Dave's JOINT

Photo courtesy of Dave’s Joint.

By David Cordova

The next installment of our series, “The City Game,” talks about the Fordham basketball program, which has built an amazing culture with second-year head coach with Keith Urgo, who led them to a 25-8 record last season.

The borough of The Bronx is one big place, as there are many buildings, many streets and a lot of culture that’s going on. So much so, that there’s one area in the borough that unites both. It’s Fordham Road, which is the hub between the North Bronx and the South Bronx.

You have the 4 train on Jerome Avenue, the D train on Grand Concourse, the Metro-North trains coming from Grand Central going to either New Haven, Connecticut or Putnam County. There’s also the 60, 61 & Bee-Line buses that take you to places in Westchester County such as Pelham, New Rochelle, Larchmont and White Plains. There’s also the BX-12+ bus that will bring you from 207th Street in the Inwood section of Manhattan to Bay Plaza in Co-Op City.

Before you go to all of the above-mentioned places, these modes of transportation stop through to one place, the gates of 441 Fordham Road, the entrance to Fordham University. Once you walk past the security, there’s a beautiful campus that you can walk through that will make you forget that you’re in The Bronx, as it is a different vibe. Once you walk up the long sidewalk, you will be able to see the hallowed ground that is Rose Hill Gymnasium, which is the site and the home of the Rams’ men’s and women’s basketball team.

---

Since 1925, this 3,200-seat arena has been the host to many great moments in not only Fordham history, but also New York City high school basketball scene, such as:

• The 1988 CHSAA championship game between the now-defunct St. Nicholas of Tolentine High School, whose old campus is at least 10 minutes up the hill from Fordham University, against Archbishop Molloy High School. The game would be nationally televised on the old SportsChannel America Network, and it would be sold-out. This game would feature several players that would go on to play Division I basketball, including six McDonald’s All-Americans, such as the late Malik Sealy, Brian Reese (now an assistant coach at Monmouth University), Syracuse head coach Adrian Autry, Anthony Cade, Robert Werdann and one of the most legendary high school figures in New York City basketball history in Kenny Anderson. Tolentine would go on to win the game, 70-65, and would go on to win the CHSAA state championship, the New York State Federation championship and the mythical USA Today national championship, as they finished No. 1 nationally, a feat that has been done by no other New York City team since then. Sealy and Anderson would also be first-round NBA draft picks just a couple of years later.
• The 1994 CHSAA championship game between rivals, Rice and St. Raymond. This game would also feature a who’s who of future Division I players in Gary Saunders, Scientific Mapp, Charlton Clarke, Eric Harris and most notably, Kareem Reid and the top player in the nation, Felipe Lopez. On a Sunday afternoon in March, both Rice and St. Raymond would both play each other for a fourth time that season and also a third time at Rose Hill Gym, including once in the regular season. This time, the Raiders would win the game that counted, as they would go on to beat the previous year’s champions in the Ravens by a 26-point margin. Following the game, Lopez could be seen hanging on the rim with the Dominican Republic national flag draped over him. Just a few weeks after the game, both Reid and Lopez would play in the McDonald’s All-American Game on the campus of St. John’s University in Jamaica, Queens, where Lopez would do seasonal work for four seasons before being selected as the No. 24 overall pick in the 1998 NBA Draft by the San Antonio Spurs and would end up playing four seasons in the NBA with the Vancouver Grizzlies and the Washington Wizards. Reid would be come the all-time assists leader at the University of Arkansas, and would become of New York City’s finest streetball legends. This game was featured in the 2019 documentary, “30 for 30: The Dominican Dream,” which was featured on ESPN on the story of Felipe Lopez.
• In Dec. 2003, there would be another nationally-televised game there would be another nationally-televised game at Rose Hill, this time on ESPN, and it would be between New York City’s perennial powerhouse Abraham Lincoln High School and Orlando, Florida’s own Edgewater High School, against the two of the nation’s top point guards in Coney Island, Brooklyn’s own Sebastian Telfair and Orlando, Florida native Darius Washington, Jr. At the time, it was a highly-anticipated matchup, as both players battled it out previously on the grassroots basketball scene at the ABCD Camp at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Hackensack, New Jersey just a few months prior. Also in attendance at this game was Baseball Hall of Famer and then New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter and legendary rapper, Jay-Z. In this game, both players dominated under the lens of ESPN, and despite an injury, Telfair would go on to hit a game-winning jumper and seal the deal. Just a few months later in Oklahoma City, both would go on to play in the 2004 McDonald’s All-American Game in Oklahoma City. Telfair would go on to be selected as the No. 13 overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers and would play more than 10 seasons in the NBA. Washington would go on to play two years of collegiate basketball at the University of Memphis and would go undrafted in the 2006 NBA Draft. He would go on to play 18 games with the San Antonio Spurs in the 2006-07 NBA season. This game would forever be immortalized in the 2005 film, “Through the Fire,” and the book, “The Jump: Sebastian Telfair & The High-Stakes Business of High School Basketball,” which was written by longtime sportswriter Ian O’Connor and was released in the same year.

---

That place and the program that accompanies it has also been very historical since the early days. On Feb. 28th, 1940, the Rams played in the first-ever televised basketball game, when they played against the University of Pittsburgh, at Madison Square Garden.

In their history, they have played in the NCAA Tournament just six times in the program’s history, with the most recent being in 1992, when they made it to the first-round, where they lost to a UMass team coached by none other than John Calipari, the legendary coach who is now the head coach at the University of Kentucky.

The furthest that the Rams have gone in the NCAA Tournament, was in the 1970-71 season, when they made it to the Sweet 16, when they went 26-3 and were ranked as high as No. 9 in the nation in the Associated Press national poll. At the time, the head coach was Digger Phelps, who would be the head coach for that one season and would later go on to be the head coach at Notre Dame from 1971 to 1991. Also on the team would be a player by the name of Charlie Yelverton, a Harlem native who would be a Haggerty Award winner as a senior that season and was a third-team UPI All-American. He would then go on to play in the NBA for one season with the Portland Trail Blazers and would then go on to play professionally overseas from 1972 to 1987.

Other NBA players that have played have played for the Rams were Smush Parker, who averaged 16.5 points per game as a sophomore during his lone season with the program in 2001-02, and also Eric Paschall, who would spend two seasons with the program before transferring to Villanova, where he would be a part of a national championship squad in 2018.

Also of note, during their nine years in the MAAC (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) from 1981 to 1990, they built up a major rivalry with Iona College (now Iona University) throughout the 1980’s. In 1983, they won the MAAC championship, but would then have to play in the NIT.

The Rams then went on to play in the Patriot League from 1990 to 1995, and won two conference championships in 1991 and 1992. Since 1995, the Rams have played in the Atlantic 10 Conference and have had some success, never having played in the NCAA Tournament since their most recent appearance. The only postseason appearance that they have had in that period has been the 2015-16 season, when they went 17-14 under then-head coach Jeff Neubauer, and made the first round of the CIT (College Insider’s Postseason Tournament).

Many coaches have come & gone, but many have not lasted or have been able to sustain their success. Brooklyn native & current Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune stayed a season at Fordham, during the 2021-22 season, where the Rams went 16-16 and went 8-10. That bit of success set the stage for what was to come.

---

On April 28th, 2022, Fordham University named a new head coach in Keith Urgo, who had recently been an associate head coach for the Rams under the departed Neptune. The new leader of the Rams men’s basketball program came with a good resume.

A native of Washington, D.C., Urgo was a 1998 graduate of Gonzaga College High School, where he played in the highly-competitive Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (most commonly referred to as the WCAC). He then went on to be a dual sport star at Fairfield University, where he also played both basketball and lacrosse, and graduated in 2002.

Following college, he became an assistant coach at his alma mater, Gonzaga, for three seasons from 2004 to 2007, and then became an assistant at Villanova under Hall of Fame coach, Jay Wright, for two seasons from 2010 to 2012 and would go on to be an assistant at Penn State from 2012 to 2021.

In his two seasons for the Rams, Urgo has been a very passionate coach that loves his players and teaches them the right way to play the game. And also, he has been a favorite of the student section, who have created the phrase, “Urgononomics,” to define the culture of the Rams.

Since last season, the student section has been amazing and has made Rose Hill a tough place to play. When the games are packed with alumni and students in attendance, it creates an environment like those at much bigger schools. Since the appointment of Urgo as head coach, some famous names in the sports world have made their way to check out some Fordham games, such as broadcaster Michael Kay, New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and even broadcaster Mike Breen, who himself is an an alumnus of Fordham.

Last season, the Rams had an unforgettable 25-8 season and went 12-6 in conference play in the A-10 and finished tied for second place. After their home game against Dayton on January 10th, crowds would begin to pack out Rose Hill Gym for the remainder of the season. On that date, they were 1-3 in conference play. After that day, there were 11-3 the rest of the way.

With the way that the Rams were playing at the time, it seemed that they would be making the NCAA Tournament for sure for the first time in 31 years. Despite earning a bye in the A-10 Tournament at the Barclays Center in downtown Brooklyn, due to their record and making it to the quarterfinals, where they would beat La Salle, 69-61, they would go on to face their biggest test of the season in the semifinals, when they would once again face Dayton. Despite giving the Flyers their best shot after losing by a major margin in the first matchup, the Rams could not stop the momentum of their counterparts, losing 78-68, which would end their season without a postseason bid to the NCAA Tournament or even the NIT. However, the season would be one for the ages, one that the student body and all college basketball fans would never forget.

---

This season, it’s a completely different story. In season two of the aforementioned “Urgonomics,” the Rams have gone through a difficult season, as they are currently 8-10 going into this week’s matchup against Rhode Island. However, there is still talent on the board.

Gone are solid pieces such as second-team all-conference selection Darius Quisenberry and third-team all-conference selection Khalid Moore to graduation. On this year’s squad are returning players from last season’s team such as sophomore guard Will Richardson (10.5 points per game), sophomore forward Elijah Gray (10.2 points & 4.6 rebounds per game), senior forward Abdou Tsimbila (8.8 points and 7.4 rebounds per game), senior guard Kyle Rose (7.8 points & 4.7 rebounds per game) and senior forward Antrell Charlton (6.6 points per game).

They have a good group of newcomers, such as senior guard Japhet Medor, a transfer from UT-San Antonio, who is currently the leading scorer at 12.7 points per game. Then there’s also sophomore forward Josh Rivera (9.9 points & 4.3 rebounds per game), a transfer from Lafayette College. Then there is also freshman forward Jahmere Tripp (5 points per game), a Brooklyn native who was a standout at Our Saviour Lutheran High School, a powerhouse program based out of the Morris Park section of The Bronx. There is also other contributors off the bench in senior forward Ogheneyole “Savior” Akuwovo (1.1. points & 1.5 rebounds per game), freshman guard Angel Montas (4.4 points per game), who was a redshirt last season, sophomore forward Romad Dean (3.6 points & 2.5 rebounds per game) and junior forward Zach Riley (3 points per game).

Despite their record, one thing that can be said about the Rams is that they are tough and scrappy and are always ready to put on a good fight and give the opposition a great battle on the floor. In their first game of the season against Wagner on Nov. 6th, they went into overtime and then emerged victorious, winning, 68-64, at Rose Hill. Then on the road at the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands on Nov. 17th, they knocked off a tough Norfolk State squad, 77-64.

On Dec. 10th, at the Barclays Center, they played a very close game for 40 minutes against the defending NIT champions, North Texas, during the NABC Showcase at the Barclays Center, in which the game remained close throughout. In the final seconds of the game, Tsimbila, made a putback, which went in during the final seconds of the game, as they would go on to win, 60-59.

Then earlier this month, on Jan. 3rd, they went toe-to-toe on the road against George Washington, and would take the Colonials to three overtimes, before pulling off a big victory, with a 119-113 win.

With all of those wins, that shows that the Rams are a battle-tested team, despite losses to teams such as Tulane, St. John’s, Cornell and NJIT throughout the non-conference season and their three losses during conference play during La Salle, Loyola-Chicago and Davidson, all at home.

Despite these struggles, there are still chances for the Rams to get it right and to finish off the season on a good note. Coming up is a game against Richmond (Jan. 31st) and then VCU (Feb. 6th) and George Mason (Feb. 27th) at home and some tough road games such as the nationally-ranked Dayton (Feb. 17th), St. Joseph’s (March 2nd) and UMass (March 6th) on the road.

After that will be the Atlantic 10 Tournament at the Barclays Center during the week of March 13-17. Only 12 more games remain for the Rams to do work in the regular season. All the Rams have to do is continue to fight through, and who knows, maybe they’ll be able to do some damage.

Our next installment of The City Game, will be on the St. Raymond Ravens squad, which is undergoing a thrilling season in which they have had some big wins and have been making plenty of noise in the CHSAA “AA” Archdiocesan division.