October 23, 2007 - Two Broncs on Men’s Preseason Teams, Thompson Player of Year
October 23, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
College Basketball-MAAC Media Day
Two Broncs on Men’s Preseason Teams, Thompson Player of Year
NEW YORK, NY—The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference held its annual Basketball Media Day Tuesday and Rider University senior Jason Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape) was named the Preseason Player of the Year.
Thompson was named to the Preseason First Team All-MAAC and junior Harris Mansell (Cheltenham, Pa./Cheltenham) was named to the Third Team All-MAAC.
“The Preseason award is nice, and I would like to thank the coaches who voted for me,” Thompson said at the luncheon, held at Madison Square Garden. “The post-season award is more important. The post-season Player of the Year usually comes from the championship team, and that’s my first goal, to help Rider win a Championship.”
The Rider men’s team was picked to finish fourth in the 10-team league. Siena was the choice to win the MAAC in 2008, followed by Loyola and Niagara.
The Rider women were picked to finish tenth under new head coach Lynn Milligan. Marist, the defending champion who reached the 2007 Sweet 16, was picked to win the MAAC women’s title.
Rider’s All-American candidate, Thompson earned First Team All-Met, Second Team NABC All-District 3, was the MAAC Defensive Player of the Year and was a member of the CollegeInsider.com 2007 Mid-Major All-American team last season.
“We have a marquee player but we also have a great supporting cast around him that goes eight, nine deep,” said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. “We are not a one-man team. Jason certainly gets a lot of attention because he is having such a storied career, but this is a team with many quality players.”
One of those quality players is Mansell, who started 30 games last season and led the MAAC in three-point field goal percentage and was sixth in the conference in three-pointers made. “Harris’ development has really pleased me,” said Dempsey. “After struggling at times as a freshman he really got it in gear between his freshman and sophomore years and last year he took a big step forward. His next step now is to become an All-MAAC player. For us to be where we want to be at the end of the year, we need Harris to play like an all-league guard and I think he is ready to do that.” Mansell was third on the team in scoring, third in rebounding and third in assists last year.
Thompson, who enters his senior year with 1,346 career points, 11th highest ever at Rider, and 759 rebounds, sixth highest ever at Rider, is a 6’11” forward who is the only player in Division I who is coming off a 20 point, 10 rebound per game season. “The most important thing is that he has prepared himself for this year,” Dempsey said. “He’s worked. He’s had his best off-season of preparation since he’s been in the program. He’s a little bit hungrier this year.”
The Broncs return four starters from the only Division I team in New Jersey to finish above .500 last season, led Thompson, Mansell, junior Lamar Johnson and sophomore Ryan Thompson.
Johnson started the final 13 games of last season and now has 25 college starts under his belt. “Lamar has gotten a lot stronger,” Dempsey said. “He’s made as significant a gain physically as anyone else. We’re trying to expand Lamar’s game. He’s a jump shooter but with the added strength he’ll be able to become a better defender, be able to finish better around the basket and become a little more versatile for his last two seasons.” Johnson averaged 10.8 points per 40 minutes played last season.
Ryan Thompson started 23 games as a Rider rookie, including the final five of the season and ranked in the top 15 in the MAAC in assists, rebounds and steals. “I expect Ryan to make the biggest leap from one year to the next this year,” said Dempsey. “He has gotten a lot stronger and he’s a hard worker. I think he was disappointed in the way his freshman year ended and I expect him to respond to that. He’s a driven kid.” Among MAAC rookies Thompson was second in rebounding, second in free throw percentage, fourth in assists, sixth in steals and ninth in scoring last year.
The 2007-2008 season begins November 10 at Murray State. The home opener is November 17 against the University of Delaware. The non-conference portion of the schedule is highlighted with three nationally televised games at the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Florida. The first game at the Old Spice Classic is Thanksgiving Day at 2pm against North Carolina State.
The MAAC portion of the schedule is highlighted by an ESPN2 game at Siena February 2 and an ESPNU game in the Broncs’ Zoo February 29. Rider also hosts Iona January 21 in a MAAC TV game.
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