By Paul Gotham
BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Ask Phil Martelli about his outlook for the upcoming season, and he doesn’t discuss Xs and Os. Rather the 19th year head coach of the St. Joseph’s Hawks talks about fires, Italy and clarity of purpose.
No, Martelli is not considering a career change into the science of extinguishment. The fires to which he speaks represent those daily crises that a college coach encounters and how ten days on the other side of the world has affected the frequency of those occurrences.
“I measure a lot of it in the day-to-day fires that this job entails,” Martelli said during the recent Atlantic 10 Media Day at the Barclays Center. “Our fires have been minimal. A lot of that has to do with being in Europe.”
A year ago, A-10 coaches and media pegged St. Joseph’s as the pre-season favorite to win the conference. Martelli cautioned that his team needed to execute both on and off the court.
Those Hawks struggled losing three of their first four in conference play. They finished 8-8 falling to VCU in the A-10 quarter-finals and St. John’s in the opening round of the NIT.
This year St. Joseph’s occupies the fifth spot in the pre-season ranking. It matters little to the dean of A-10 coaches. He likes his team, and that has a lot to do with three seniors Langston Galloway, Halil Kanacevic and Ronald Roberts Jr.
“They have a clarity of purpose. It’s nice to see, and it’s easy to be around them because of that.”
Martelli credits the mid-August trip his team took together in Italy. He admits he wasn’t sure at first how his team would respond to a different culture.
“I worried about being in Europe with them. Was somebody going to complain about the food? Was somebody going to be a little bit late for a bus? Whatever could happen, none of it happened. This sounds crazy, like a lot of my sayings or musings can sound, but you know what struck me? Every time a player fell on the floor in Italy in a non-air-conditioned gym, our players wiped up their sweat. That was a big a deal to me. That was a really big deal.”
The Hawks went 4-0 on the trip. That is of little significance. But it is of note that the attitude returned with the Hawks when they came back across the Atlantic Ocean.
“At our first practice this year a little girl, one of our managers, we have about 19 managers, this little girl ran out on the court and dried up the sweat, and one of my guys said ‘Thank you,’ to her. That was the best play of the day in practice, and not to minimize the basketball, but that’s what I mean there is a clearer purpose.”
Martelli likes the way this group has been able to put aside external distractions and focus upon the team.
“The purpose is what do we do today to be better. That’s kind of like a tenet that’s been in this program for a long time. Let’s get better today. I’m really excited about them.”
For Galloway, getting better may take a slight adjustment in approach. The leader among returning conference players in three-point field goals made with 2.5 per game. The shooting guard hit better than 39 percent from long range. His 235 career three-pointers ranks third all-time on the St. Joseph’s list behind Pat Carroll (294) and Darrin Govens (244). Yet he was left off the pre-season first team.
Martelli was not surprised.
“He’s got to be nastier. If you look at the guys on the first team, they’re nasty, and I mean in a really positive way. Those guys go out to dominate you. Langston wants to beat you, but softly.”
Tyreek Duren (La Salle), Dwayne Evans (St. Louis), Treveon Graham (VCU), Juvonte Reddic (VCU) and Chaz Williams (UMass) earned pre-season first team all-conference honors.
Isaiah Armwood (George Washington), Xavier Munford (Rhode Island) and Sherrod Wright (George Mason) along with Roberts, Jr. join Galloway on the second team.
St. Joseph’s will open their season November ninth on the road at Vermont. The Hawks return to Hagan Arena to host Marist, November 13th and Creighton, November 16th.
Until then Martelli will continue enjoying his team with this team.
“I left my phone at home today. Anything could be on that email when I get home tonight. There could be not just a brush fire. There could be an all-out blaze going on, but so far I like the fact that I can go on the court and practice basketball for an hour and 45 minutes.”
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