When Tom Pecora was mulling over his future, whether to leave Hofstra for Fordham two years ago, a major part of his hesitation was the players he would be leaving behind.
Two of them — city products UMass point guard Chaz Williams and St. Joseph’s forward Halil Kanacevic — have developed just as he envisioned when Pecora landed them at Hofstra, crowns jewels to his recruiting class.
Now juniors, they were predicted by Atlantic 10 coaches to be a few of the best players in the conference on Thursday during the league’s media day at the Barclays Centers in downtown Brooklyn, and keys to their respective teams, both picked to finish in the top four of the A-10.
“It speaks volumes for how good those kids are as players,” said Pecora, who is entering his third season at Fordham. “Chaz is one, if not the best, point guards in the league and Halil is probably the best passing big man in the league.”
Williams, a Brooklyn native who attended Bishop Ford, emerged late last year, leading UMass to the NIT semifinals and finished with impressive season averages of 16.9 points, 6.2 assists and 4.4 rebounds. The diminutive yet explosive 5-foot-9 guard was named to the All-Atlantic 10 first team and is a favorite of many to be the league’s Player of the Year. He is particularly important to the Minutemen’s success, the engine to head coach Derek Kellogg’s up-tempo attack.
“The best thing about the kid is he just brings energy to practice every day, he gets guy to play, he loves being in the gym,” Kellogg said. “He brings an edge to the team. You see this 5-9 guy with 6-7, 6-8 guys and he’s the leader. … There’s not another guy in the country I would rather have for how we play and we do things than Chaz. He’s really brought an identity to our program. He’s a tailor-made fit.”
Kanacevic, a Staten Island product from Curtis High School, is one of the conference’s top passing forwards, arguably its most versatile big man and made the third team. He tallied 8.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists last winter.
“We don’t have a guy who studies the game harder, we don’t have a guy who wants to win more,” St. Joe’s head coach Phil Martelli said. “With the balance that we have, when you think about it, he’s our sixth-leading scorer but arguably could be as invaluable a piece that we have. I enjoy the heck out of him.”
Williams and Kanacevic enjoyed solid freshmen seasons for Pecora at Hofstra, a solid inside-outside combo that worked well in support of star Charles Jenkins. Pecora has remained close with the two, calling them “my guys.”
He couldn’t be happier for both of them — Pecora just hopes they take it easy on him when they cross paths this season.