By Ed Morrone

Perhaps the success of the 2007-08 Hofstra men’s basketball team should be measured under the slogan, “If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.”

OK, maybe that’s a little far-fetched, but you can’t blame head coach Tom Pecora for thinking a bit like Patches O’Houlihan from Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story after the team’s first week of practices.

“Our first five practices have looked a lot more like a dodgeball game out there than basketball,” said Pecora from CAA Media Day Wednesday in the nation’s capital, where his team was picked to finish fifth in the conference, one year removed from being selected as the favorites.

But for those of you who are eagerly looking forward to the Nov. 10 season opener at Holy Cross, don’t use Pecora’s words as a reason to hit the panic button already. In fact, for this team, having little to no expectations is probably a good thing.

Before we discuss the elephant in the room that is the upcoming season, let’s rewind a little bit and look at the 2006-07 campaign that was undoubtedly the most disappointing in the past three years. Sure, the Pride won 22 games, the third straight season under Pecora that Hofstra has won 20-plus games. But so much more was expected from a team spearheaded by Loren Stokes, Carlos Rivera and Antoine Agudio, which is why a loss in the CAA Tournament quarterfinals as well as a first round exit in the NIT was so unquestionably disappointing.

The main problem that Hofstra team faced was that yes, they did have three of the best players in the conference, but after that the cupboard was pretty much bare. Too much was expected from inexperienced guys like Zygis Sestokas, Mike Davis-Sabb and Chris Gadley (who has since transferred to Canisius), all of whom had underwhelming seasons for the Pride.

So with that being said and knowing that Stokes and Rivera, two of the most prolific players in program history, are gone, how on earth can an NCAA appearance be possible for this team, one that returns Agudio but not much else that the casual fan would be excited about?

Well, for starters, the frontcourt is bigger and much deeper. If you’ll remember, 6-10 redshirt freshman Greg Washington was supposed to step in last season and help make the loss of Adrian Uter and Aurimas Kieza not appear extremely noticeable. However, Washington struggled with academic ineligibility issues and never stepped on the court for Hofstra. His return, as well as the addition of junior college players Dane Johnson (6-10, 290) and Darren Townes (6-7, 210) should take major pressure off guys like Davis-Sabb and Sestokas and allow them to return to their natural position as role players.

“Gregory is a great shooter for someone his size and can play away from the basket,” Pecora said. “Dane’s got great work habits and both of these guys give us the shot blockers we’ve lacked since Adrian [Uter] left. I expect both to play major minutes right away.”

Add in a guy like Arminas Urbutis, who played fantastic down the stretch last year despite having a badly injured knee, and the frontcourt should eventually be the team’s strength.

But what about that backcourt?

For those of you having a nervous breakdown over the loss of Stokes and Rivera, Pecora hears you. But he’s also extremely excited about some new faces that could turn out to be very talented players.

There’s Nathaniel Lester, a 6-4 freshman from Brooklyn who will be wearing Stokes’ No. 1 jersey, a young man that many considered to be the top recruit in New York City. There’s also redshirt freshman Charles Jenkins, who was held out of games last season but often looked very good in practice. Throw in Greg Johnson and Agudio’s 1,664 career points (he’s well on pace to break the all-time record of 2,222, which has stood since a fellow named Steve Nisenson did it from 1962-66) and you’ve got the necessary ingredients for a very potent offense.

Above all, Pecora is preaching patience, with both his players and the fans. It may not all come together right away, but the seventh-year head coach doesn’t think that ever-elusive NCAA Tournament berth (none since 2001 when Jay Wright still coached in Hempstead) is as far away on the horizon as some might think.

“We’re preaching the ‘Early pain, Late Gain’ motto,” said the always-philosophical Pecora. “We might take some on the chin in our non-conference games, especially because we’ve got five first-year players who are all going to get significant minutes off the bat.”

Now wait a minute. Before you jump off that ledge, let the coach finish.

“But I’m excited about this season, big time,” Pecora said. “It’s going to be a challenging one for both the players and me as a coach. We haven’t been this big and this deep in awhile, but I think that’s a good problem to have.”

So go ahead, count out the 2007-08 Hofstra Pride all you want. For a team that underachieved mightily last season and is now without two of its best players, this type of reception was pretty much inevitable.

But before you completely write them off, just remember the VCU Rams of last year, the team that knocked off Duke in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and nearly did the same to Pitt in the second round. Their preseason projected finish at last year’s Media Day? Sixth.

So maybe Hofstra isn’t drifting aimlessly in the uncharted waters we’re all rushing to put them in. After all, nobody expected the Average Joes to accomplish much of anything in Dodgeball, but they ended up knocking off White Goodman’s heavily-favored Globo Gym team in the championship.

A fictional movie, sure, but just the kind of underdog story this Hofstra team is facing.