Photo courtesy of Dave’s Joint.
By David Cordova
In this edition of The City Game, we will be talking about a couple of non-Division I teams representing the New York City area on a good note this season, such as NYU (Division III) and College of Staten Island (Division II).
When people think about college basketball in the New York City area, they usually think about the six Division I programs in the area: St. John’s (Big East), Fordham (Atlantic 10), Manhattan (MAAC), Columbia (Ivy League), LIU (NEC) & Wagner (NEC). At one time, there was seven of these teams, but because of financial difficulties, St. Francis Brooklyn was forced to eliminate their entire athletic department this spring.
However, there is plenty of talent outside of Division I in the city, especially when it comes to talent level. Despite being out of Westchester County, Pace University, based out of Pleasantville, has had one of the finest programs on the Division II level, and showed that by knocking off St. John’s in an exhibition game in late October, 63-59. A performance like that against a Division I team shows that there is indeed plenty of talent to be seen.
However, as far the non-Division I teams in the five boroughs, there are a couple of them this season that are on the verge of doing something special this season:
New York University
For many years, the Violets have been a part of New York City’s basketball lore dating back to the 20th century. Back in the day, they were once on the Division I level, and made it to the Final Four twice in 1945 and 1960. At one point, they even had wins against programs such as St. John’s, Duke and even North Carolina. For a period of 30 years from 1933 through 1963, they were a part of the Metropolitan New York Conference, they played against local teams from the area, such as LIU, Manhattan, Fordham, St. Francis, Hofstra, Columbia and a couple of programs that are also now Division III schools such as Brooklyn College and CCNY (City College of New York).
And then after that, NYU began to decline, going 5-20 during the 1970-71 season and the program was soon disbanded. Then in 1983, the Violets reappeared, this time on the Division III level, where they remain today. They have had plenty of success on the Division III level, going to the NCAA Tournament eleven times since 1986, including as recently as last season.
At the present time, NYU is rated at No. 9 on the D3 Hoops national poll as of Dec. 10th and are currently 7-1 on the season. The man at the helm of this solid program is head coach Dave Klatsky, who is in his second season at the position and has experience as he spent 11 years at Division I Colgate University. One thing that can be said about Coach Klatsky is that he’s a player’s coach and is able to get results from his players, who are always willing to work hard for him.
This year’s Violets team is currently stocked with talent, including four former Division I players that played programs such as Harvard, Princeton & Duke. Everything starts out with co-captains and guards Spencer Freedman (the leading scorer at 15.8 points per game) and Michael Savarino (13 points per game), both of whom are graduate students in their final season of eligibility. Both are battle-tested players that are always ready to make decisions for their team & both are always looking to make clutch plays on the floor.
Then you have junior forward Zay Freeney (13 points per game), sophomore forward Quinn Clark (10.1 points & 8.1 rebounds per game), freshman guard Hampton Sanders (10 points per game), senior forward Emmanuel Onuama (6.3 points & 6.4 rebounds per game) and forward Konrad Kizska (6 points & 3.1 rebounds per game), who is also in his final season of collegiate eligibility.
With that crew of seven players, the Violets look to make another run to the NCAA Tournament, as they are a team that has spectacular offense and a great defense to match.
This season, they will be hosting another tournament before the end of the New Year, as they will have their Holiday Tournament during the week of Dec. 29th-30th, in which there will be three SUNY schools playing in SUNY Canton, SUNY Maritime and SUNY Oneonta. And they will also be playing against another nationally-ranked team twice in No. 17 Washington University of St. Louis, twice this season: at home on Jan. 19th and on the road on Feb. 16th.
Another good thing about the NYU program is that they have christened a brand-new gym this season in the John A. Paulson Center, a place that if you put the right game in that facility, can get to rocking. This season, the Violets will look to make another statement.
College of Staten Island
The Dolphins of the College of Staten Island are a unique hard-working, blue-collar program. They represent what many call, the forgotten borough, in reference to Staten Island being overlooked by many in comparison to The Bronx, Manhattan, Queens & Brooklyn.
But people from Staten Island have toughness and grit, as is evidenced by how the style of play of the Dolphins is. From 1979 through 2020, the Dolphins played on the Division III level. Since the 2019-20 season, they have transitioned to Division II and have been a member of the East Coast Conference. This season, the Dolphins are 6-4 on the season, and have played a tough schedule of teams that feature their conference’s defending champions, St. Anselm and also teams from the tai-state area such as Mercy, St. Thomas Aquinas, Queens College and Georgian Court.
Leading the team is none other than T.J. Tibbs, a native of Staten Island and himself an alumnus of CSI. In his first season as head coach in 2017-18, he led the Dolphins to a 17-12 record and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. While a player for the Dolphins, he had 183 assists in one season and was a Division III All-American, all while also being the freshman coach at Curtis High School. Not bad for a local legend.
Tibbs’ team has other local talent, as they have seven players from the borough of Staten Island, so the influence is definitely felt. This year’s team starts out with forward and graduate student Bryce Waterman (14.4 points per game), freshman guard Aaron Goldstein (11.6 points per game), junior forward Messiah Mallory (11.5 points and 8.9 rebounds per game), senior guard Jordan McAllister (10.1 points per game), sophomore guard J.J. Chestnut (8.4 points per game) and junior guard Chris Clancy (8.2 points per game).
This season, the Dolphins will be playing in the ultra-talented East Coast Conference, where they are currently 3-1 after beating Mercy, Queens College and Molloy, with their lone loss coming to St. Thomas Aquinas. They have other non-conference games against other talented programs such as College of St. Rose (Dec. 28th), University of New Haven (Dec. 30th), Franklin Pierce (Jan. 6th), Bridgeport (Jan. 9th) and Bloomfield College (Feb. 3rd).
Because of their recent success, the Dolphins have been named in the Top 10 in the East Region amongst Division II and sit at No. 10 in the list, alongside teams such as Dominican University, Post, Southern New Hampshire, Southern Connecticut State, Pace and two teams that they’ve recently played in St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Michael’s.
Safe to say, things are looking up for the Dolphins. However, it’s only the beginning. Time will tell how they end up after being ranked amongst the best in the East Region. Until they get to where they want to be, they’ll stay hungry and continue to work in the lab.
In the next installment of The City Game, we will focus on the defending PSAL “AA” champions, Eagle Academy II, as they have regrouped following a groundbreaking season. So far, the defending champions are looking stronger than ever, and have added some new pieces.
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