Nov. 14, 2007

Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi men's basketball team will open the 2007-08 season on Friday, November 16 when take on Nyack in the first round of the Dominican Tournament. The Panthers will follow that up with a game against host Dominican on November 17.

Adelphi has created a legacy that includes appearances in the past three NCAA Division II tournaments and 12 of the last 13. The Panthers finished the 2006-07 regular season with a mark of 15-12, earning the number four seed in the conference tournament. The men turned it on down the stretch, winning three straight games to capture their second straight East Coast Conference tournament title.

"Our goals and expectations have not changed, however it will be different this year because we have a lot of new players and not a lot of veterans back as in years past," Head Coach James Cosgrove stated.

Adelphi lost six players to graduation, including all five starters and all-conference performers guard Kimani Blaize and forward Mike Mosby. "We graduated a lot of very good players in the past two years but I feel we have done a great job of filling in this year, making us younger then we have been in a few years," Cosgrove said.

The Panthers graduated 85 percent of the offense from a year ago and will need their mix of new and returning players to develop chemistry early to be successful. "I feel good about our situation," Cosgrove explained. "We have just one senior on the team, and that will allow us to build around this core of players for the next few years."

This is not the first time in Cosgrove's tenure that the Panthers have had to integrate a large number of new players. After a 22-9 season and a trip to the NCAA tournament in 2002-03 Adelphi lost eight players. However Cosgrove brought in six new players and won 82 games over the next four seasons, capturing two ECC tournament titles, two regular season titles and making three NCAA tournament appearances.

Graduation hurt the Panthers on both ends of the floor, but the loss of 15.5 points a game from two-time ECC tournament MVP Blaize will be tough to replace. "Numbers wise we do not have a lot coming back and with the loss of Kimani and Mike (Mosby) people are going to have to step up," Cosgrove said. "Alvin Vivican and Sky Khaleel will need to take some more control on offense, but we also have some new guys that can step in and contribute right away in Mike McDuffie, Arjan Perovic and Chris Diasparra."

A hallmark of the Panthers prowess under Cosgrove is their defense and over the past three seasons Adelphi have won two NCAA scoring defense titles (2005, 2006) and were ranked 28th in the nation last year. That trend is likely to continue this year for Adelphi as Cosgrove has brought in strong, physical and long players who will make scoring on the Panthers even harder.

"I think we can be better on the defensive end this year then we were last season," Cosgrove stated. "We are more athletic and longer, which will allow us to get into more passing lanes and affect more shots. This year we are going to have to rely on our defense to carry us and we have the personnel to do that."

Alvin Vivican will help anchor the backcourt.

Backcourt Five players and three starters are gone from last year's backcourt. In addition to Blaize the Panthers lost the outside shooting of Samuel Jenkins (54 three-pointers made), the defensive toughness of Donnell Cummings (42 steals), the steady hand of Thomas Paul and the slashing of Anthony Noble. However, Cosgrove feels that Vivican and sophomore Oppong Agyemang are ready to step up and that his new additions are ready to step in.

"Alvin started a handful of games last year and is someone that we can rely on to be a consistent threat at both ends of the floor," Cosgrove said. Vivican made nine starts, while appearing in 29 games and averaged 3.3 points and just over 20 minutes of action a game in 2006-07.

"Arjan (Perovic) and Oppong as well as David (Akinyooye) will compete for time at the point guard spot and all three will have a hand in solidifying that position," Cosgrove stated. Agyemang made 14 appearances last year, while Perovic earned first-team all-region and Region XV tournament MVP accolades at Westchester Community College during the 2006-07 season. Akinyooye is a 6-6 guard out of Elmont High School, who will create match-up problems with his size and athletic ability at the guard spot.

Freshman Pat Luptowski is a two-time New Hampshire all-state selection that Cosgrove sees as a perimeter threat. "Pat is an outstanding shooter who could become one of the best outside threats in our league at some point in his career," Cosgrove said.

Wing players Diasparra and freshman Rich Byrd will help to cushion the loss of Noble's slashing and Mosby's rebounding. "We feel we have two outstanding wing players in Chris and Rich," Cosgrove explained. "Both players are threats at the offensive end, they both rebound well and could be two of our best defenders."

Diasparra comes to Adelphi from the Citadel and was an all-section performer at Mahopac High School. Byrd is the reigning Long Island Player of the Year and was all-league, all-conference and all-county while at Copiague High School.

Junior transfer Sebastian Kahnert rounds out Adelphi's backcourt and will add depth and versatility to an already deep bench. "Sebastian can play more then one position and will help us extend the defense with his shooting ability," Cosgrove said.

Frontcourt The frontcourt will have to deal with the loss Mosby, who was a force in the middle last year, averaging 14.6 points and 9.3 rebounds, accounting for almost a third of Adelphi's rebounds last year. "We have three veterans that need to step-up and fill Mike's shoes," Cosgrove said.

Sky Khaleel will see time in the frontcourt this season.

Senior Matt Pink, junior Sky Khaleel and sophomore Steffon Farley gained valuable experience last season as all three players saw action in 20 or more games last season and accounted for 6.6 rebounds and 7.4 points. "Sky played an important role last season and Matt and Steffon played spot roles," Cosgrove explained. "They all have a year in the program and have made significant progress. Hopefully these guys can step in and fill the void left by graduation."

McDuffie is a transfer student from Westchester Community College, where he was an all-region selection. "Mike should be a stabilizing factor in the front court and contribute and play right away," Cosgrove stated. "Mike can step out and knock down three's and he can back people down in the paint. He will step in right away and keep our front court play at a high level."

"Dan (Franchese) will also be counted on to play quality minutes this season off the bench," Cosgrove said. Franchese was an all-state selection while at Hicksville High School and was also Nassau County MVP. Fellow freshman Joe Lupo will add further depth to the team, due to his ability to play both forward and guard.

Schedule As usual the Panthers have one of the strongest schedule in the region and open the season on November 16 at the Dominican College Tournament, where they will face Nyack College and Dominican College. Adelphi also has non-conference games against NCAA participants Philadelphia University, Caldwell College and Bryant University.

"Our schedule in non-conference play is very competitive with a couple of strong Northeast-10 opponents and we have two of the top teams from the CACC on our schedule as well," Cosgrove said.

Defending their ECC tournament title will also be a battle this season as Molloy, St. Thomas Aquinas, and NYIT are all senior laden teams and New Haven and Dowling are much improved from a year ago. "The league is going to be stronger then a year ago, with several teams having a strong core of seniors and then as usual Bridgeport and C.W. Post playing at a high level," Cosgrove explained. "We have a lot of quality opponents this year and if you look up and down our schedule there are no easy wins."

The Panthers will face St. Thomas Aquinas in their home and ECC opener on November 26 at 7:00 pm. Adelphi will also hold senior night on March 1 against cross town rival C.W. Post.

"On paper we are going to be down, so we have to be ready for everyone's best this year," Cosgrove stated. "This team will have to gel together quickly because we are going to be tested from the first jump."