City of Basketball Love

Jeff Griffith
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Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2025-26 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 4. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season, click here.)

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Eric Acker wasn’t timid when describing the status of La Salle’s 2025-26 men’s basketball roster. 

“I can’t lie, this was probably the fastest I’ve ever seen a team gel together,” the 6-foot-2 junior guard said. “Off the court, everybody is always together… there’s a bit of a strong connection here.”  

And if you told him back in March that he’d be saying that in the fall, would he have believed you?

“No,” he said. “Not at all.”

In an era in which you can set your watch by offseason turnover in college basketball, La Salle’s can still likely one-up most programs in terms of the change it’s experienced since the end of the 2024-25 season.

Following an offseason that started with the February announcement of Fran Dunphy’s retirement after three seasons with the program, Acker — who logged about seven percent of La Salle’s minutes last season as a freshman — now represents 100 percent of the Explorers’ returning production.

But first-year head coach Darris Nichols and his new-look Explorers aren’t fazed — much the opposite, actually. 

“I think the offseason has been good, man,” Nichols said. “I’ve had to do this before, bringing in the big class and big group of newcomers. We’re just getting used to playing and understanding each other.” 

Nichols was announced as La Salle’s new head coach on March 11, the day before La Salle opened Atlantic 10 tournament play. Three days prior, he’d completed his fourth season at Radford — a span during which he’d led the Highlanders to three top-four Big South finishes and two 20-win seasons — with a close conference tournament loss to NCAA Tournament-bound High Point. 

Of course, like any first-year head coach, his first and foremost goal was to establish a culture. According to Nichols, he wants La Salle’s culture to be representative of its city. 

“It’s got to match the city of Philadelphia,” he said. “It’s got to match the area we’re in — tough, gritty, physical. We’re always going to be the most physical team.”

But a first-year head coach at a program that lost all but one of its players either to graduation or the transfer portal has a slightly more pressing first item on his to-do list — build a roster. 

Nichols pulled together the Explorers’ roster from all over the college basketball universe, including three graduate transfers who played with him at Radford — 6-7 forward Justin Archer, 6-2 guard Truth Harris and 6-9 forward Josiah Harris, the latter two of which were among the top four scorers last season at Radford, while Archer spent last season at Georgia State before reuniting with Nichols.

“I feel like he recruited the right players,” Acker said of Nichols portal additions. “He recruited people that will go hard, people that want to win. That’s something I wanted to be around. That was one of the main reasons why I stayed.”

Other intriguing transfers certainly stick out in La Salle’s class.

From a “ratings” standpoint, there’s Rob Dockery, a three-star Texas A&M transfer per 247Sports who came out of high school as a Top 150 recruit in the 2023 class. The Washington, DC native, though, logged just two total minutes with the Aggies, departing the program in November for undisclosed reasons. 

Others come to La Salle with proven mid-major production, such as graduate forward Noah Collier, who opened his career at Pittsburgh before averaging 9.0, 13.0, and 12.2 points at William and Mary in the last three seasons. Jerome Brewer — a 6-foot-9 junior who redshirted at McNeese State last season — hails from Camden and averaged 10.2 points and 4.1 boards in two years at East Texas A&M.  

“I think our size is definitely a strength,” Nichols said of his roster. “There’s a lot of interchangeable pieces. I think the biggest thing is our physicality — that’s what we tried to recruit in the portal.”

According to Acker, as the lone returner, there is a sense in which he’s the veteran on the team. 

There’s also a sense in which he’s one of the young guys, though in terms of familiarity with Nichols, as well as sheer experience; Acker has spent two years at the Division I level — his first came at LIU Brooklyn — while the likes of Brewer, Truth Harris, Josiah Harris, and more having four or more seasons under their belt. 

It’s a complex situation, to say the least. But Acker seems to like it. 

“The offseason was a tough situation for me, especially seeing if I wanted to stay,” Acker said. “But when the coaches came in, they did everything right. I feel like (Nichols) recruited the right players, players that want to win. That’s something that I wanted to be around, and that’s one of the main reasons I stayed.

Of course, figuring out who’s who, and who fits where, is a challenge when it comes to the on-paper breakdown of each member of the Explorers’ eclectic roster. Ultimately, according to Nichols, it's up to the players to assign — or, more accurately, assume — their roles on a roster full of puzzle pieces. 

“They kind of determine all of that,” Nichols said. “In the summertime, I tell them to show me who you are and show me who you aren’t. I let them do whatever they want, and they feel like they have an opportunity to showcase themselves, and then after that, it’s my time to tell you what we need you to do.”

Nichols made one thing clear, though. He knows that everything that’s taken place — whether or not it’s cause for optimism — is all taking place in a vacuum. 

Players may be connecting, talent appears to be present, but none of it matters until it shows up on the court, starting Nov. 5 against Coppin State. 

“I can’t say if we’re gelling, yet,” he said. “I can answer that when we all have to play on one team.”