Fordham's Tom Pecora Sees a Little Bit of Everything in Intrasquad Scrimmage

Fordham's Tom Pecora sat in the stands Saturday, intently watching his Rams in an intrasquad scrimmage. Sitting seven rows up at half court inside the Rose Hill Gym and at times making his way down to the court for instruction and support, Pecora was pleased with a lot of what he saw, telling Bleacher Report it's what he expected from a team in its 14th official practice.

"The good, the bad and the ugly," was how Pecora characterized the scrimmage. "That's usually what early season scrimmages are.

"I saw some good things: flashes from some of the young guys, good leadership out of the veterans, guys understanding what their roles are, greater depth and skill, especially on the baseline."

With Ryan Canty out following back surgery, Fordham will need all the help it can get in the frontcourt. On Saturday, Pecora liked what he got from Ryan Rhoomes, Manny Suarez, Dekeba Battee-Aston and Christian Sengfelder.  

Jon Severe, who made a couple of nice feeds to teammates, looked under control for the most part. The Rams were without guards Nemanja Zarkovic and Antwoine Anderson,who both sat out the scrimmage nursing injuries. 

"I think we're further along than most years because of the Canada trip," Pecora said, referring to the four games the Rams played north of the border in late August. "Having those 10 practices over the summer and having them understand how hard you have to practice, how prepared you need to be each day and then putting in some of the meat and potatoes—the staples of what we do around here—over the summer, sped up the learning curve here in the fall."

Expectations are higher this year, a result of key additions such as Eric Paschall, Zarkovic and Sengfelder, a more mature Severe and what the Rams hope is improved play from their three upperclassmen: Rhoomes, Bryan Smith and Mandell Thomas.

"We've had some rough seasons here, but they never quit," Pecora said about previous teams. "Two years ago we had a seven-win season and won our last game at St. Bonnies. Last year we go into the [Atlantic 10] tournament with nine wins and win against [George] Mason.

"There's never been any quit in them. Whether our talent was where it needed to be, or our depth was where it needed to be, or whatever the issues might be, their effort has never been questioned in my mind."

Pecora talks a lot about how important it is for the Rams to "rebound and run." For that to happen, Fordham has to get it done in two key areas.

"It's always about defense and rebounding," Pecora said. "That's something we talk about as a constant. We have to dominate teams defensively and on the backboards. If we can do that, we can get out and run.

"I think that's how you impose your will on an opponent, through defense and rebounding... especially when we get into the A-10, because you're not going to score off opponents' makes as often."

From the stands or on the court, Pecora feels good about what he's seeing.

"We really haven't had any dud practices yet," he said. "One's coming, but that's pretty good when you go through [14] practices and you really haven't had a dud yet."

Judging by the A-10 preseason poll, voted on by coaches and media, there are those out there who think it's only a matter of time. Fordham was picked to finish last in the conference, something Pecora doesn't spend too much time getting worked up about.

"It's the easy thing to do," he said about the last-place prediction. "It's been that way forever. Probably out of habit, a lot of people put Fordham at the bottom. Do I believe they're wrong? Yes. But now we have to prove that they're wrong. It will make it that much better if we do what I think we can do.

"I think we've gotten significantly better than we were last year."

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