Rider begins the season on Monday night against Virginia.
Coach Kevin Baggett’s team is coming off a 14-19 season in which it went 9-11 in the MAAC. The Broncs started 0-4 in league play, but rallied to grab the No. 8 seed. They won a first-round game at the MAAC Tournament before their season ended in the quarterfinals.
A difficult schedule likely lends to a poor record in November, but this is about what Rider does in its 20-game MAAC campaign.
“It’s about the MAAC Tournament and just getting better,” Baggett said. “And not losing confidence because that’s easy to do when you play these type of teams that are athletically and physically stronger than you are. It’s about competing and getting better.”
Players to Watch
Rider returns its starting backcourt in guards Flash Burton and Zion Cruz. Both figure to be the first two names on the opposition’s scouting report.
Cruz, a Trenton native, is a Third Team All-MAAC preseason selection. The senior appeared in 30 games last season (24 starts) and averaged 10.1 points on 42.1% shooting overall and 35.6% from 3.
Burton, a sophomore from Philadelphia, is the point guard and finished his freshman campaign with a flurry. He started the last 10 games — Rider went 6-4 in that stretch — and scored in double figures in five of them. That included a 17-point performance with the game-winning assist against Siena in the first round of the MAAC Tournament.
Departures and Arrivals
Only four players from last season’s roster remain — Button, Cruz, Cole McCabe and walk-on Maurizio D’Alessandro — meaning there are 10 new players. Those newcomers are made up of seven transfers and three freshmen.
Seven-footer Mohamad Diallo (9.6 points, 5.8 rebounds at NAIA Florida Memorial), 6-9 Shemani Fuller (12 points, 8.1 rebounds at Division II Clark Atlanta) and 6-9 Davis Bynum (5.5 points in 11 games at Cal State Fullerton) will be in the frontcourt mix. Rider has to replace the 10.9 points and seven rebounds per game it got from Tariq Ingraham, who transferred to Memphis for his seventh and final season of eligibility.
Backcourt additions include transfers Devean Williams (Bryant), Antwan Wilson (Weatherford College), Caleb Smith (Garden City CC) and freshmen AB Coulibaly, Jamir McNeil and Kristupas Kepežinskas.
“You have a lot of moving parts,” Baggett said. “It’s really hard to build a culture. You have to learn to adjust to it. The hardest part is just trying to get guys to buy in sooner than later. They come from different programs and there’s baggage that they carry with them, you got to try and clean that garbage up as quick as you can and get those guys to understand what is important to your program.”
Schedule
The non-conference strength of schedule is among the hardest in all of college basketball. The Broncs play road games at Virginia (Nov. 3), Rutgers (Nov. 5), Texas (Nov. 18), Houston (Nov. 20), Delaware (Dec. 16) and VCU (Dec. 22). Five of those are buy games, long staple of Rider’s non-league slate that funds the athletic department, and, as the NCAA enters the revenue sharing era, can be used to generate money to play the players.
The 20-game MAAC schedule tips off with a pair of road games in early December — at Merrimack and at Quinnipiac — before commencing in full on Dec. 29 at home against Manhattan. The MAAC Tournament in Atlantic City begins on Thursday, March 5 and concludes with the championship game on Tuesday, March 10.
Facts & Figures
Rider was picked to finish 10th in the MAAC preseason poll. The top 10 teams qualify for the MAAC Tournament. … The Broncs beat Rowan, 76-64, in an exhibition game. Burton scored a game-high 20 points. … Baggett is 206-202 overall and 139-113 in the MAAC in 13 seasons… Rider has not made the NCAA Tournament since the 1993-94 season, the second of back-to-back appearances.
Rider Gameday
WHO: Rider (0-0) at Virginia (0-0)
WHEN: Tuesday, 7 p.m., John Paul Jones Arena, Charlottesville, Va.
TV: ESPN+; ACCN
SERIES HISTORY: Virginia leads, 1-0. That game took place on Nov. 19, 2009 and finished 79-46 in favor of the Cavaliers.
KENPOM RANK: Rider 302; Virginia 59
SCOUTING VIRGINIA: The Cavaliers are under the direction of first-year coach Ryan Odom, who came over after a successful stint in charge at VCU. With that the roster has undergone a complete overhaul from last season’s team that went 15-17 overall and 8-12 in the ACC under an interim regime. Virginia, which received a vote in the AP Top 25 preseason poll, beat Villanova, 75-72, in an exhibition game. Malik Thomas, a transfer from San Francisco, led the way with 16 points. The 6-5 graduate student averaged 19.9 points per game at San Francisco last season
