Men's Basketball | October 10, 2023

Editor's Note: Eyes on the Explorers is a six-part feature series that will take a look at the top storylines about the La Salle men's basketball team heading into the 2023-24 season. 
 
PHILADELPHIA — Fran Dunphy has seen a lot of things in his 31 years of being a head coach in college basketball. He's coached 17 teams that went on to make the NCAA Tournament and he's five wins shy of 600 for his career, something only 65 other coaches have done in their career.
 
If you ask the La Salle men's basketball head coach what's more important between making the NCAA Tournament or having 600 career wins, he doesn't hesitate.
 
"If we could somehow figure out a way to get into the NCAA Tournament, that would be meaningful," Dunphy says. "That would mean we played fantastic basketball and we've been good in our league and we've represented ourselves well and that's been a tough task to do those kinds of things over the years."
 
Winning 600 games not only signals the kind of success that was had by a particular coach, but it also symbolizes the longevity of one's coaching career and for Dunphy entering his 32^nd season as a head coach, he thinks his age has helped him in some aspects.
 
"I think I'm getting more patient the older I get," said Dunphy, who is in his second season as the Explorers' head coach "I think I'm giving our players more ownership and being more attentive to every detail they seem to need, but hopefully we're getting better and the older you get the wiser you hopefully get.
 
"Everything's not going to be perfect all the time but let's make it as good as it could be."
 
Making it "as good as it could be" will be an interesting task for the Explorers, who have a good mix of new players and returning guys from a 2022-23 roster that reached the A-10 Tournament quarterfinals.
 
Led by the dynamic backcourt duo of Jhamir Brickus and Khalil Brantley, the Explorers have a great foundation in the guard department and perhaps one of the better backcourts in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Anwar Gill and Daeshon Shepherd return as uber athletes solidifying the wing position. Rokas Jocius showed flashes in his freshman year last season manning the middle and will look to be a key player of this Explorers team.
 
Andres Marrero and Jorge Sanchez-Ramos will be key contributors this season and showed promise in the minutes they were given last year.
 
Along with those six guys, the Explorers bring back Charles Ireland, Tommy Gardler, Lucas Mercandino and Ryan Zan.
 
The Explorers also have brought in four new guys to the 2023-24 team.
 
Efe Tahmaz and Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi, from Turkey and Sweden respectively, are both 6-foot-8, 210 pounds and look to make an impact this season.
 
Milos Kovacevic is a transfer from Highland Community College and Belgrade, Serbia who brings much needed size to this Explorers roster. Jay Joseph is a walk-on from Montgomery County Community College.
 
Needless to say, there will be a lot of fresh faces on the court for the Explorers this season, but with that comes a new and exciting time to be a La Salle fan.
 
"There's a lot of opportunity out there so I think everybody has made strides," Dunphy said. "We'll just see how that all pans out in terms of making good decisions on the courts, making shots, being the best defender and rebounder they could be but all sorts of things go into putting people on the court, those guys coming back from last year's team might learn how I do things and how our staff does things, so we're moving along full speed ahead and looking forward to the challenge."
 
While the fans or the media might be focusing on the potential of Dunphy's 600^th win, he's only focused on one thing heading into the season.
 
"I'm thinking about Drexel at home (on Tuesday, Nov. 7) because they beat us in overtime last year and if we can get that one then we'll be on to the next one and wherever we go, we go," Dunphy said.
 
Season tickets for the 2023-24 campaign for the men's basketball team are on sale now. Fans can purchase season tickets by visiting goexplorers.com/tickets or calling 215-951-1999.