John Giannini has had good teams and bad teams in his eight years at 20th and Olney. This year is different.
This year he has a special team.
La Salle Universitys basketball team has won six straight and 10 of its last 11 heading into a game in Dayton on Saturday. The Explorers are 13-4, just seven wins from their first 20-win season since 1992 and the days of Randy Woods, Jack Hurd, Paul Burke and Kareem Townes.
Since the Explorers unforgettable 30-win season in 1990, Temple has reached the Elite 8 four times, St. Joes went on that remarkable run with Jameer Nelson and Delonte West in 2004, Villanova has become a perennial NCAA team and reached a Final 4 just three years ago, and Penn has won 10 Ivy League titles.
La Salle? Just three winning seasons since the Explorers last trip to the NCAAs, 20 years ago this March. Just two winning seasons in the last 19 years, both under Giannini.
Its been a tough couple decades for La Salle.
Giannini and a hard-working, motivated, dedicated group of young basketball players are doing everything they can to change all that.
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Despite losing their top three scorers from last years 15-18 team, La Salle is the only remaining unbeaten team in a very tough, very balanced Atlantic 10 Conference, which has nine teams ranked between 16 and 81 in RPI.
And led by an almost completely Philly nucleusfreshman forward Jerrell Wright (Dobbins), senior forward Devon White (Strawberry Mansion), sophomore guard Tyreek Duren (Neumann-Goretti), senior guard Earl Pettis (Neumann-Goretti), junior guard Ramon Galloway (Freire Charter) and sophomore guard Sam Mills (Sunrise, Fla.)La Salle has transformed completely from one of the worst defensive teams in the country a year ago to one of the best.
Last year, the Explorers were ranked 21st in Division 1 in scoring at 76.8 points per game but 339thfive spots from the bottomin defense, at 78.6 points allowed per game.
Their top three scorers from last yearaccounting for 42 points per gameall left the program either through graduation or coachs decision.
The result?
Scoring this year is about the sametheyre 63rd nationally at 74.7 points per game. But theyre 72nd in defense, allowing 62.5 points per game.
That remarkable transformationallowing 21 points per game fewer than a year agois the difference between an enormously disappointing and underachieving 2011 team and one with legitimate NCAA aspirations.
We sat down with Giannini in his office at Hayman Hall on Wednesday and chatted about his team, his players and the programs chances at reaching the NCAA tournament for the first time in two decades.
After going 18-13 in 2009, how disappointing were the last two years, going 12-18 and 15-18 with so much talent?
Two years ago, we were picked to be one of the best teams in the A-10, we had a great senior class and we had 3,000 points injured. Last year, it looked like we should have a really great team, we recruited great talent that didnt work out. Im the exact opposite of the general public. Im not surprised were good now, Im surprised we werent really good the last two years.
Whats the difference between this year and last year?
The difference between this year and the last two years is that were healthy and our chemistry is tremendous. We really have great kids, they want to win, theyre willing to play defense, theyre willing to share the ball, they like each other, we have excellent guard play, we have excellent depth, we have really good foot speed that allows us to be aggressive defensively, so theres a lot to like about this team. Weve always had talent, but weve had injuries and chemistry issues. Theyve really proven themselves in terms of their commitment and their unselfishness and their consistency in effort.
What kind of affect did last year have on this group?
These guys are really good people and I think they were frustrated by a lack of leadership and a lack of chemistry on last years team and when good people are frustrated and its their turn to take a leadership role theyre going to do their best to make things better, and thats what this group is going.
Is this year sweeter because of last year?
It was a frustrating year because we really could have been a high-level team, thats the frustration, but its not like we were terrible. Its not like we won two games or six games or 11 games. We won 15 games, and I dont condemn a team or a season or a coach because they won 15 games. But we werent as good as we should have been, and everyone knows that, and it does make it more fun when you get to enjoy the way things should be after going through a frustrating time.
How badly does this team want to be the one to end the NCAA drought?
We definitely talk about trying to get to the tournament. We talk about that an awful lot. Thats a huge goal for us. The numbers show that anywhere from four to eightbut its less than 10non-BCS schools tend to get at-large bids every year. So youre talking about 10 schools from throughout the BCS, 10 schools out of 220 or so. I think the casual fan looks at the NCAA tournament and says, OK, theres 68 teams now, but the system is so geared toward the BCS people, and they take the majority of those spots and if youre not in a BCS league the odds are really against you.
Being in the Atlantic 10 is a blessing and a curse. It usually sends several teams to the tournament, but its so competitive, there arent many easy nights.
Our league is the best non-football league there is in the country, and well get three or four teams in the NCAA tournament just about every year. Now, try to be in the top three or four out of this 14-team league. Not easy. Theres nine top-100 teams right now, I think most of the league has 10 or more wins. The reason I came to this league is because every year they have three or four ranked teams and everyones good and its high-level basketball. We basically need to get into the top three or four of the A-10 and I think thats attainable, but when you look at who you have to beat night in and night out. We just beat a Xavier team that was top-10 nationally, then we played U. Mass - -12-3now we play Dayton, who has a ton of great wins and is 12-4 and I think 14 in RPI, then we go to Temple, who just beat Duke and has a great recordand thats night in and night out in this league. So yeah, its attainable, but you have to prove it. Youre not going to make it based on your name or padding up a bunch of wins in non-conference. Youve got to get in the A-10 and youve got to survive the onslaught of competition night in and night out and get in that top three or four. The league is a killer. What were trying to do is hard. Its hard for everybody in this league.
Youve said this is a special team. What makes these guys special?
It sounds like a cliche, but they really are just nice, good kids. Theres not a bad bone in their body, they treat each other great, they treat everyone else well, they listen, they want to be successful.
Have your recent experiences changed the way you recruit?
I know moving forward that we need to be even more vigilant in recruiting and just keep that type of kid who is a winner and a positive person for his teammates. We really have to try to keep it that way. This league ... the talent is so equal. Usually you might have a really great team in first and a really rebuilding team in 14th, but two through 13 the talent in this league is equal. The difference between two and 13 are things like experience, toughness, execution, effort, chemistry, and when you have highly motivated kids that are unselfish and want to win, all those things are easier to attain. We all in the A-10 have very similar talent. But again, it comes down to the intangibles, and that depends on the people involved. I just have good kids. I wish I could make it more complex than that, but whether theyre going to class or having dinner with someone or going to practice, they just try to do the right thing.
What kind of kid are you looking for?
We really from Day 1 here tried to get good kids and passed on a lot of people, and what I learned is that I dont need good kids, I need great kids. A good kid is someone who is not in trouble in todays society, but it doesnt necessarily mean they come to practice early and they stay late, it doesnt necessarily mean theyll cheer for someone else on the bench and not sit there and feel bad for themselves. It doesnt necessarily mean theyll be more concerned with winning the game than their own personal statistics. What I need are great kids. The kids that are willing to look past themselves and really just be a good person, day in and day out, and right now I have great kids. It doesnt take much to offset chemistry. Its much easier to field a highly talented team than it is to field a team that cares about the group more than themselves. Self-interest rules the world. I dont care if its kids, adults, what profession you talk about, and in sports you have to try to sublimate that self-interest, and its very hard to do. Right now, we have it right, and well try to keep it that way. We only have one senior, and we really think we can have this core group intact this year and the next two years.
What do you like best about this team?
The best thing about this team has been their consistency of effort. Weve been pretty consistent throughout the year and hopefully it continues. On the one hand, Im not sure weve gotten better. On the other hand, I think weve been pretty consistently good, especially with our effort and defense from day one. Im not sure they like to defend, but they really want to defend because they really want to win, and they just know that defense is a part of it.
Where does that come from?
From last year and our talent. We were the second-leading scorer in A-10 games and the 21st-leading scoring team in the country. And we played a tough schedule. It takes a lot of talent to score almost 80 points a game, but we were so poor defensively it just didnt matter. These guys, they hated that. Theyve taken that to heart and its great that they care that way and theyre motivated that way and theyve applied these lessons to this season. We could score. We had talent. But we didnt do those other things. We didnt defend and we turned the ball over . That really shows you. We didnt play great team ball, lot of turnovers, and we still scored over 80 points a game. That speaks to the talent. Were surprised at the last two years. Were not surprised at what this team is doing. Everyone else is. But we knew we had good players.
E-mail Reuben Frank at rfrank@comcastsportsnet.com