PITTSFORD, N.Y. – “…Dogs?” I said, thrown off, yet intrigued.
“Yeah, dogs. We gotta be tougher, we gotta be more focused, we gotta be dogs. And we’ve gotta few on this team,” said Jonathan McCaffery, the third-year guard from Webster.
The St. John Fisher Cardinal Basketball team is at an interesting place heading into their 2025-26 campaign. By record, they had their worst season in nearly 60 years, winning only seven games. Half of their losses were by only 10 points or fewer.
More than half of last season’s scoring output has walked the stage and been handed their diploma, including internet sensation and USBWA All-Rochester center, Connor “Big Cozy” Williams.
Year after year, College Basketball teams face transition on the court, but they face it off the court as well. When you are shy four players going into a new season, not only are you losing productivity on the court, but you are also losing a part of the team’s leadership, locker room dynamics and culture.
I asked McCaffery, who finds himself smackdab in the middle of the peri-and-post Big Cozy era, about what the transition has been like.
“There needed to be a switch in culture,” said McCaffery. That switch sent a shockwave across the entire Ralph C. Wilson Athletic Center.
“From the way we do things day to day, the way we lift, the way that we practice, it’s just totally different. Our mindsets have totally changed.”
McCaffery made sure to include his teammates in the “switch.” “Guys like Louis Fay, Christian Daley, Max Schneider… Andrew Violante and Ryan McCarthy. We’re all a part of this, like, leadership team that we put together. We kind of serve as, like, the voice for the players on the team,” he said.
Aside from a loss of scoring output, Fisher has several areas for improvement on the stat sheet, translating to on-court ascension.
The Cardinals averaged close to 14 turnovers a game, and their offense’s assist-to-turnover ratio was 1.0. This is where you start to make more sense of how a team could lose nine games by only a handful of possessions.
This isn’t to say Fisher had a completely incompetent offense, as they did average 13 assists a game with almost 75 points a game, showing a balanced offensive attack when in rhythm. But turnovers consistently disrupted their ability to close games.
Opponents also averaged eight steals against Fisher, leaving their perimeter game limited in tightly matched games. Maintaining efficient offensive flow without putting the ball in harm’s way will be key to putting Fisher in the win column more often this season.
“A big problem last year was that we didn’t really come and meet the ball. Like, what we’ve been emphasizing this week is like when somebody passes you, you’ve got to come meet the ball,” said McCaffery.
Two variables to keep an eye on this season are Fisher’s in-game trends and free-throw shooting. In the first half of their games, Fisher was outscored by 103 points, but the second halves were what kept parents in their seats. They only faced a total of a 17-point margin in the second halves of their games, indicating a pattern of starting slow, but fighting until the end, with 18 of those instances being too little too late.
As for shooting at the stripe, Fisher shot just under 70 percent last year. In close games, these are the little things that matter.
Despite the lulls in sustaining possession of the basketball, gaining possession by rebounding was one of Fisher’s few strengths last season. Sure, having seven-foot Connor Williams (7.0 RPG) helps a lot, but the +4 margin they had crashing the glass against their opponents certainly is a trait they would like to inherit coming into this season.
I asked Jonathan how they are looking to replicate those numbers. This is where you could see the excitement on his face.
“Yeah. I mean, obviously losing him (Connor), we’re definitely not as big, but I feel like we got some dogs,” McCaffrey said. “On the glass, Max Michalski is a dog. Louis Fay, dog… Jack Janes, dog, Alex Girich, dog.”
Three out of the four players (or dogs) McCaffery listed are sophomores looking to make their mark on this program with more opportunities. A sophomore class that, according to McCaffery, is “developing” and “getting better and better every opportunity they get”.
As Fisher enters its non-conference play this winter, they have a lot of questions left to be answered. New players, new strategies and a new culture will hit the hardwood at the Manning & Napier Varsity Gym this season.
In the face of all the challenges and adaptations this team may face, Fisher looks to be a much-improved team this year, record-wise and production-wise. An increase in wins and a boost in statistical efficiency are well within the realm of possibility.
Expect the Cardinals to have a lot of bark, with a bit of bite.
