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St. John's play NJIT on 12/21/06. This is the first year that the NJIT Men's basketball team is participating in Division I. They started the seaon with wins over Manhattan and Rider but have lost 8 in a row since then. The game against St. John's will be their Superbowl for this season and it is even highlighted in their media guide. This is not a total cupcake and SJT cannot afford to treat them as such.
The following is the season outlook as published in their media guide. Link to download the full media guide is below.
2006-07 OUTLOOK
NEW JERSEY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 2006-07 Men’s Basketball
There are few givens for New Jersey
Institute of Technology men’s basketball as
the Highlanders enter a new era in 2006-07.
The reason is simple—NJIT is competing
against an NCAA Division I schedule for the
first time.
Veteran head coach Jim Casciano has a roster
that is about evenly divided between veterans
and players in either their first or second
year of college competition. There are
two seniors, four juniors, three sophomores
and five freshmen on the roster. None have played for or against a Division I team.
For Casciano, the latest turn completes a
circle that began when he was a volunteer
assistant at Villanova under legendary Rollie
Massimino in 1974-75. Along the way,
Casciano has made head coaching stops at
every level of men’s college basketball.
He was a head coach in junior college and at the
four-year level in the NAIA, NCAA Division
III and NCAA Division II and now he leads
NJIT’s reclassification to NCAA Division I.
Although he has never faced a challenge
exactly like this one, a common thread in
Casciano’s career has been rebuilding programs.
Critical in the rebuilding has been the
ability to stay focused on the elements of
sound basketball. That experience will surely
come in handy as NJIT makes its way starting
in November.
“Going to Division I, everything is magnified,”
said Casciano. “The kids have embraced
the challenge and we need to find out quickly
who is capable of playing at this level and
then to go out and find players who will complement
them. I am optimistic that we have
guys who are capable of playing at this level.”
The seniors, Clayton Barker and Marc
Milbourne Swan, are two of the program’s
best from its Division II era.
Barker, a 5-10 dynamo, was one of the
East’s top Division II guards, averaging 21.9
points per game (12th in the nation), while
adding 92 assists and 53 steals. He was in the
national rankings for three-point field goals
per game, steals per game and three-point
field goal percentage.
He is eighth on the NJIT career scoring list
with 1,328 points and he rang out the
Division II era in style, dropping in a schoolrecord
45 points in last year’s finale.
He is quick and strong, with the ability to
create his own shot off the dribble, combined
with excellent range. “The talent and competitiveness
of Clayton Barker will be central to
what we do,” said Casciano. “We’re not
expecting the same numbers as in Division II,
but he is ready for the challenge.
“It can’t start and end with him. The others
need to make normal improvement and we
need some luck to avoid the nagging injuries
that depleted us the last couple of years.”
Complementing Barker inside is
Milbourne Swan, who, at 6-5, 215, will give
up size on most nights as the power forward.
His strength and interior moves have allowed
him to make more than 60 percent of his
career shots. Last season, Milbourne Swan
shot 66 percent (127 of 192) and averaged
12.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. He
enters his final season with 982 career points
and 453 rebounds.
“As a sophomore, when Clayton was hurt,
Marc accepted the go-to role and he had a
strong year,” Casciano noted. “Last year, he
had a bit of a slump and this year we need
him to be more consistent and provide us
with inside scoring and leadership.”
The third double-figure scorer a year ago
was wiry 6-foot-5 swingman Kraig Peters
(11.7 ppg). He has good all-around skills and
gets his points in bunches. Casciano said:
“Kraig has been at the forefront of embracing
the Division I challenge and he has worked
extremely hard.”
Junior guard Courcy Magnus is another
important veteran. After averaging 4.6 points
as a freshman, he more than doubled that to
9.8 ppg as a sophomore. The slender combo
guard was second on the 2005-06
Highlanders in three-pointers made (51) and
in assists (71) and steals (39).
Among those who are equipped for the
upward move is junior Kyle Edwards, who
has improved steadily and was second last
year in rebounding (4.9 rpg). “Kyle is capable
of a breakout year,” said the coach. “He’s
had some knee problems, but he got that
cleaned up and we are looking forward to
what he can do.”
Redshirt freshman Dan Stonkus gives the
Highlanders legitimate Division I size (6-9,
250). He should make an immediate impact
on defense and under the boards, while continuing to develop his offensive game.
“He was really our first Division I
recruit,” Casciano noted. “He was redshirted
with the idea of playing his whole career
in Division I, plus it fit academically with
his engineering major. He has a tremendous
attitude and work habits and (assistant
coaches) Jeff (Sonnema) and Wendell
(Alexis) are excellent teachers and role
models. We are going to ask (Stonkus) to
play a lot of quality minutes.”
Last year’s freshmen were slowed by various
injuries and illnesses. Still, they got valuable
game experience. Swingman Johnathan
Dixon was a reserve in 19 games. Alex Stone
was in 18 games and Michael Manning, who
was in three games, got the year back as an
injury redshirt.
Dixon is a good athlete who will compete
as a swingman when he returns from preseason
surgery. Stone, will try to rebound from a
freshman year of injury and illness. “He fell
into that injury trap that’s hit us recently,”
Casciano said. “He had a great summer and
he’s in tremendous shape, so he’ll have every
opportunity to compete.”
Manning helped the team pull out a win in
its first game, but was lost for the season just
two games later. “Mike Manning has a D I
mentality and he knows how to play the
game,” said Casciano. “He makes plays—he
sees things and he can shoot the ball.”
Junior Brett Johnson, who has spent most
of his two-year career backing up in the post,
will move to the perimeter this year.
Nemanja “Nesho” Milosevic, a native of
Bar,Montenegro, is a new sophomore. The 6-
foot-8 European played one season of junior
college ball in California.“He’s coming into a
new system,” the coach noted. “But he gives
us a big man with perimeter skills, so I could
see him helping us as a ‘4’ or at the ‘3’.”
Freshman Andrew Engel will compete with
the sophomore Alex Stone to be Barker’s
prime backup at point guard. Engel was
Player of the Year in Anne Arundel County
below Baltimore. Casciano said: “He’s
unselfish, has a great basketball IQ and when
I saw him in person, he showed the ability to
feed the post and shoot from the perimeter.
Like any new player, it’s always a question of
how quickly do they adjust, but if he handles
it, he can be a tremendous benefit to us.”
The other two new freshmen are slender
(6-7, 190) forward Dan Lewis, an Associated
Press all-state player in Pennsylvania, and
walk-on big man Alat-Eldin Ahmed, who is
6-8, 250.
The schedule tips off on November 11 with
a visit to defending Metro Atlantic Athletic
Conference regular season champion
Manhattan, which made headlines with a win
at Maryland in the 2006 NIT.
The Highlanders play their first Division I
home game against another MAAC school,
Rider, on November 14 at 7 pm.
The November and December schedule
will find the Highlanders playing most of
their games in the northeast, including a
marquee road contest at St. John’s, where
NJIT will play on campus in Carnesecca
Arena on December 21.
Just before the new year, NJIT will head to
Florida for the UCF Tournament in Orlando
on December 29 and 30. That will be the second
of two tournaments for the Highlanders,
who will also play in Columbia’s tournament
on November 17 and 18.
They will play home-and-home with
MAAC member Siena (home on Nov. 27;
away on Jan. 23). The Highlanders will also
face two service academies—at Army on
December 6 and home against Navy on
January 2.
They have home games against two
America East members (Dec. 1 vs.Maine and
Dec. 11 vs. Stony Brook) and against
Lafayette of the Patriot League (Dec. 4), plus
games at Cornell of the Ivy League (Jan. 7)
and La Salle of the Atlantic 10 (Jan. 16).
The frequent flyer miles will start to kick in
with a January 13 game in Ft. Wayne,
Indiana, against IPFW (which will play at
NJIT on Feb. 17). February and March also
include home-and-home matchups with
Utah Valley State (away, Feb. 1; home, Feb.
24), Texas Pan American (away, Feb. 3; home,
Feb. 26), South Dakota State (home, Feb. 8;
away, March 3) and North Dakota State
(home, Feb. 10; away, March 1), plus a road
game on February 19 at Longwood in
Virginia (Longwood visits NJIT on Jan. 10).
Note: Full Media Guide download. PDF format
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