Joseph Chartouny, Gabelli School of Business at Rose Hill (GSBRH) ’19, has declared for the 2017 National Basketball Association (NBA) entry draft. Chartouny has decided to not sign with an agent prior to entering the draft, which means that if he is not drafted he will have the opportunity to return to Fordham to play his junior year. Chartouny is a 6-foot-3, 205-pound point guard who has provided the Rams with excellent scoring and defensive help.

Chartouny, who was born in Montreal, Quebec, played basketball for Collège Jean-De-Brébeuf where he had a very accomplished career. The Collège Jean-De-Brébeuf is a Jesuit high school located in Montreal, and is also the alma mater of Chartouny’s fellow Ram, Nemanja Zarkovic, Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) ’18. Chartouny led his team to the 2015 Provincial Championship, where he performed at a high enough rate to be named a five-time all-league selection and a five-time team most valuable player (MVP). To go along with this, Chartouny earned the title of fourth-ranked prospect in Canada by northpolehoops.com.

Chartouny has played in 55 games during his first two seasons as a Ram, starting in all but three of them and averaging 32.9 minutes of playing time. In the 2016-2017 season, he set the single season school record in steals with 94, which surpassed the former record by 16. This led him to finishing first in the Atlantic-10 (A-10) Conference, and third in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in steals per game at 3.23. In addition, he finished third in the A-10, 56th in the NCAA, with five assists per game. In the 2015-2016 season he was named the A-10 and Met Writers Rookie of the year while setting the Fordham freshman assists record. During this award winning season Chartouny was named A-10 Rookie of the Week seven times.

The Rams may be losing another key player if Chartouny is drafted this June as forward Chris Sengfelder, FCRH ’17, is going to finish his undergradyate degree at Fordham and transfer to Wake Forest University. Sengfelder is a 6-foot-7, 240 pound power forward that has provided both offensive and defensive help in the starting lineup. In just three years, Sengfelder finished ninth on the Fordham career three-pointers made list with 160. In addition, Sengfelder started in all 93 games that he appeared in, averaging 35 percent of three point shots attempted. This excellent shooting percentage helped Sengfelder become the 37th Ram to score 1,000 points in Fordham history. Sengfelder also played for the German Under-20 National Team at the 2015 European Championships while still a student at Fordham. Once at Wake Forest, Sengfelder will play out his final year of NCAA eligibility and will be available for the Wake Forest Deacons immediately.

Not only have Sengfelder and Chartouny excelled on the court for the Rams, but they have also been stellar in the classroom. Sengfelder, a psychology major, and Chartouny, a business administration major, were both named to the A-10 All-Academic Team in 2017, which makes it the second straight year for Sengfelder. In order to be named to the All-Academic Team, a student-athlete must be either a starter or essential reserve player and maintain a GPA of 3.00 or higher. Once these requirements are met, the All-Academic Team is voted on.

With the possibility of losing two key players, Fordham basketball will have to rely on young help to rebuild and replenish a team whose season ended in the second round of the A-10 championship. If Chartouny is lucky enough to be one of the 60 players drafted into the NBA, he will be the second student-athlete this year to leave behind both a fantastic legacy on the court and an excellent career in the classroom.