Suffering through consecutive 4-24 horrific seasons to start his collegiate coaching career, St. Peter’s College third-year head coach Bob Leckie will not easily forget the nightmares he has endured during the last two years.
"I have to use it as a motivation," said Leckie, a former St. Peter’s standout during his playing days who left the highly successful Bishop Loughlin High School program in New York to take over coaching his alma mater in 2000. "We’d like to erase what happened and forget about it, but realistically, you can’t. No one likes what happened. Everyone walks away with a bad taste in their mouths. I understand it’s my job to get our players to play better, to recruit better players. I think we’ve done that."
Although the Peacocks started off their 2002-2003 campaign with a lopsided 87-48 loss to No. 10 ranked Xavier Monday night in the first round of the Preseason NIT in Cincinnati, Leckie truly believes that this year’s team is vastly improved over the back-to-back disasters.
"We’ve brought in some players who I think will help us right away," Leckie said. "The players who have returned have shown improvement. I don’t believe I’ve ever had a problem motivating teams to play hard. We just have to get better. Then, if there’s a reason for losing, it’s me. You have to blame me."
Leading the returnees is senior swingman Corien John, who led the Peacocks in scoring (12.8 points per game) and rebounding (7.2 per contest) a year ago, despite being only 6-4.
"He possesses all the things you need in a player," Leckie said. "He’s worked hard on his jump shot and he should have a good year."
John is also looking forward to making last year’s nightmare a part of ancient history.
"We’re tired of losing," John said. "No one wants to play for a loser. Everyone has come back with a different attitude. We’re aggressive and hungry. It’s a different mental approach. I think everyone’s on the same page."
The Peacocks also welcome back three other players who saw significant action last year in 6-6 senior forward Devin Thompson (8.1 points, 5.6 rebounds per game last season), 6-5 senior swingman Melvin Robinson (8.9 points) and 6-5 junior guard Regis Devonish (5.1 points).
Thompson is the Peacocks’ most athletic performer and phenomenal leaper who also worked diligently over the summer months, developing more of a perimeter game. He scored 21 points and had 22 rebounds in the team’s lone exhibition contest.
"If we can get him to play within himself, he should be a good player," Leckie said of Thompson.
Robinson has had moments of brilliance during his career, but has been relatively inconsistent. Leckie says that Robinson arrived to training camp in "the best shape of his life," and is looking to be more consistent with his shooting.
Devonish is a 3-point threat who led the team in 3-pointers in each of the last two seasons.
The Peacocks will try to get more production from the center position, where a pair of 6-11 players returns in senior Drew Dudley and junior Amir Ali. Neither was too effective last year, with Dudley scoring 4.1 points per game and Ali, who started most of the season, scoring 2.1 points per outing.
Leckie is very high on three newcomers to the St. Peter’s roster. Sophomore Ivan Bozovic comes to the Peacocks by way of Croatia and the 6-9 forward has the potential to be one of the best players St. Peter’s has ever had.
"He’s a little rusty, because he hasn’t had competition for the last two years," Leckie said. "But Ivan has good range, good court awareness and can rebound."
Freshman point guard Keydren "Keekee" Clark will be given the reins to running the Peacocks’ attack. The 5-8 Clark is a product of the famed Rice program, where he scored 13 points per game for the nationally ranked team from New York. Clark has the potential to be the best point guard St. Peter’s has had since Jersey City native Jasper Walker played there (1987-1991).
"He has the keys to the gym already," Leckie said. "He’s going to make me look like a decent coach. He makes everyone better."
The third prominent rookie is 6-4 freshman guard George Jefferson, who was the leading scorer in New York’s public schools’ league last year, averaging 29 points per game for Automotive High School. Jefferson was in the mix to play right away, until he broke a bone in his hand and will miss significant time to start the season and may eventually red-shirt.
So the pieces are in place for a vastly improved team. However, there still is one missing ingredient.
"As good as I feel, we’re still lacking something," Leckie said. "That’s wins. It’s what this program needs more than anything. We have to win."
That’s for certain. – Jim Hague