Fordham Men’s Basketball is coming off a season like no other.
The team’s 2024-25 campaign included a six-game losing streak, the suspension of its head coach, an eight-game losing streak, a second-round exit in the Atlantic 10 (A-10) Tournament, the firing of its head coach and the release of an NCAA probe that uncovered years of recruiting violations and levied major penalties on the program — it wasn’t how the team envisioned becoming a national storyline in the college basketball universe.
Seven months later, with a fresh coaching staff and a brand-new roster, the Rams are generating a different kind of buzz.
A rhythmic pitter-patter echoes through the 101-year-old Rose Hill Gym. On the arena’s hallowed hardwood are 17 student-athletes, drenched in sweat, competing in a drill as though it’s the final possession of the national championship. They’re being guided from the sidelines by Mike Magpayo, the team’s new head coach, who accepted the role after five years of unprecedented success at University of California, Riverside (UCR).
Dribbling the ball is graduate student Dejour Reaves, the projected starting point guard, a preseason all-A-10 third team selection and former first-team all-conference standout at Iona University.
“[It’s] definitely an exciting feeling,” remarked Reaves after the workout, Fordham’s first official practice period of the 2025-26 season. “From stretching to the end of practice it was very intense. [It’s a] very good group of guys.”
The loudest voice belongs to junior Jameson O’Toole, a walk-on with just 15 minutes in his first two years as a Ram — he is now the team’s longest-tenured player.
“It’s, as some people would call it, Christmas morning,” said a smiling O’Toole after practice.
While his impact is felt more often from the bench than on the court, O’Toole is embracing his role as the bridge between the program’s existing culture of attitude and accountability and its new identity under Coach Magpayo’s leadership.
“t was like every time I’d check Instagram, I got a new teammate,” joked O’Toole about a stretch in which the team signed 10 players in a span of five weeks. Magpayo had a shortened window to rebuild a roster that saw all but two of its scholarship players leave after the ’24-’25 season.
In five weeks, Magpayo managed to assemble a team with all-conference pedigree at just about every level: high school, international leagues, Junior College, D-II, D-I — you name it.
Magpayo, the first-ever Filipino D-I men’s basketball coach, has orchestrated a roster as diverse as any in the nation.
Fordham’s ’25-’26 team has three former UCR players, two Hawaii University transfers, a D-II standout, a Japan native, three Australians, a German and a Frenchman, among others.
“We’ve meshed very well,” O’Toole reflected. “One of the things he stressed in the spring and coming into the summer was [that] he wanted guys that wanted to be at Fordham.”
“If you want to be here, you’re going to be here. If you don’t, then you’ve got to hit the road,” said Reaves. “But when we came in here, everybody was willing to work.”
Thus, in two months, and after a series of events that the best scriptwriter couldn’t have fathomed, 17 athletes were united at a program described by many as a sleeping giant in the mecca of the basketball world. Their shared mission is clear: to win.
“Coach Mike, he’s a winning coach. I mean, he won at his previous school, UCR. So just being around a winning culture, that’s what I want to be a part of,” said Reaves.
Magpayo’s club enters the year projected last in the A-10 preseason poll; the overhaul he’s conducting is unprecedented, and for now, the payoff is unknown.
“It’s a fascinating experiment,” said the California-born coach. “It’ll be magic if we can connect and really learn how to play together and put it all together.”
To do so, Fordham will need to maximize a homecourt advantage that’s as much of an asset as any player. Due to its old architecture and small size, the Rose Hill Gym can feel as loud and overwhelming as any arena in the country. But as with everything else, winning comes first.
“You’ve got to put a winning product on the floor first and a product that people appreciate,” said Magpayo. “We had a 14-1 record at home at UCR this year, and [we had] the best home crowds … you have to win for them to come.”
Fordham has a chance to turn Rose Hill into ‘Rose Thrill’ early, with a home-heavy non-conference schedule chock-full of favorable matchups. If the team gels as well during games as they have during practices, Magpayo will have engineered the most improbable of rebuilds, putting the Fordham Men’s Basketball program back into the spotlight — this time around, for the right reasons.
