Joseph Chartouny the Latest to Commit to Fordham

Once again, Fordham is heading north of the border.

However, unlike in August when the Rams went to Canada for what turned out to be a 4-0 foreign trip, this time around they won't be doing any traveling.

Instead, Joseph Chartouny, a 6'3" point guard from Montreal's College Jean-de-Brebeuf, is coming to them. Last Friday, Chartouny announced via Twitter that he had verbally committed to the Rams. 

"

I am proud and grateful to annonce that I have officially committed to the Fordham Rams for next season.

— Joseph Chartouny (@Josephchartouny) September 26, 2014 "

Chartouny is the third player to verbally commit to Fordham. Matt Zignorski made his announcement in July, and Jesse Bunting followed with his earlier this month.

At College Jean-de-Brebeuf, Chartouny was teammates with Nemanja Zarkovic, who signed with Fordham in April and arrived at Rose Hill this summer. Both are point guards.

"I was going to back him with whatever he was going to decide," Mike Chmielewski, Chartouny's high school coach, told Bleacher Report. "I was aware he was leaning strongly toward Fordham, especially after the visit. It came as no surprise. He feels good about it."

Chmielewski said he thinks Fordham will be a nice fit for Chartouny.

"He connected with the coaching staff and players quickly," Chmielewski said. "The school is great. Being able to study business there and with what the Atlantic 10 has to offer, that whole combination of things... it's no surprise that he decided to go there."

When he described Chartouny's skills, it was very reminiscent of what Chmielewski said back in April about Zarkovic.

"He is probably the most talented connector I've coached," Chmielewski said about Chartouny. "By connecting I mean a guy that has an ability of connecting the team together, getting guys to play at a higher level, setting people up.

"He's like an extremely talented glue guy. Usually glue guys are reserved for role players. He actually has a lot of talent. He's a talented scorer, but he prefers setting people up."

Zarkovic has been impressive in every way since he arrived on campus at the beginning of the summer. The intangibles are there, and so is the leadership. On the court, those close to the program point to better ball movement as a major change from a year ago. Zarkovic is responsible for a lot of that.

It's no surprise, then, that Fordham went back to Montreal to see what else they could find.

Chmielewski is still talking about Zarkovic, now focusing on the impact he had on Chartouny.

"Nemanja's tendencies rubbed off on Joseph a bit—[his] leadership and toughness," Chmielewski said. "That's the Nemanja effect."

Zarkovic has a one-year head start on Chartouny, but soon they'll be teammates again, competing in the same backcourt, and perhaps they'll find themselves on the court together at the same time, just like it used to be. Only now, they'll be part of the basketball renaissance at Rose Hill.

Chmielewski said he thinks the two could form an intriguing mix in the backcourt.

"Yes, and it will be a lot of fun watching them do it," he said.

"They'll be competing every single possession, trying to win every single possession," he added. "We've never had a team that's moved the ball as well as we did the last two years when these guys played together. They're very versatile, and they don't take possessions off."

Quotations in this article were obtained firsthand.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Twitter: @CFCostello