By Admir Durakovic
Editor-in-Chief
The Equinox was in the Barclays Center for NEC 2019-2020 media day.
Seniors Kaleb Bishop and Lauren Francillon joined their coaches for the event. Bishop answered questions alongside Head Coach Greg Herenda and Francillon accompanied new Head Coach Angelika Szulimo.
After an hour long Lyft drive with two near accidents in downtown Manhattan, two members of The Equinox and two members of WFDU’s radio show “Double AT,” were dropped off at the front door of the Barclays Center.
The event started with introduction speeches and the reveal of the NEC preseason poll results. The FDU men’s basketball team was voted as the fourth best team and the women’s team was voted in ninth place.
Junior guard Jahlil Jenkins was named preseason First Team All-NEC.
“We don’t care what we are ranked,” Francillon said. “We work hard every single day and are excited to have a new system, atmosphere, and culture that we are implementing.”
The NEC also debuted their new promo video that can watch here.
The men’s basketball team is looking to follow up what was a historic 2018-2019 season as the Knights won their first NCAA tournament game in school history.
The women’s team is hoping a regime change can make them a force to be reckoned with this season in the NEC.
The men’s season begins on October 31 with an exhibition match up against Georgian Court. The women’s team tips off their season on the road November 5 against Lafayette.
“I’m very happy with how the team has progressed. We have days where I challenge them, because they’ve shown they can do so much better,” Szulimo said. “When we have days where they don’t show that, i will challenge them, because the standards are high. Overall the team has been working very hard and they’re been buying in (to the new system). I already see improvements.”
Senior forward Lauren Francillon and Head Coach Angelika Szulimo fielded questions from reporters on the pair’s first NEC media event.
Photo by Admir Durakovic
