The Fordham Rams were given a hero’s sendoff as they walked off the floor at Barclays on Saturday afternoon. They had just come up short against Dayton in the A-10 Tournament semifinals, but after a year in which the men’s basketball program took massive steps in the right direction, they were well earned.
The Rams completed their first 20-win season since 1990-91, finished above .500 for the first time since 2016 and spent most of the season playing in front of sold-out crowds at Rose Hill Gymnasium up in the Bronx. There may even be an NIT bid in Fordham’s future, which would mean their season would go on a little longer.
While it may have been hard to reflect on what this season meant for the program after Saturday’s loss, head coach Keith Urgo may have said it best.
“We’re a winning program now,” Urgo said. “Fordham hasn’t had a losing season in two years now. So there’s expectations of winning now.”
The building blocks have been put in place for the Rams to be a player in the college basketball landscape in New York City going forward. Urgo kept the program on track after Kyle Neptune departed after last season to take over at Villanova and transfers Khalid Moore and Darius Quisenberry helped lead the team on the court.
The two also showed that Fordham can be a great place for players to come to if they want to play closer to home. Moore, an Elmont native, played four years at Georgia Tech before coming to the Bronx for his final year of eligibility.
He was one of the team’s top scorers all season and knocked down big shots during the Rams’ two conference tournament games.
“I think what he’s what he’s shown is that we’re pretty good at developing and anyone potentially looking at at a place to come home to or transfer to he’s an example of great success. His impact will be far greater than just the points and rebounds he scored here,” Urgo said.
Moore said he’ll have some time to reflect back on what he was able to accomplish this season at Fordham and where he leaves the program. The Fordham guard called the team’s two games at Barclays Center a “dream come true.”
Now Fordham will begin to turn the page and look to the future. Urgo told reporters after Saturday’s loss that his team will be ready to go and that “this isn’t just a one-hit-wonder.”
The program will have several guys back next season that has now gone through the ups and downs, and knows how to win. That includes freshman guard Will Richardson, who played in both tournament games last week and had 16 points against Dayton.
“Will’s done nothing his entire career but win,” Urgo said. “These young guys had great examples. The kid’s work ethic is absolutely through the roof and so are the rest of our young guys. So there’s no question throughout the year, he continued to get better, just like the entire team did and these guys expect to come back and do something really special.”
