2008 Rider Broncs Preview

October 24, 2008

Everyone thinks of Philadelphia college basketball including Villanova, Temple, St. Joe’s, Penn, Drexel and La Salle. But can you think of the next closest, geographically, Division I men’s basketball program?

One may say the University of Delaware. Others may say New Jersey schools like Rutgers, Princeton or Monmouth. Someone else may say a school in central Pennsylvania like Lehigh, Lafayette, Bucknell and even Penn State. But what is the correct answer?

Upon my research, I found that Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey is in fact the closest men’s basketball Division I program to the city of Philadelphia other than the “City Six.”  Rider is only 38 miles north of Center City Philadelphia whereas Delaware, the next closest after Rider, is in fact 40 miles south of Center City. Rutgers-Camden is only a few miles over the bridge, but that campus does not have Division I sports.

So what is Rider all about?  Well the Rider Broncs appeared on the national college basketball map last season because of star forward Jason Thompson, who was drafted with the number-12 pick in this year’s NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings. But Rider University head coach Tommy Dempsey does his best to tie his program to Philadelphia basketball.

“We work hard to recruit in Philadelphia,” said Dempsey. “It’s just such a great area to recruit for Rider and people don’t realize how close we are to Philly. When I took over here, I made it a very big priority to be able to go into Philadelphia and have a presence. “

“It’s great basketball,” Dempsey continued about the city of Philadelphia. “We have a lot of good young players from Philadelphia and that’s why we put a lot of the Philly schools on the schedule. They want to play La Salle. They want to play Saint Joe’s. They want to play Villanova.”

Rider does indeed have some great players from Philadelphia. In last year’s freshmen class, Rider had forward Mike Ringgold out of Roman Catholic High School and guard Matt Griffin from Saint Joseph’s Prep. Ringgold had a breakout freshman season with 7.1 points-per-game and 4.7 rebounds-per-game and was selected to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference All-Rookie team.

But Ringgold’s front court mate from last season, Jason Thompson, has since graduated and just signed a three-year contract with the Sacramento Kings of the NBA. In the 2007-2008 season, Thompson averaged 20.4 points-per-game, 12.1 rebounds-per-game and 2.7 blocks-per-game, and led the Broncs in all three categories.

Even though Jason is gone, his little brother, Ryan Thompson, returns as a junior in the 2008-2009 season. Last year, Ryan was second on the team in scoring and rebounding with 15 points-per-game and 6.2 boards-per-game. At 6’6”, Ryan has the ability to slash to the basket, shoot the long-rang jump shot and get rebounds among the trees. Even with his great talent, Coach Dempsey wants Thompson to focus on playing the game rather than the distractions that could surround him.

“Ryan’s a great talent,” Dempsey stated about his top returning scorer. “Everybody is expecting him to be the next NBA-type player to come out of Rider and I don’t think that’s fair yet. My message to Ryan a lot of times is just to relax, be a great teammate, play hard and don’t get caught up on who is watching you.”

The starting back court from last season’s 23-11 Rider team is back for this year’s campaign. Senior guard Harris Mansell, from Chelthenham High School right outside of Philadelphia, was third on the team in scoring last season with 13.7 points-per-game. But more than that, Mansell is now the leader of this Rider Broncs team.

“(Harris) leads by example,” said Dempsey about Mansell, his lone senior starter this year. “He’s not really vocal on the court but he takes care of the locker room. I think he’s the guy on our team that everybody trusts the most. If there was one guy that had to take a shot with our season on the line, I think everyone would want it to be Harris Mansell.”

Also returning this season is sophomore point guard Justin Robinson, who showed flashes of brilliance last season and finished with averages of 6.4 points and 2.9 assists-per-contest. Robinson, along with Ringgold, were two very prized recruits for the Rider program and Coach Dempsey feels that these two talented student-athletes will step out of the shadows of Jason Thompson and shine on the court.

“One of things people don’t realize is that a lot of guys had to take a back seat to that,” Dempsey stated referring to the presence of Jason Thompson. “There’s an excitement from some of the other guys about stepping forward and showing a little more of what they’re capable of doing. Mike and Justin are the two guys that I think will take the most dramatic step forward (this season).”

Coach Tommy Dempsey loves Philadelphia basketball so much, that he went out and recruited two more of the premier Philadelphia high school basketball players for the 2008-2009 Rider Broncs squad. To boost Rider’s athleticism and size, Dempsey got 6’7” guard Novar Gadson from Bartram High School and 6’7” forward Brandon Penn from Paul Robeson High School. Coach Dempsey also recruited 6’8” forward Jermaine Jackson from Reading High in Reading, PA to complete a very talented freshman class.

The Rider Broncs had a great 2007-2008 season, largely because of Jason Thompson. Last year, the Broncs were able to knock off Penn State on a neutral court and Rutgers on the road, and played tough against both NC State and Kansas State on neutral courts. For the 2008-2009 season, Coach Tommy Dempsey put together another competitive non-conference schedule with games against three Philadelphia schools, Saint Joseph’s, La Salle and Drexel.

So even though Rider is in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, the Broncs certainly have the “Philly feel” with six players from the Philadelphia area and they will be tested against the best Philly College Hoops have to offer with three games against the “City Six.”