Perfect Surprise

PHILADELPHIA — Take a step toward the desk in Phil Martelli’s office, and you instantly recognize one of the little quirks of coaching at Saint Joseph’s.

The ceiling in his cramped space under the stands of Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse drops down to a height of no more than 6 feet 4 inches.

“That,” Martelli says, “is why we have guards.”

That’s Martelli, all wry wit and understatement.

What St. Joe’s has is two fabulous guards -- national player-of-the-year candidate Jameer Nelson and underrated shooting guard Delonte West -- who have put the tiny Jesuit school in the national spotlight with an undefeated record and a No. 2 national ranking.

Think of St. Joe’s as Gonzaga without the zany name.

The Hawks have an undergraduate enrollment of only 3,850 and play in the smallest arena of any team in the top 25, a 1949 cinderblock fieldhouse that holds 3,200.

Martelli and Nelson say they wouldn’t trade it for any other.

“It sounds like 30,000, even if it’s 3,000,” Nelson said.

In a sport known for big bucks and excess, St. Joe’s spent slightly more than $2 million on basketball last season and broke even.

Kentucky, by contrast, spent more than $5 million and brought in $12,583,373, a profit of almost $7.5 million, according to data submitted under the U.S. Department of Education’s Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act.

St. Joe’s recruiting expenses amounted to $58,028. The only other school in the top 10 that spent less than $100,000 was Gonzaga.

Tradition-rich North Carolina spent $586,935.

So St. Joe’s doesn’t have money or glamour. But it does have a musty tradition that includes an appearance in the 1961 Final Four, what could be the nation’s best mascot in the ever-flapping Hawk, and a history of producing NBA coaches. (Among the seven St. Joe’s grads who’ve coached in the NBA are Jack Ramsay, Jim Lynam, Matt Guokas and Paul Westhead.)

And now, St. Joe’s has Nelson and Martelli.

Martelli isn’t going anywhere, despite being a sharp coach, local media star and night owl who has been known to call radio station WIP at 1:30 a.m. and 7:10 a.m. on the same day.

“I uttered the same nonsense,” he said. “Different audience.”

Martelli first watched Nelson play as a high school junior in nearby Chester, Pa., and was immediately smitten with the 5-foot-11 point guard.

“I knew. That was it for me,” he said. “It was a half. He had one point. And he completely dominated the game.”

Martelli got there first, but before Nelson signed, Temple Coach John Chaney, a Philadelphia institution, caught on too.

“That was the great fear for us,” Martelli said. “Because if John gets down there in Jameer’s neighborhood or home, he’s going to know the grandfather’s brother’s second wife by the third marriage or something. He just has a magic.”

This time, St. Joe’s beat the magic.

“I think I felt more comfortable with Coach Martelli because he was pretty much more loyal than anybody,” said Nelson, who considered jumping to the NBA after last season but returned for his senior year.

“Not taking anything away from John Chaney or his program, which is a great program. But John Chaney ... he likes to take the clock down and likes low-scoring games. I think I could have played any type of style, but St. Joe’s really fit my style personally because that was my interest, to play fast.”

The compact Nelson sometimes walks around campus in an oversized white jacket with the number 3 and “Iverson” emblazoned on the back, but his admiration for the 76er star hasn’t infiltrated his game.

“He’s more of a two guard than I am,” Nelson said. “I’m a point guard.”

That doesn’t mean he isn’t capable of becoming a whirling-dervish scorer, as he did when West was hobbled by a stress fracture in his leg at the end of last season.

“Jameer went on these scoring binges that were outrageous,” Martelli said. “He had 39 against Dayton at Dayton in the Atlantic 10 tournament. He had 30-something against Xavier here, 30-something against Auburn in the NCAA tournament.

“Then, over the summer, as I started to talk to the NBA people, or to the magazines after he was coming back to school, it was all about him being compared to Iverson.

“And I was like, ‘No that’s not him. He’s much more Eric Snow or Mo Cheeks.’ That’s his game. But we needed him to score and that’s what he did.”

Nelson leads the 23-0 Hawks with 20.1 points a game, shoots 51%, including 40% from three-point range, hands out five assists and picks up four rebounds.

West’s numbers are comparable. He averages 18.9 points, shoots 52%, 43% from three-point range, and averages five assists and five rebounds.

In January, West had a 33-point game against Xavier in which he was 12 for 12 from the field, including three three-pointers, and was perfect from the line as well.

“He means a lot to this team, just as much as me,” Nelson said.

Next up for St. Joe’s is Temple today at the Palestra. After that, only three more games and the Atlantic 10 tournament remain as it tries to become the first team to complete an undefeated regular season since Nevada Las Vegas in 1991. (Top-ranked Stanford (22-0), which plays at UCLA today, also is seeking to go undefeated.)

“I think people out there in the media want to say we’re an OK team, but we’re not a powerhouse team because we don’t have a low-post presence,” Nelson said.

“What they don’t understand is, we’ve played against some of the best big men in the country. What it boils down to is, whoever we’ve played, we’ve beaten, so far.”

Should St. Joe’s do well in the NCAA tournament, brace yourself for Hawk mascot fever. The Hawk is a classic, a student with an endowed scholarship whose job is to flap without ceasing.

The Hawk, though, is considered a member of the team.

“Oh, no, the Hawk has a scholarship. He’s one of us,” Nelson said. “He does everything with us. Everything.

“He was lifting weights in the preseason. You’d get tired, flapping. But my thing is, what if you have to go to the bathroom? He’s still flapping, all through halftime.”

Some of the drama will be gone if St. Joe’s doesn’t complete an undefeated regular season, but Nelson insists he isn’t worried.

“If we lose a game, I’m quite sure we’ll be fine,” he said. “It’s not going to kill us or anything. It probably would make us even stronger.”

Perhaps.

“I’d prefer not to have that feeling, to be honest with you,” said Martelli, particularly confounded by those who suggest it would be better to lose a game now to ease the pressure going into the NCAA tournament.

“My comparison is to salesmen,” Martelli said. “Salesman’s out there selling widgets today. He didn’t go in to Company A this morning and say, ‘Well, maybe it would be better if I don’t get this sale because that will help me to get the sale at Company B.’

“Like, where would that come from? I don’t get that one.”

Overhead, water stains mark the ceiling of his office.

“That’s old,” Martelli shrugged.

“There’s literally not a moment of my day where I sit here and go, ‘I can’t believe I have to work in this office.’ There’s not a moment of dealing with what we don’t have. ‘Woe is us, all these other guys have this or that.’ ”

He does, however, have an idea for a new wing for the fieldhouse.

“My dream would be to blow the other side of the building out and honor Jack Ramsay,” he said. “Have a Jack Ramsay Men’s and Women’s Basketball Center.”

As for the arena itself?

“I have no problem with that,” Martelli said.

“First of all we’ve only lost 71 games here in 50-something years. If they want to jazz it up, that’s OK with me, but keep it confined.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong, to be honest with you, with people crawling over each other to get tickets and being creative to try to get in.”

Of course, should St. Joe’s go undefeated and defy expectations by making it to the Final Four, changes might be in store.

“We would have to do something because the roof will come off,” Martelli said.

“Literally, the roof will come off this entire university.”

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

What’s Ahead for Saint Joseph’s

With an undefeated regular-season record in sight, here’s Saint Joseph’s remaining schedule:

TEMPLE

Record: 12-10

Today at the Palestra

Previous meeting: 83-71 at Temple, Jan. 31.

Owls’ record on neutral courts: 1-1.

Even a record Temple home crowd of over 10,000 couldn’t help the Owls overcome the Hawks in January. St. Joseph’s Coach Phil Martelli won only three of his first 15 meetings with his Temple counterpart, John Chaney, but has since won the last three.

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MASSACHUSETTS

Record: 9-14

Wednesday at Massachusetts

Previous meeting: 92-67 at St. Joseph’s, Jan. 21.

Minutemen’s home record: 7-6.

The Hawks hit 14 three-point field goals to spark a runaway victory in the first meeting. Massachusetts followed that loss with four consecutive victories, but has since lost three in a row.

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RHODE ISLAND

Record: 14-10

Feb. 28 at Rhode Island

Previous meeting: 73-59 at St. Joseph’s, Feb. 14.

Rams’ home record: 8-5.

The Rams have the potential to score an upset, having already defeated 19th-ranked Providence by 10 points in Kingston in December. Rhode Island played a physical game in the first meeting, staying with the Hawks until midway through the second half.

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ST. BONAVENTURE

Record: 6-16

March 2 at St. Joseph’s

Previous meeting: 114-63 at St. Bonaventure, Jan. 24.

Bonnies’ road record: 0-9.

If St. Joseph’s can get this far, it will almost certainly head into the Atlantic 10 tournament unbeaten. Not only are the Bonnies winless on the road, they got word from the NCAA Thursday that the program in on three year’s probation.

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ATLANTIC 10 TOURNAMENT

March 11-13 at Dayton

Having already clinched the championship of the weaker East Division, the Hawks are likely to have to run through three West Division teams in as many days, with the possibility of a meeting with Dayton -- on the Flyers’ home court -- in the championship game.