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LOCATION: West Long Branch, NJ
CONFERENCE: Northeast (NEC)
LAST SEASON: 5-21 (.192)
CONFERENCE RECORD: 5-15 (.250)
STARTERS LOST/RETURNING: 4/1
NICKNAME: Hawks
COLORS: Blue & White
HOMECOURT: Boylan Gymnasium (2,500)
COACH: Dave Calloway (Monmouth '91)
record at school 8-31 (2 years)
career record 8-31 (2 years)
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ASSISTANTS: Mark Calzonetti (Bentley '85)
Geoff Billett (Rutgers '99)
Ron Krayl (Sioux Falls '68)
TEAM WINS: (last 5 years) 13-20-18-4-5
RPI (last 5 years) 180-84-118-288-286
1998-99 FINISH: Did not qualify for postseason.
ESPN.com Clubhouse
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Poor Dave Calloway. A former Monmouth player in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Calloway was hired to replace long-time Monmouth coach Wayne Szoke at the end of the 1997-98 season. The Hawks won just three of their final 13 games under Calloway's guidance that season. Seeing that improving this program looked to be more of a marathon than a sprint, Calloway did the smart thing. He started playing his freshmen as soon as they finished lacing up their sneakers. Not surprisingly, his team, whose starting lineup was often times younger than the cast of Dawson's Creek, struggled mightily. The Hawks limped out of the gates with 19 straight losses. Calloway kept teaching and cajoling, and you'll never guess what happened. The Hawks started winning. Not every game, but enough (five victories in their final seven games) that people, including Calloway, thought his club had a future maybe even a bright one. Two freshman, swingman Alpha Bangura and forward Andre Williams, seemed like the big men on campus in West Long Branch. Bangura was the nation's fourth-highest scoring freshman (18 ppg) and Williams was no slouch either at 8.8 ppg. So what happened? Both transferred. The 6-6 Bangura, the 1999 NEC Newcomer of the Year, bolted to St. John's. It turns out that Bangura was signed, sealed and delivered to George Washington when he was a high school senior that is, until Jarvis skated to St. John's at the last minute. When Bangura saw an opportunity to play for Jarvis at a program with a chance to go to a couple NCAA Tournaments in the next few years, he got out. Williams, who like Bangura started all 26 games as a freshman, decided to transfer to Cleveland State, where he will no doubt see time for Rollie Massimino beginning in 2000-2001. So much for that bright future.
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Blue Ribbon Analysis |
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BACKCOURT C BENCH/DEPTH C
FRONTCOURT D INTANGIBLES F
It's back to the drawing board again in West Long Branch. After struggling through a 5-21 season with a younger-than-young team, Monmouth coach Dave Calloway suffered a more painful slap in the face when his two most talented freshmen, Alpha Bangura (18.0 ppg) and Andre Williams (8.8 ppg), transferred to St. John's and Cleveland State, respectively. Their departures, plus the graduation of starting point man Maurice Williams (9.3 ppg), leaves Calloway with more questions than answers. He will use the same approach he used last season playing as many freshmen and sophomores as possible in hopes of building for the future. Calloway thinks he has a quality center to build around in the thin, but skilled 6-10 Kevin Owens. And he likes all of six newcomers, so maybe there's a future here in 2001 or 2002. For now, Calloway (8-31 in one-and-a-half seasons at Monmouth) will continue to take his lumps and hope that no more of his talented, young players leave. |
With the defections of Bangura and Williams, Calloway must start from square one again. Only one member of his season-ending starting lineup is back, and that's 6-2 senior Sean Collins, who averaged a modest 3.0 points and passed for 38 assists last season. Needless to say, Collins is anything but a sure thing to start this season. That's because Calloway has bought in six new players. Half of the six newcomers are guards, led by 6-3 junior college import Rahsaan Johnson and 6-5 East Tennessee State transfer Dan Sterbenz. The third new face, 6-2 freshman Tim Benoit, comes to Monmouth with his fair share of accolades, too. Those three will battle holdovers Raheem Carter, Cameron Milton and Collins for the two starting guard spots. Johnson (Allegany CC/Allegany, Md.) and Carter figure to battle for the starting point guard job. Johnson didn't play last season at Allegany. As a result, he will have three years of eligibility remaining. Two years ago, Johnson was a teammate of 1999 No. 2 overall NBA draft selection Steve Francis. Johnson averaged 7.5 points and had 116 assists for Allegany, a team that finished the regular season 30-0 and ranked No. 2 in the NJCAA poll. Johnson looks like the favorite to win the starting job, but Carter figures to battle him every step of the way. The 6-3 Carter (3.8 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 51 assists, 26 steals) started 15 games for the Hawks last season as Calloway often went with an all-freshmen starting lineup before anointing now-graduated passmaster Maurice Williams as his full-time starting point guard toward the end of the year. Carter played well at times, but struggled for the most part, as many freshman point guards do. Carter sported a 1-1 assists-to-turnover ratio (51 assists, 50 turnovers), but he played in every game and figures to be a whole lot better with a year's experience. Collins, one of only two seniors on Monmouth's roster, will attempt to retain his starting two-guard spot. It won't be easy because Calloway really likes newcomers Sterbenz and Benoit. The 6-5, 205-pound Sterbenz is being counted on to help ease the loss of Bangura. The East Tennessee State transfer appeared in 10 games for the Bucs after signing late and missing the first half of the season. Chosen one of the nation's top 200 seniors during his final season at Science Hill High School in Johnson City, Tenn., Strebenz averaged 16 points, six rebounds and five assists at Science Hill en route to earning first-team All-East Tennessee honors. He will get playing time at both wing spots. The 6-2 Benoit (Roselle Catholic HS/Roselle, N.J.) was a first-team all-county pick by the Newark Star-Ledger after averaging 13.9 points, 8.9 rebounds and 4.0 assists. He led Roselle Catholic to a 20-5 record last season and leaves the school as its second all-time leading scorer. Rounding out the guard line is Milton, a 6-3 sophomore who appeared in 14 games last year, including one start. Milton (1.9 ppg, 1.1 rpg, 18 assists, 9 steals) struggled with his shot (10 for 27) in his limited duty (159 minutes all season). The frontcourt is a free-for-all for minutes, thanks to the defections of Bangura and Williams and the graduation of pivot Joe Potkay. The center spot will be contested between 6-8, 220-pound sophomore Steve Bridgemahon, a natural four-man, and 6-10, 220-pound redshirt freshman Kevin Owens, the younger brother of University of Pennsylvania starting center Geoff Owens. Bridgemahon (4.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 16 blocked shots, 16 steals) appeared in all 26 games and started 13 times last season. His offensive game is still raw, but he works hard on the boards and at the defensive end. Owens (Camden Catholic HS/Haddonfield, N.J.) redshirted last season to add pounds to his skinny frame. The extra 15 pounds he gained should help him battle for the post position. Owens averaged 16 points and eight rebounds as a high school senior. He is a well-polished player whom Calloway thinks could become the cornerstone of the program. The only question is whether Owens is strong enough to play Division I ball yet. He will find out the Calloway way being thrown into the fire. With Bangura and Williams gone, 6-6 senior Quin Hayes (6.9 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 46 assists, 32 steals) goes from an off-the-bench guy to a potential starter. He is primarily a zone-buster. Consider that 134 of his 165 shots were from behind the three-point stripe. His 44 three-pointers were far and away the most made by any Monmouth player (Maurice Williams was next-best with 19). Hayes might have to battle as many as four newcomers for the starting small forward spot counting the aforementioned Sterbenz, who will play either the two or three. Of the other new faces, 6-5 JC import Gerry Crosby (Monroe CC/Rochester, N.Y.) or 6-6 freshman Jay Dooley, who spent last season at Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy, figures to be the most ready. Crosby averaged 13.9 points, 2.7 assists and 2.9 steals in his two seasons at Monroe. He was an all-region and All-Western New York Athletic Conference pick in each of his two seasons with the Tribunes. Dooley spent last season at Fork Union, where he played for the legendary Fletcher Arrett. As a senior at Rumson-Fair Haven (N.J.) High School a couple years back, Dooley averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds. Calloway's other option at small forward is 6-6 freshman Russell Anderson, who averaged 17 points, 9.5 rebounds and 4.5 blocked shots at Don Bosco (N.J.) Prep and earned first-team All-Bergen County honors from the Bergen Record last year.
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