New coach earns first win over Lafayette; plays well against No. 9 Seton Hall
The final score may have read, Seton Hall 104, St. Peter’s 85, after Monday night’s game at the Continental Airlines Arena, a loss that dropped the Peacocks’ early season record to 1-3.
Seems like old times? No way.
Just four games into his coaching career at his alma mater, Bob Leckie has already done something that was not evident in the last five years at Harvard on the Boulevard. He’s made basketball exciting again.
Even with an undermanned squad of just seven scholarship players and no player taller than six-foot-six, Leckie has given St. Peter’s College a ray of hope for the future.
The Peacocks were 5-23 last year, losing their last 14 straight games under former coach Rodger Blind. After losing their first two games of the season to Boston University, then Boston College, the losing streak was at 16 games.
"I was out there on the floor for all of those games," senior Keith Sellers said. "I try hard not to think about it. It was very hard to be out there and lose every time."
Leckie knew he was up against it, when he took the job last spring. It was a program in shambles, never in worse condition. But the alumni and powers-that-be at the school convinced him to take the challenge.
The first obstacle was to get the returning players to believe. They had to buy Leckie’s "in-your-face" approach. When a player does something that Leckie doesn’t particularly like, the player is going to know – and in a hurry. Several times already, Leckie has been spotted, pulling a player over – by the jersey, in some instances – and telling exactly what it was that he did wrong.
That wasn’t the case with Blind, who was more of a tactician and a coddling influence than an enforcer. Leckie has changed that relationship between player and coach almost instantly. No buddy-buddy system here.
For example, in the closing minutes of Leckie’s first career collegiate coaching win against Lafayette last Saturday, a 76-71 victory, Daryl Boykins went in and tried a slam dunk. He missed the slam, even after Leckie told his players that they didn’t need to shoot the ball again. Even with the game tucked away, Leckie was not done coaching and he let Boykins have it.
"I told him that if he tried something like that again, he wouldn’t be able to live much longer," Leckie said.
Exactly.
"It all starts with Coach Leckie," senior Rodney Rodgers said. "He’s a hard-nosed guy who wants his teams to play hard and compete. That’s all he wants. And I think it’s trickling down to us."
If there has been one player who has benefited the most from Leckie’s arrival, it has been Rodgers, the former Paterson Catholic standout who never really found a home under Blind’s tutelage. The talented Rodgers was being shifted from position to position and role to role, never really feeling comfortable.
But now, Rodgers is flourishing under Leckie’s up-tempo style. He’s averaging close to 20 points per game, including 24 against Seton Hall. He’s doing a little bit of everything, playing inside and then roaming outside to nail three-pointers. Rodgers is finally living up to the expectations that a lot of people had for him, ever since he transferred from Drexel three years ago.
"I’ve known Rodney for a long time and we just had to make him tougher," Leckie said. "He’s putting that forward now and playing the way I knew he was capable of playing."
The overall approach has helped as well. Antoine Orr has fit in nicely as the point guard. Melvin Robinson, totally lost last year as a freshman, scored 24 against Seton Hall. Sellers, the lone consistent player a year ago, has maintained that level this year.
"Antoine is doing a great job of pushing the ball up the floor and distributing the ball," Leckie said. "They’re all unselfishly swinging the ball around. We have to create an environment that we all can live with."
On the cover of the SPC media guide, there is a picture of Leckie, along with some replicas of the headlines that featured Leckie in his playing days, when the Peacocks defeated Duke in the National Invitation Tournament to get to the Final Four of the tourney.
"Honestly, I’m sick and tired of hearing about Duke and the old days," Leckie said. "I want to create a new era. I don’t want to remember the past. I want to remember the present."
The present record stands at 1-3, but there is no cause for alarm. The Peacocks are headed in the right direction under Leckie.
They are playing fast-break basketball, exciting basketball, with crisp passing and good shot selection. Watching the Peacocks is like night and day from a year ago. You have a sense that they’re going to be more competitive, even from the first minute you enter the gym. That wasn’t the case in recent years.
Leckie has one college win. He’s bound to have several more. And he’s going to make basketball exciting again at Harvard on the Boulevard. We’ve seen proof already.