By Joe Budzelek
At the end of last preseason, newly minted Fordham head coach Mike Magpayo made the proclamation that “everything I will be preaching this year is grit and culture. We have to be gritty. I want to build something sustainable.”
One year later, the foundation is in place and the program is eager to take the next step as the Rams enter Magpayo's second season with one of the Atlantic 10's deepest returning frontcourts and an overhauled backcourt built around high-character proven winners.
Even though Magpayo was no stranger to immediate success – his first head coaching stop at UC Riverside was highlighted with a .500 or better record in Big West conference play in each of his five seasons at the helm – he is proud of what last year’s team accomplished in the heightened competition in the Atlantic 10.
“For us, I think we were very fortunate to come away with a winning season in Year 1,” says Magpayo, “That matters so much — not just for the vibe of your program, but for what you're selling to recruits and supporters. It gives you proof of concept. You could feel it. We had the right fight and the right level of grit for New York. No matter who we played, you knew those guys were going to compete. Being able to say it was only Fordham's fourth winning season in the last 34 years means something.”
On Tuesday, the team works on a motion-based offensive spacing drill.
Player retention has been an epidemic that has affected all of college basketball, but Magpayo and his staff are grateful that the team returns seven players from last year. This fact not only made recruitment over the offseason more detail-oriented than volume driven, but it also has set the tone and provided cultural continuity as practice has started up this summer. Last summer, the cacophony during practice was much less player-driven than it was this week as there is a sense of autonomy and responsibility amongst the players.
Speaking on his player retention, Magpayo reflects: “It's immeasurable. Our returning walk-ons Aiden Crotty and Max Miller are huge parts of our culture while the five scholarship players returning are at the core of what we plan to do this year.”
One of my favorite moments of practice is when freshman guard Hassan Koureissi – more on him later – made a savvy pass during a halfcourt offense drill and Miller cajoled Koureissi “we saw that play, it’s OK to smile” to the modest neophyte.
Elaborating more on his returning frontcourt, Magpayo and athletic director Charles Guthrie nicknamed this group the ‘VIPs’, AKA the ‘Very Good International Players.’ Magpayo adds: “They were the five international players we were really going to try to retain. We knew we probably weren't going to be able to keep all of them, but that was the goal.
“All five of these guys ended up starting at different points of the season. Sometimes we were just surviving; we were in survival mode, with guys playing out of position a little bit. But that's what happens in our program. We get guys who are great people.
“It’s funny because it just makes me double down on this philosophy. After last year, when we went from 16 players to 12, we decided we were going to double down on great attitudes, great work ethic, and great character.
“They're great young men and awesome representatives of Fordham. The Fordham community loves them. The president loves them. The administration loves them. They're just easy guys to get behind. They get good grades, they're great students, and they're so easy to support.”
When you combine character, work ethic and the skillset of a young group of forwards with the dedication, focus and attention to detail of a coaching staff, it pays off with rapid growth that surprised even the coaching staff.
Case in point: Rikus Schulte and Jack Whitbourn combined to average 7.1 points and 7.7 rebounds per game in rotational roles at UC Riverside under Magpayo. In their first year at Fordham, the duo averaged 19.1 points and 17.5 rebounds per game. Injuries in the bookends of Whitbourn’s first season at Fordham limited him to only eleven games played, but at practice this week, he was competing at full-strength, ran the floor well and has added muscle to his frame. Both forwards are good bets to earn immediate starting roles in the frontcourt.
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| Junior center Jack Whitbourn works on his low-post skills alongside freshman big Omar Essam. |
Arguably the biggest surprise last season was returning sophomore Roor Akhuar, whose length, athleticism, switchability and shooting ability is reminiscent of the 3-and-D big wings that always seem to be hot commodities in the NBA. At six-foot-eight, Akhuar has the size to play the 4, but he’s going to get big minutes at the 3 whether he starts or comes off the bench.
Fellow Australian sophomore Abass Bodija is another underclassmen who earned a much bigger role than what was initially expected of him before last season started, but his six-foot-ten skillset, size and athleticism allows him to work in rotations at both the 4 and the 5, especially as his three-point shot – he made a third of his twenty-one attempts – was a welcome surprise.
Missing practice earlier this week as he remains with the Japanese National Team for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers, Akira Jacobs is the lone senior in the frontcourt and Magpayo’s message to the six-foot-ten sharpshooter is simple: “we want him to let it rip.”
Will Akhuar’s growth and the depth and quality of the new-look backcourt allow minutes for Jacobs to play the 3 in three-big lineups? Necessity was the mother of that invention, but Magpayo isn’t afraid to run a few jumbo lineups. That being said, Jacobs’ shooting ability is essential in providing mix-and-match potential for the team this year, especially for a team that struggled to shoot it from three last year.
Despite the strong retention in the frontcourt, Fordham added two freshmen to their stable: six-foot-nine Virginia native Frank Siaca Bey and Long Island Lutheran product, by way of Egypt, seven-footer Omar Essam.
Bey is a blue-collar power-forward/center hybrid with many similarities to Abass Bodija in terms of his aggressive motor under the boards and an underrated feel for the game. Essam is a classic project big with large hands, a projectable frame and a solid base of awareness around the rim. Both players are expected to be long-term developmental pieces, but the staff is excited to have the duo on board.
Last offseason, Magpayo and his staff prioritized adding players that improved the team’s offensive efficiency and three-point shooting. Conversely, that ended up being a team weakness, but the flipside of that is that the frontcourt core provides the bedrock that helped Fordham finish last year as one of the toughest, physical defensive teams in the A-10.
Still, offensive efficiency, especially from three in the backcourt, was woeful last year – graduating guards Dae Dae Reaves, Christian Henry, Louis Lesmond and Marcus Greene combined to make only 27% of their three-point attempts – so improving this metric was one area of focus this offseason. While this year’s backcourt might lack the top-heavy firepower of Dae Dae Reaves, who averaged nearly 18 points-per-game last season, they have the potential to be one of the deepest and most versatile backcourts in program history.
The incoming guard with the clearest role is Albany junior transfer Amir Lindsey. The first Albany player to be named an All-America East First Team selection since 2018, the five-foot-ten Lindsey averaged nearly 18 points and 5 assists per game while also hitting over 35% of his career three-point attempts.
Last year, Reaves’ ability to create offense inside the arc helped him become one of the deadliest closers in the A-10, and much of what Magpayo projects about him is reminiscent of Reaves:
“Dwight Killings told me Amir was a dream to coach, and so far, in these first two and a half weeks, he's been exactly that,” says Magpayo, “He's got leadership qualities and all those intangibles you look for in a point guard. He's small, but he's quick. He can get to that little floater, and he's a better shooter than I expected. I think that's something that'll continue to improve in our program.
“He also does a great job finding the rollers. We have a lot of bigs, and they're around the basket, so the question is, who's going to get them the ball? He's unselfish. Amir and Hassan are both willing passers, and that's another thing I really like about both our point guards.
“He's already pushing the envelope with his work ethic. Every morning at 8 a.m., he's here with [Miami transfer] JJ Laboy, working with [assistant coach] Derrick Phelps. You can see the leadership. There are still things we'll continue to teach him, especially the nuances of playing point guard and understanding game flow, but he has a great foundation.”
Even though this staff is excellent at coaching up players and helping them reach their potential, there’s a luxury in bringing in a veteran guard who is a plug-and-play leader of the offense.
Last offseason, Fordham's staff was pleasantly surprised with the readiness and potential of now sophomore Roor Akhuar, and he impressed big time last season. This year, the freshman the staff is ready to make an immediate impact is Archbishop Stepinac graduate Hassan Koureissi.
The six-foot-three combo guard from Harlem played his first three seasons off-ball, but finished his career leading the program to its fourth straight CHSAA “AA” City Championships as the team’s point guard.
“Hassan already looks like a veteran. He just has a natural poise about him,” says Magpayo, “I actually lost a couple of recruits because they wanted me to promise them playing time over him. I told them, 'Listen, everybody is going to have a chance to compete.' We run a meritocracy. Everything is tracked through our analytics system, and playing time is earned.
“We think Hassan is really good. I expect him to be in our top seven or eight players, and I wouldn't rule out him starting. I've told him to go for it because he has the poise, understanding of the game and work ethic to earn it. He was already in here watching film with Coach Ryan Hyland before you even got here.
“He's also a proven winner. He's won four championships at Archbishop Stepinac. That's more championships than the rest of us combined, so he's celebrated in our locker room more than we have.”
While at the very least, Koureissi will earn immediate minutes as the team’s backup point guard, but he will compete for a starting role at the 2 alongside St. John’s transfer Kelvin Odih, Stephen F. Austin transfer Lateef Patrick and Miami transfer JJ Laboy II.
Out of the three, Patrick is the most proven at the Division 1 level as the six-foot-two scoring guard finish the season as a Southland Conference First Team All-Conference selection after he finished conference play averaging 15.5 points per game and hitting 35% of his three-point attempts. The numbers from analytics expert Evan Miyakawa’s website had Patrick finishing with the team’s fourth best defensive metrics.
“First of all, Lateef Patrick played on a 29-win team last year, so he’s a clear winner,” says Magpayo, “If you look at his track record, he's always been a good scorer and a good shooter, even going back to his junior college days.
“For a 2-guard, he's small, but he's tough and strong, kind of like Dae Dae in terms of strength. He's not afraid to get in there, he's willing to be gritty, and he'll defend.
“I really like that because I love the Knicks' identity. I'm always telling all our guys that we still have to represent Fordham. I want us to play faster offensively, shoot more threes, make more threes, and all of that, but we also have to represent Fordham's toughness. Lateef's another guard who brings that grit to our team.”
Even though Patrick played nearly half of minutes at the 3 in SFA’s three-guard lineups, Patrick slots in as a clear-cut 2-guard this season for the Rams.
Perhaps the one transfer that brings the most intrigue to the fanbase is St. John’s transfer Kelvin Odih. Entering last year as a consensus four-star recruit, the six-foot-five, 215-pound power guard has one element of his game that excites Magpayo the most: “Kelvin is the best athlete I've coached as a head coach, without question.”
Magpayo adds: “You'll see it out there. He's truly athletic, has great size, and he loves to defend. That's a great combination because if he defends and rebounds, he's going to earn minutes and get the opportunity to show everything else he can do.
“Kelvin gives us something we didn't have before. He's a very dynamic player, and if he continues to improve and grow, he can become a real impact player. He gives us someone who can guard those really athletic wings in this league.”
I’ll be honest, when I watch summer practices, I tend to keep quiet, but there were at least four times on Tuesday when a high-flying dunk from Odih caused me to bark out a few complimentary curse words as a result of my astonishment.
The easiest way to describe it is that Odih is a three-dimensional athlete: he covers a lot of ground very quickly and he has incredible leaping ability. Against particularly dangerous backcourts, Magpayo can utilize defensively stout units with Akhuar at the 3 and Odih at the 2 while Odih has enough size and strength to defend one-through-five, particularly against thinner frontcourts.
After offering Miami transfer John Laboy II two offseasons ago during Magpayo’s time at UC Riverside, the six-foot-three Houston native first committed to Columbia before joining Jai Lucas’ first recruiting class at Miami, where the former three-star prospect suited up in six games in his freshman season.
Despite his limited action in his freshman season, Magpayo sees Laboy II parlaying his shooting ability and toughness into an immediate role. “JJ’s a strong 6-foot-3 left-handed combo guard who can really shoot it,” says Magpayo, “I'm not comparing him directly to [Knicks guard] José Alvarado, but he brings that same toughness and determination—almost a stubbornness at times. He's leading us in shot attempts during our pickup games because he's fearless and wants the ball.”
Similar to the freshmen forwards, Magpayo is excited for the long-term potential of freshman guard Desmond Bellot Jr., but his ticket to immediate playing time, for now, is blocked by older and more experienced guards ahead of him: “Desmond's a great shooter with good size at 6-foot-3, and he's not afraid to get up and defend,” says Magpayo, “It's taken him a little time because there's a lot coming at him right now as a freshman, but he certainly has a chance to develop into a really good player.”
The Boston area guard finished last season as a consensus three-star, top-250 prospect in this year’s freshman class, highlighted with 247Sports ranking Bellot third all-time amongst their modern rankings with a history as far back as two decades ago.
In comparison, while Dae Dae Reaves and Christian Henry were prolific scorers, this year’s backcourt packs waves of talent and a wider variety of skillsets compared to last year’s group. That profile mirrors the frontcourt as well, so Mapgayo has the luxury and the challenge to find the right mix, especially when the matchup allows for certain players to showcase their skillset accordingly. “We got a lot of guys that believe in themselves and bring that mindset we expect at Fordham,” says Magpayo, “We have versatility and depth, we can play small, we can play big.”
Over the summer, it almost seemingly feels like teams are developed in a vacuum, but despite the high level of competition across the conference, the staff is confident in what Fordham has to offer as Magpayo, his staff and the players continue to dream big, especially following the afterglow of the New York Knicks’ historic championship run in the spring.
"Last year, my priorities were two things: culture and building a program in New York City and the A-10 that was relevant. I think we were able to establish some relevancy,” says Magpayo, "My first impressions of this new squad have been very good. We have a lot of work to do, but I believe this team can compete at a very high level in the A-10. This season, we'll rely heavily on our returning players, but I'm extremely excited to explore the potential dynamics that the new guys bring as well.”
Before talking hoops, Mike and I started the morning geeking out on our love for music. The song that Magpayo picked that best represented his mindset entering this season: High Hopes by Panic! At the Disco.
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