The pictures adorning the media room of the Events Center tell the story of Binghamton’s potential on the court. Their narrative travels all the way from the construction of the Events Center itself to team huddles and celebrations. Recently, though, the men’s basketball team hasn’t had much to celebrate and its fans haven’t had much to cheer — the last time BU won more than 30 percent of its games was the 2009-10 season. Since then, the increasingly-shriveled photographs have served mostly as reminders of better times in the program’s history.
In that same media room, just over two weeks before Binghamton’s season opener against Cornell, junior forward Willie Rodriguez quietly reasoned that this year will be better. This season, he confided, the Bearcats will live up to their promise.
“No doubt,” Rodriguez said. “There is no doubt in my mind that we’re better. We all feel the same way.”
But there is, perhaps, no player that represents Binghamton’s promise more than Rodriguez himself. Last season, he was named to the All-America East Third team after ranking fourth in the conference in scoring and seventh in rebounding. Now, Rodriguez has been named to the preseason All-Conference team.
“It feels good to be recognized by other coaches in the conference, but at the end of the day I’m not someone to worry about individual recognition,” Rodriguez said. “I try to just worry about the team.”
Rodriguez arrived at Binghamton three years ago as a highly touted recruit. He was the type of player who saw interest from high-level programs such as Rutgers, Georgetown and UConn. After a bumpy start to his freshman year, Rodriguez has developed into one of the team’s most important leaders.
“I think I’ve matured not only as a player, but as a person,” Rodriguez said. “I’m still trying to grow into the leader that I’m supposed to be. I’m not where I want to be, but I’m working on it on a daily basis.”
As a sophomore, Rodriguez was forced to flaunt a diverse skill set after an injury to Yosef Yacob depleted Binghamton’s guard corp and forced Rodriguez to spend time as both a wingman and a power forward. Rodriguez’s 15.1 points and 6.7 rebounds per game led the Bearcats last season. He has excelled at driving to the basket and finding points inside the paint. This season, he will try to improve his shooting from beyond the arc, where he shot just 26.2 percent last year.
“You can always improve on something but for me it has always been my outside game,” Rodriguez said. “It’s something I’m working on with the assistant coaches.”
Rodriguez will embrace an even bigger role as a four-man this year. He will play alongside a much smaller lineup with the return of Yacob and the additions of redshirt sophomore guard J.C. Show and freshman guard Fard Muhammad to the lineup.
“I think he wants to take the next step as a player and he wants us to take the next step as a program, and I think those two things go hand in hand,” said BU head coach Tommy Dempsey. “He was picked to the preseason All-Conference team. If he has that kind of season — a First-team all-conference season — then that’ll mean we won a lot more.”
Dempsey believes that Rodriguez’s skills and leadership both on and off the court are key to the 2016-17 season. If he can continue to develop his diverse skill set, BU may finally be able to fulfill its potential.
“It is something I’ve challenged him on,” Dempsey said. “For him to make the jump from a Third-team to a First-team type of player will mean not only that he got a lot better but that the team did as well.”