May 25, 2010
Bronx, N.Y. -
The Fordham University men's basketball squad will have Atlantic 10 home-and-home series with Rhode Island, St. Bonaventure and Temple, the defending Atlantic 10 champions, next year according to the revamped league schedule for the 2010-11 season.
The Rams learned that the three teams they will face twice in 2010-11 will now be Rhode Island, St. Bonaventure and Temple. This will be the third straight year that Fordham will have a home-and-home with Rhode Island and St. Bonaventure while Temple replaces Xavier, who the Rams played twice the past two years, as the other home-and-home opponent. Fordham last faced Temple twice in 2007-08 while the Rams also played Rode Island and St. Bonaventure twice in 2005-06 and 2006-07.
Besides the three home-and-home opponents, the Rams will welcome Duquesne, Massachusetts, Richmond, Saint Joseph's and Saint Louis to the Rose Hill Gym.
Along with conference trips to Rhode Island, St. Bonaventure and Temple, Fordham will also have road contests at Charlotte, Dayton, George Washington, La Salle and Xavier.
Dates and times for the games will be announced at a later date.
The Rams will be led in to the 2010-11 season by head coach Tom Pecora, who joined the Rams back in March after nine successful years as the head coach at Hofstra where he led the Pride to an average of 19 wins a year.
On the court, fifth-year senior Brenton Butler returns along with sophomore Chris Gaston, the 2010 Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year.
Gaston, who was also named to the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team, wrapped up the most successful freshman campaign for any Fordham men's basketball player, leading the Rams in both scoring, averaging 18.0 ppg, and rebounding, averaging 11.4 rpg. He also recorded a team-high 50 blocks, 26 steals, tying for the team lead, and 43 assists. Gaston's 504 points scored this season is a record for a Fordham freshman, surpassing Robin's former mark of 495 points in 1997-99, while his 319 rebounds is the second best for a Fordham rookie, four shy of Ed Conlin's freshman record of 323 set in 1951-52. Gaston's point total is the most for a Ram since Ken Charles netted 607 points in 28 games in 1972-73 while his rebound total is the best for a Fordham player since Damon Lopez pulled down 328 in 32 games in 1989-90.
In the national rankings, Gaston ranked fifth in rebounding and tied for ninth in double-doubles while tying for 66th in scoring and 72nd in blocked shots. He led all NCAA freshmen in rebounding and was second among all NCAA freshmen in scoring and doubles-doubles (Lehigh's C.J. McCollom led all freshmen in scoring, averaging 19.1 ppg, while Kentucky's DeMarcus Cousins had 20 doubles-doubles).
Gaston wasn't alone in putting up numbers for the Rams as Butler became the 33rd player in Fordham history to surpass 1,000 career points with his 26-point effort at St. Bonaventure on February 10th. He closed out the season with 1,130 career points, good for 21st place on the Fordham all-time scoring list.
Butler is also ranked among the Fordham career leaders in three-pointers, connecting on 174 three-pointers over his career, good for sixth place on the Fordham career three-pointer list. Butler is also in sixth place on the career three-point attempts list at Fordham, attempting 511 career shots from behind the arc.
On the season, Butler was second on the team, averaging 16.5 ppg while adding 3.1 rpg and dishing out a team-best 68 assists. He was fifth in the Atlantic 10 in free throw shooting percentage, hitting 81.3% (117-144) of his charity shots.
