Recruiting the right players is one of the most important elements in building a championship team. FDU is going to the NCAA Tournament after the Knights beat St. Francis PA in the NEC final. They succeeded in finding the right players to excel at their level.
FDU finished the regular season in a tie for first with St. Francis.
Coach Greg Herenda is in his 6th season at the helm and for the second time has the Knights dancing.
This team is comprised of seniors, juniors and sophomores in the important roles.
RECORD
20-13, 12-6 in conference
THE DISCOVERY OF AND DEVELOPMENT OF SLEEPERS
As you would expect for a NEC team, top 150 nationally ranked players are not flocking to the campus. Therefore to succeed coaches must find some hidden gems and help them improve.
Big man Mike Holloway was the hardest recruited of the core group with 9 offers.
Jahlil Jenkins had 5 offers with Towson the biggest. Kaleb Bishop also had 5 offers. Darnell Edge had no offers and was headed to prep school before FDU added him late. Edge went from averaging 4 ppg as a freshman to one of the top players in the league and one of the top shooters in the country.
RECRUIT NJ
There are 7 NJ Hoopers on the team with front court stars Mike Holloway and Kaleb Bishop the most prominent. Both were ranked in the top 20 in the state by NJ Hoops making them excellent recruits for the NEC
RECRUIT THE EAST
11 of the players on the roster are from the east, with Elyjah Williams from Illinois and transfer Pat McNamara also from Illinois being the outliers
ADD TRANSFERS WHEN NECESSARY
There are four transfers on the roster, one a juco transfer. The transfer who made the biggest impact was Xzavier Malone from Rider.
COMMIT TO A STYLE OF PLAY
The uptempo Knights were 3rd in the NEC in scoring at 75.1 ppg, and 1st in 3 pt fg% at 42.0%. The aggressive style also had them 30th nationally in steals.
FDU PLAYER PROFILE - Click on the story links to see see the story on their commitment to FDU. Click on their names to see their stats.
FROM NJHOOPS.COM SEASON PREVIEW (OCTOBER 2018)
Greg Herenda now in his sixth season at the helm of FDU and expects the Knights to be back in the title hunt in the NEC.
The major loss is Darian Anderson who did miss half the season with an injury. The team responded well when he went down. Noah Morgan transferred out after a good freshman campaign. Everyone else of note returns and a good class of newcomers will get playing time. The frontcourt looks solid with Michael Holloway and Kaleb Bishop. The backcourt is solid with Darnell Edge and Jahlil Jenkins.
2017-18 Stats -
The Good: Forced 13.8 Turnovers/game, 96th nationally
The Bad: Gave up 10.9 Offensive rebounds per game, (343rd nationally)
LAST SEASON - 13-18
9-9 in NEC, tied for 6th
STARTERS RETURNING - 4
THE PLAYERS
6-foot-8 Sr.
Schalick
NJ Hoops #19 Class of 2015
2015-16 Season - 9.4 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 0.8 apg
2016-17 Season - 11.4 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 1.1 apg
2017-18 Season - 13.4 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 1.2 apg, 7 treys
2018-19 Season - 12.5 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 1.3 apg, 8 treys
6-foot-2 Sr.
Saugerties NY
2015-16 Season - 4.4 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 0.8 apg, 19 treys
2016-17 Season - 9.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.3 apg, 30 treys
2017-18 Season - 14.5 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 2.4 apg, 60 treys
2018-19 Season - 16.4 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.4 apg, 84 treys
6 foot 0 So.
Virginia Academy
2017-18 Season - 12.0 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 4.4 apg, 34 treys
2018-19 Season - 13.5 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 4.5 apg, 41 treys
THE LINKS:
6-foot-8 Jr.
NJ Hoops #18 Class of 2016
St. Anthony
2016-17 Season - 4.7 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 0.6 apg, 7 treys
2017-18 Season - 8.8 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 0.6 apg, 8 treys
2018-19 Season - 10.1 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 0.6 apg, 36 treys
6 foot 4 So.
Transfer from Rider
Plymouth Whitemarsh
2016-17 Season - 0.9 ppg, 0.6 rpg, 0.1 apg, 2 treys
2018-19 Season - 11.4 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 1.9a pg, 47 treys
THE LINKS:
6 foot 7 So.
Evanston IL
2017-18 Season - 4.0 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 0.9 apg, 2 treys
2018-19 Season - 8.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 1.9 apg, 9 treys
THE LINKS:
5 foot 11
Peddie
THE RANKINGS:
Ranked as NJHoops.com #33 senior in the state
2017-18 Season - 0.6 ppg, 0.3 rpg, 0.2 apg, 2 treys
2018-19 Season - 1.8 ppg, 0.6 rpg, 0.8 apg, 10 treys
THE LINKS
6-foot-7 Sr.
NJ Hoops #46 Class of 2014
Harcum PA JC/Bergen Catholic
2016-17 Season - 1.6 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 0.1 apg, 4 treys
2017-18 Season - 1.5 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 0.3 apg, 1 trey
2018-19 Season - 5.0 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1 trey
6 foot 5 Jr.
New Hampshire/St. Viator IL
2017-18 Season - 2.1 ppg, 0.9 rpg, 0.5 apg, 15 treys
2018-19 Season - 0.9 ppg, 0.6 apg, 0.2 apg, 4 treys
THE LINKS:
6 foot 8 Fr.
St. Mary's Rutherford
THE SKINNY:
Local skilled big man will get a chance to earn minutes as a frosh
2017-18 STATS:
19.3 ppg, 14.1 rpg
THE RANKINGS:
NJ Hoops #35 Class of 2018
THE LINKS:
2018-19 Season - DNP
6 foot 4 Fr.
Hackensack
THE SKINNY:
Local product had a big senior season
2017-18 STATS:
19.5 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 4.4 apg, 49 treys
THE RANKINGS:
NJ Hoops #45 Class of 2018
THE LINKS:
2018-19 Season - 1.0 ppg, 0.6 rpg, 0.3 apg, 3 treys
6 foot 2 Fr.
Pine Bush NY
THE SKINNY:
Local product can shoot the ball
2017-18 STATS:
20.0 ppg and 4.3 apg with 60 treys.
THE RANKINGS:
THE LINKS:
2018-19 Season - 2.1 ppg, 1.1 rpg, 0.7 apg, 11 treys
6 foot 11 So.
St. Anthony's
Transfer from Panama City JC
NJ Hoops #46 Class of 2017
2018-19 Season - 0.6 ppg, 0.5 rpg,
NJ Hoops provides blanket coverage of NJ basketball all year long for the past 23 years and publishes the NJ Hoops Recruiting Report is read by over 200 college coaches
