Q & a with Phil Martelli

preview 2004-05 PREVIEW The 2004-05 Saint Joseph’s Hawks have a tough act Martelli now to follow. Last year’s team posted a magical 30-2 season faces one of his and captured the attention of the nation with a perfect biggest challenges regular season record, a number-one ranking, and a top in his 10-year seed in the NCAA Tournament. Their run to the NCAA career, but if any Elite Eight ended just two points shy of the Final Four coach is up to the with the heartbreaking loss to Oklahoma State. task, it’s the Hawk The Hawks were the “feel good” story of college mentor, who knows basketball in 2004, with an unselfish squad that played that what he had tenacious defense and solid team basketball. Led by last year was very consensus National Coach of the Year Phil Martelli, the unique. group put together the most significant season in school “You don’t history and won the hearts of fans from coast to coast. replace the three of This year’s squad returns three starters and a few them (Nelson, key reserves from that record-setting team, but signifi- Barley, West). You cant pieces are missing. The ’04-05 Hawks are minus couldn’t possibly Jameer Nelson, Tyrone Barley and Delonte West. That replace what the adds up to the National Player of the Year, two NBA First three of them Round Draft picks, and a senior class which won 98 brought. What you games in four years. hope they would John Bryant Nelson captured all of the Player of the Year awards leave behind is their and made himself as a first-round pick in the NBA. West, way of doing things, such as their approach to work the team’s second leading scorer and an honorable and their dignity in the way they handled their success. mention All-America, made the leap to the NBA after his Also, the fire that was never quenched in terms of indi- junior season and landed in the first round as well. vidual improvement or the team being successful,” said Barley, the team’s sixth man, was the heart of SJU’s Martelli. “So we’re going to have to do it in a different swarming defense. way because we don’t have anybody on our team who has the skills of Jameer or Tyrone or Delonte. It doesn’t mean we’re not going to have good players, it just means we’re not going to have that set of skills on this particular team.” But the experience of winning 30 times in one season is invaluable and Martelli expects that there should be some lasting effect in the minds of the 10 returning players. “I would hope that they would understand the standard of play that they’re being held to. The sharing of the basketball, the maximum effort on defense on every play – I wholeheartedly expect they know that is how basketball is meant to be played,” said the head coach. “The standard to which to play to is number one. The idea that we expect to win is second. Because Jameer’s gone, or because Tyrone’s gone or because Delonte’s gone, that doesn’t mean that we expect to take a step backwards. I expect them to expect to win, and therefore, prepare to win.” SJU has won many times in the last four years and in 2004-05, the Hawks will be seeking a third straight NCAA Tournament berth, a fifth consecutive Atlantic 10 regular season title, and a third straight outright Philadelphia Big 5 crown. But to continue the winning ways, the Hawks are going to have to find more ways to score. That seems to be the biggest question mark in Martelli’s mind, and Pat Carroll 10 2004-05 PREVIEW rightfully so. Nelson and West alone accounted for by Jameer Nelson, who is arguably the greatest play- almost half of the team’s offense. er in Hawk history. The hard-working Lee has studied for One of the obvious choices to carry a large part of his role diligently, and will get opportunity this year the scoring burden is senior swingman Pat Carroll, the despite averaging only eight minutes per game over the only returning double figure scorer (10.1 ppg). He is one last two seasons. of the nation’s best from three-point range, converting The two-guard spot could go to any number of play- 45.8 percent last year, with a fluid jump shot. Often the ers, with one of them being returnee Chet Stachitas. The beneficiary of the defense keying on Nelson or West, 6-5 junior was a valuable reserve last season scoring 6.5 Carroll will need some creativity to obtain his shot this ppg and shooting 43.9 percent from three-point range. year. The team’s Most Improved Player in 2004, Stachitas Joining Carroll in providing leadership and experi- brings great energy and confidence to the squad and ence will be classmate John Bryant at the other forward will play a key role, whether he’s called on to score or spot. Bryant is a valuable defender and rebounder who defend. does all of the little things that don’t show up in the boxs- A pair of freshmen will be in serious competition for core. The 6-7 senior will be looking to maximize his all- playing time. Pat Calathes began his career at Lake around level of play in his final season. Howell High School in Florida as a 5-11 point guard. Center Dwayne Jones is already considered one of Since then, he’s grown to 6-10 and thus possesses some the top defensive players in the Atlantic 10, as the unique skills for a player of his size. Calathes can score league’s top shot blocker with 1.97 per game, but the from the outside and will pose interesting matchup prob- Hawks will definitely need him to increase his offensive lems for Hawk opponents. production. The 6-11 junior showed glimpses of his full Classmate Abdulai Jalloh, an All-Metro D.C. selec- potential last year, with a string of three double-doubles, tion from National Christian Academy, is an extremely but Martelli will need him to put up those numbers on a athletic 6-1 guard who will be a versatile addition to the more consistent basis. backcourt. Like Calathes, Jalloh brings an incredible Junior Dave Mallon struggled with injuries last sea- energy and enthusiasm to the Hawks. son, but the 6-10 forward’s outlook is positive if he can Other reserves include 7-foot center Artur Surov, stay healthy. Mallon has addded more weight and who saw limited action last year but is a developing proj- strength and provides the Hawks with a post player who ect. Fellow sophomore Arvydas Lidzius is an energetic can also pop outside and hit the three-pointer. 6-7 forward looking for his chance to contribute. Junior Redshirt freshman Rob Ferguson spent a year learn- Rob Sullivan and sophomore Andrew Koefer are hard ing the system and often was considered one of the top workers who each earned a spot on the history-making players in the squad as walk-ons. practice ses- With the success of the program comes the notori- sions. The 6-8 ety, and the Hawks won’t back away from the chal- forward, who was lenges. Included in the slate are trips to Kansas and the Florida Class Ohio State, as well as to the University of San Francisco’s 5A Player of the Northwestern Mutual Shootout. In addition to local rivals Year in 2003 Villanova, Penn and Drexel, the league schedule will be from Mariner High challenging as well. The Atlantic 10 Conference proved School, can score its strength last year as it sent four teams to the NCAA around the bas- Tournament and had Xavier join the Hawks in the Elite ket and will be a Eight. welcome addi- “Each year what you have to do with your non-con- tion to the front- ference schedule is plan for the Atlantic 10. You have to court. look and see what you’re going to face in the confer- One of the most ence. We have some road challenges. We have some difficult tasks games that people will say ‘well, you should win’, but falls upon the that’s the same as it is in the Atlantic 10 – there are some shoulders of jun- games that we should win,” stated Martelli. “But every- ior Dwayne Lee. thing is in preparation for the league because it is the The two-year vehicle that takes you to national prominence. It did last backup must year for us and if that’s to be this year, it will be the exact now step into the same thing.” role of point guard vacated Dwayne Jones 11 Q & A WITH PHIL MARTELLI Considering that you’ve had time to reflect, what stands out in your mind from last season? I think that in this day and age, to see players so selflessly give of themselves, from the All-Americans to the walk-ons, the only thing that mattered was the team. What do the achievements of that team do for the expectations of the program this season and in the future? Expectations is the wrong word. What it does first, is now players coming to St. Joe’s or the current team expect and should expect to win.

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