Q: Siena is obviously the heavy favorite this year, but after that I feel the two through seven spots are sort of up for grabs, as there are no other teams that are significantly better than the others. Where do you anticipate Manhattan falling?
Coach Rohrssen: Well, I’m not much of a predictor. We are both sitting here and don’t have a crystal ball in front of us. Instead of where we need to fall, it is where we need to rise. Where someone finishes is more up to them, through hard work and attitude, than where someone else sees them finishing.
There is a lot of work in front of us. There is a lot of wood to chop. This team, like a lot, is most definitely a work in progress. We need to take things day by day, week by week, and month by month and try to build that into a productive and successful season
We need to take pride in coming out each day and working hard. We need to take pride in getting better individually, because when you get better individually, you get better collectively. We need to make greater efforts on the defensive side of the ball, rebounding the ball, offensively making better decisions with the basketball, and overall need to have a real sense of leadership in our team.
The pendulum needs to start swinging now from youth and inexperience to maturity and experience. A lot of young guys, because of how the situation was here, got playing time for us early. You don’t always get that in other programs, so we cannot let them fall into a false sense of work ethic or entitlement. To get time on the court you have to earn that, and that’s through hard work.
Q: You are playing Iona at the Garden again this year. Will that become a tradition? It was a huge hit last year for the students, getting to go to the Garden and watch the Jaspers. In future years, 2010, 2011, is it a possibility?
Coach Rohrssen: Well, we love to play in the Garden anytime we have that opportunity. It is always something we will look at and try to do. The Garden is synonymous with New York basketball. It is dubbed the world’s most famous arena, so it’s a tremendous experience for our players to be participants on that hardwood floor.
It is also great for our students, alumni, and fans to walk in there. They walk through those turnstiles and have their green and white on and are proud of that venue they are playing in. It makes sense doing it with a recognizable school like Iona. We are locked in for this year obviously, but it is something that we hope continues.
Personally, I am very thankful to the MAAC conference for helping us arrange that game and also very thankful to St. John’s for letting us be part of the doubleheader. In both years we have and will be playing on a night that they already had the building. We are sharing and piggybacking in the game in the Garden. They have been very hospitable in having us as another game on the card.
Q: Any chance we will get to see a UCLA or a Pitt on the schedule in the future?
Coach Rohrssen:(laughing) You know what, that would be nice to happen, but I’m not sure if Ben Howland or Jamie Dixon are going to bring their teams into Draddy Gym.
Q: With Jason Thompson playing so well in his rookie year so far, who is the next NBA prospect in the MAAC, if anyone?
Coach Rohrssen: We will have to see how the players develop. Being in the league for two years now, it has been nice to see and good for our conference to have two players drafted—Jared Jordan from Marist two years ago and Jason Thompson last year in the first round as a lottery pick. It brings attention to our conference and is great for the league.
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