![\"J.J.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/NUIX3NVP3VCVLJ4V2ZH3BNE4DY.jpg\")
Point guard J.J. Chestnut is in his fourth season starting for CSI. (Photo courtesy of CSI Athletics)CSI Athletics<\/p>\nSTATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Like most modern basketball programs, the College of Staten Island leans heavily into analytics. The Dolphin men\u2019s coaches sift through the video to chart every pass, every screen, every missed box out \u2026 you name it. Data rules.<\/p>\n
But at the end of all the square-rooting, head coach T.J. Tibbs simplifies the whole thing with a metric no slide rule or abacus can provide.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve felt in (previous seasons), we\u2019ve had nine, 10, maybe even 11 guys who were what I call \u2018Above the line,\u2019\u201d Tibbs said. \u201c(Meaning) good enough to put them in a game. With so many young guys, we have 7 \u00bd (out of 13) above the line right now. We\u2019ll probably play slower than the majority of years, and that\u2019s just a depth thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, getting more guys to measure up is the Dolphins\u2019 jumping off point for the 2025-26 season that starts Friday evening (7:30) against St. Michael\u2019s on the first night of CSI\u2019s Tournament of Heroes.<\/p>\n
The good news is the \u201cabove the line\u201d guys are veteran players who should offer four new freshmen a little time to grow into their roles.<\/p>\n
The Dolphins went 12-18 overall last season, 7-9 in the East Coast Conference, leading the ECC in made threes per game. They won a conference quarterfinal, then lost to top-seeded Daemen, a juggernaut last season, in the semis. That followed a 2023-24 campaign in which CSI went 19-10 overall and 13-3 in the ECC.<\/p>\n
What did Tibbs take from the whole experience?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe certainly competed to the end, which is very CSI-like,\u201d Tibbs said. \u201cWe had a lot of ups and downs. But when it came down to it, we had to go on the road in the quarterfinal and won at a place (Roberts Wesleyan) that we had never won at before. And then we had to go try to beat the No. 1 team in the country in their gym in a sold-out place. Two things that team, at that point, probably wasn\u2019t supposed to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll see if the lessons can carry the Dolphins, who are picked to finish third in the ECC, when they need it this season.<\/p>\n
Point guard J.J. Chestnut is in his fourth season starting for CSI. (Photo courtesy of CSI Athletics)CSI Athletics<\/p>\n
Among the key returnees are guards J.J. Chestnut, Aaron Goldstein and Joey Poulin. Good guard play covers a multitude of sins, so be assured Tibbs wants to see some improvement in assist-to-turnover ratio, which was slightly less than one assist for every turnover.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Chestnut) will be a four-year starter,\u201d Tibbs said. \u201cHe was second as a freshman in rookie of the year voting. And he brings all the experience from the point guard position that you get when you start for four years in college. He\u2019s gotten better every year, even though his production has fluctuated. Last year, he was up and down (10.0 ppg), but this year, he\u2019s gotten better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goldstein, a junior, will be a third-year starter at the off-guard spot. The Island native became a marked man last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe struggled a little bit last year with being number one on team scouting reports, along with Messiah Mallory (All-Met selection as a senior). So, it\u2019s a huge difference when an entire team (is) trying to stop you. So, I know he\u2019ll adjust well to that this year after seeing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Poulin played more than Tibbs thought as a freshman due to an injury to St. Peter\u2019s HS product Chris Clancy.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Poulin is) our best defender,\u201d Tibbs said. \u201cHe\u2019ll be one of the best defenders in the league. He takes a lot of pride in that. And he just has to provide us the offense that he\u2019s capable of (by) hitting threes.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Aaron](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/4R4C7ZM3GVHIPL5AHOHO7RNXAI.jpg\")
Aaron Goldstein will have to adjust to being the No. 1 guy on opposing teams’ scouting reports. (Photo courtesy of CSI Athletics)CSI Athletics<\/p>\n
Mallory\u2019s departure leaves a vacuum. Asa Kone, a 6-foot-8 senior from the Bronx, started 17 of the 30 games last season and will inherit some of Mallory\u2019s interior responsibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not an outside threat as much as Messiah was,\u201d Tibbs said. \u201cBut he\u2019s a vertical rim threat more than Messiah is. And I think he\u2019s the best offensive rebounder in the country. So, he can shoulder that load for sure. He\u2019s gotten better every day he\u2019s been here. He\u2019s not an identical match, but he gives you something different.\u201d<\/p>\n
The roster will get deeper as the year goes on, but for now, expect redshirt sophomore Mitchell Wiggan to see the court quite a bit as well as redshirt freshman Elijah Darby and true freshman Andrew Benedict.<\/p>\n
One player Tibbs can\u2019t wait to see is redshirt junior Michael Oyekanmi, but that will depend on how the Curtis HS product recovers from an injury that cost virtually all of last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019ll be a huge addition,\u201d Tibbs said. \u201cHe\u2019s on the glass. He\u2019s a good (defending) the ball, but he\u2019s a tall guy. I can put him on anybody on the court. I think when he comes back, he\u2019ll be above the line as soon as he\u2019s back.\u201d<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
NOTES: Hometownticketing.com<\/a> is the website for purchasing tickets to CSI men\u2019s and women\u2019s games … Daemen, which was No. 1 nationally in Division II for a good chunk of last season, is the ECC coaches preseason pick to win the conference. St. Thomas Aquinas, which eliminated Daemen from the NCAA tournament last season, is picked No. 2, just ahead of CSI. Daemen is No. 4 in the NABC\u2019s national preseason rankings. St. Thomas Aquinas is listed among others receiving votes. CSI makes a two-game trip to Florida next week that includes a visit to Florida Southern, which is No. 15 in the NABC rankings.<\/p>\n CSI MEN\u2019S SCHEDULE<\/p>\n NOVEMBER<\/p>\n 14 \u2013 St. Michael\u2019s, 7:30 p.m. (Tourn. Of Heroes)<\/p>\n 15 \u2013 Chestnut Hill, 2 p.m. (Tourn. Of Heroes)<\/p>\n 17 \u2013 at U. of Tampa, 7 p.m.<\/p>\n 18 \u2013 at Florida Southern, 7 p.m.<\/p>\n 22 \u2013 Adelphi, 3 p.m.<\/p>\n 25 \u2013 at Pace, 7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n 29 \u2013 at Georgian Court, noon<\/p>\n DECEMBER<\/p>\n 3 \u2013 Mercy, 7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n 6 \u2013 at St. Thomas Aquinas, 6 p.m.<\/p>\n 8 \u2013 Cheyney, Pa., 7 p.m.<\/p>\n 13 \u2013 at U. of D.C., 3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n 17 \u2013 Wilmington, 7 p.m.<\/p>\n 20 \u2013 Holy Family, 3 p.m.<\/p>\n 30 \u2013 Franklin Pierce, 5 p.m.<\/p>\n JANUARY<\/p>\n 6 \u2013 Post Univ., 7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n 9 \u2013 at D\u2019Youville, 7:45 p.m.<\/p>\n 11 \u2013 at Daemen, 2 p.m.<\/p>\n 14 \u2013 St. Thomas Aquinas, 7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n 17 \u2013 at Mercy, 2 p.m.<\/p>\n 24 \u2013 at Roberts Wesleyan, 4 p.m.<\/p>\n 28 \u2013 Queens, 7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n 31 \u2013 at Molloy, 2:30 p.m.<\/p>\n FEBRUARY<\/p>\n 6 \u2013 D\u2019Youville, 7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n 8 \u2013 Daemen, 3 p.m.<\/p>\n 14 \u2013 U. of D.C., 1 p.m.<\/p>\n 22 \u2013 Roberts Wesleyan, 3 p.m.<\/p>\n 25 \u2013 at Queens, 5 p.m.<\/p>\n 28 \u2013 Molloy, 3 p.m.<\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Like most modern basketball programs, the College of Staten Island leans heavily into analytics.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-38331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}