five 20-win seasons, including each of the past three years, and five trips to national postseason tournaments, including a berth in the 2014 NCAA Championships where the Colonels nearly upset second-seeded Kansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
On the court, the Rams will be led by two seniors and a graduate student.
Senior
Mandell Thomas, who was second on the team in scoring last year (13.3 ppg), became the 35th Ram to score 1,000 career points and enters the 2015-2016 campaign with 1,064 career points, good for 29th on the Fordham all-time scoring list. Thomas also led the Atlantic 10 in steals (2.4/game) while also ranking seventh in assists (3.7/game), eighth in assist/turnover ratio (1.7) and 12th in scoring (13.3 ppg).
Senior forward
Ryan Rhoomes is climbing the Fordham career rebounding list, pulling down a team-high 268 last year (8.6 rpg) to bring his career total to 635, placing him 15th on the Fordham career rebounding list. He was fifth in the Atlantic 10 rebounding (8.6 rpg) and seventh in the conference in blocked shots (1.3/ game) while also averaging 6.4 ppg.
Grad student
Ryan Canty returns after missing the entire 2014-2015 season with an injury. He averaged 6.2 rpg in 2013-2014 and pulled down 19 in the Atlantic 10 championship win over George Mason, the second most in an A-10 Championship contest, while also blocking 26 shots.
Other returning players with experience include sophomore forward
Christian Sengfelder, an Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team selection last winter when he averaged 7.1 rpg, good for ninth in the Atlantic 10 and eighth among all NCAA Division I freshmen, to go with 11.7 ppg. He also ranked 14th in conference in field goal percentage (.495).
Junior guard
Jon Severe is back after finishing fourth on the 2014-2015 team in scoring, averaging 6.7 ppg and recording 19 steals while redshirt sophomore
Antwoine Anderson returns after scoring 4.6 ppg and dishing out 70 assists as a redshirt freshman last season.
Also back is sophomore guard
Nemanja Zarkovic, who averaged 3.3 ppg and sophomore forward
Dekeba Battee-Aston, who appeared in 26 games as a rookie for the Rams.
Fordham welcomes five newcomers to the roster, including
Joseph Chartouny, who played high school basketball in Canada with Zarkovic, leading the team to the 2015 Provincial Championship along with
Nych Smith a graduate of White Station High School in Memphis, Tenn., where averaged over 27 ppg in 2014-2015 and earned AAA 2014-15 TSWA All-State Basketball Team honors, and
Jashire Hardnett a graduate of Gulfport High School in Gulfport, Miss., where averaged 22.2 ppg, 4.3 rpg and 1.6 steals/game as a junior in 2013-14, leading Gulfport to the Mississippi Class 6A championship.
Jesse Bunting, a graduate of Tabor Academy where he was named NEPSAC Class A Player of the Year in 2015 after averaging 23 ppg and 13 rpg in 2014-2015, and
David Pekárek, who was selected to play for the Czech Republic National Team on their Under 19, Under 18, and Under 16 teams and participated in the U18 European Championships in Turkey in 2014.
