Since head coach Tommy Dempsey’s arrival three years ago, Binghamton men’s basketball fans have been hearing about a change of pace. They were promised an up-tempo game, a press-and-run style like the one Dempsey commanded at Rider.
We haven’t seen it yet. This year, we should.
“I think you’re going to see a lot more pressured defense,” Dempsey said. “We’ll press after a lot of makes, we’ll press after free throws and dead balls. With certain groups we’ll press more than others — we’ll be a little more half court if we have a bigger or slower lineup on the court. But there’s a lot of guys that can play in the up-tempo style, and pretty much everybody’s been recruited to play that way. So I think you’ll see a lot more full-court basketball on both ends of the court.”
The seven-man class of 2015 plays a large role in enabling that shift. Add them to the mix, and the conversation is no longer who’s good, but who’s playing well now. It’s no longer who can we expect to see on the court, but who works well with whom and under what conditions.
“I think that it was in a lot of cases a foregone conclusion who was going to play the last two years, who was going to start and who was going to get a couple minutes,” Dempsey said at the beginning of the preseason. “Right now, there’s 10, 11, 12 guys fighting for starting jobs, fighting for roles off the bench. And I think that’s going to be one of the keys to our success this season, is going to be my role allocation and doing a great job with that and getting guys to buy into those lists.”
While junior guard Jordan Reed, sophomore guards Marlon Beck II and Yosef Yacob and sophomore forward Nick Madray should continue to dominate the team’s minutes, the freshmen will be equally crucial in the rotations. Forward Dusan Perovic is one of the team’s best shooters behind Madray. Forward Willie Rodriguez should make major contributions at both ends of the court with his aptitude in shooting and crashing the glass. Forward Justin McFadden is a defensive staple, noted for his rebounding prowess and aggressiveness. Guard Romello Walker is a fountain of energy who can shoot and rebound as well.
While sophomore forward Magnus Richards wasn’t one of the most prominent players in last year’s game, Dempsey said he’ll see more minutes this year. Richards wasn’t so fit for last year’s style: His niche is to press and run.
“He’s one of those versatile bigs who can run the floor, who can block shots at the end of the press, who can get up and pressure guards at the front of the press,” Dempsey said.
With that depth, Dempsey’s plan is to play about 10 guys in the first half of games, subbing them in in short bursts. That system will enable the guys to run up and down the court in concordance with the new style, staying refreshed throughout.
“What happens is, when you’re limited depth-wise and you’re playing Yacob and Beck and Reed 30-plus minutes a game, it’s hard for them to be at their best defensively because you naturally pace yourself when you’re playing too many minutes,” Dempsey said. “So we’re going to try to come at you more in waves … You’re going to get guys fresh off the bench and [we’ll] really try to create a little more chaos defensively.”
Another point of focus for Dempsey this season is the team’s assist-to-turnover ratio. Of the returners, only Beck posted a positive ratio in 2013-14, at 1.3. The team as a whole fell into the red, averaging just 9.4 assists per game (345th in the nation) while committing 14 turnovers for a 0.7 mark.
“Whether it’s getting our turnovers down or having a positive turnover-assist ratio for everybody including myself, [we just want to be] more physical down low — [get] more inside paint touches — because we know our big men can work down there,” Beck said.