Monroe at controls of Quinnipiac motion game

There is one reason that you should not count Quinnipiac out of tonight's game against the Penn men's basketball team -- senior point guard Rob Monroe.

Monroe is the quickest Bobcats player to reach the 1,000 career point mark in Division I history, doing so in just 71 games.

The 5-foot-10, 160-pound Monroe has been the driving force of the Bobcats since he stepped onto the court freshman year. As the captain and leader of the offense, he will have the simultaneous responsibility of getting his entire team involved as well as being the primary scoring threat.

"It's nice to have a point guard that can do a lot of things," Quinnipiac coach Joe DeSantis said. "He shares the ball, has become stronger and is pushing himself on both ends."

It did not take much for DeSantis to recruit Monroe to his Hamden, Conn., school, most likely because of his small size.

"It was probably one of the easiest recruits for me here," he said. "It was between us and New Hampshire, and New Hampshire was just too far away."

An assistant coach showed DeSantis tape of Monroe, who at the time was playing for Washington-area high school Montrose Christian.

As a point guard who could put points on the board, Monroe was exactly what DeSantis was looking for in a team leader.

"I like point guards who can score," DeSantis said. "He presented a problem because of his size, but he could also shoot."

DeSantis also noted that Monroe had the advantage of playing under Montrose Christian coach Stu Vetter, who runs the same motion offense as Quinnipiac.

"Some people come here with great accolades and great talents, but when you put them in the system, they're like a deer in the headlights," he said. "Not every player can fit into the system."

The honors for Monroe started pouring in as early as his freshman year. Monroe was the Northeast Conference Rookie of the Year after leading Division I with a 3.07 assist-to-turnover ratio.

That year he led the Bobcats to the NEC Tournament finals and was named to the All-Tournament team, clearly establishing himself as the brightest young star in the league.

The last two years, Monroe has been plagued by injury. He missed five games with a high ankle sprain as a sophomore and then broke his foot as a junior, forcing him to sit out the final four games of the season and have surgery.

Despite the injuries, he was still named All-NEC and became just the fourth Quinnipiac player to score 1,000 career points since it became a Division I program. He accomplished this feat with more than one year and a month left of his college eligibility.

Because of his history of injuries, DeSantis is always concerned about Monroe's health.

"I cringe every time he goes down now," DeSantis said. "He's carrying so much of the load mentally and physically. ... If I were to lose him, we would be in trouble."

But Monroe will play if the Bobcats want to win -- DeSantis describes him as the team's "catalyst."

"He can do it all," DeSantis said. "He can push the ball, score and run like lightning. When he's on, he's as good an offensive player on our level as there is."

Monroe's multi-dimensional game will pose a challenge for the Penn defense.

"I don't see any weaknesses," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said of Monroe. "He has great ability to play the game, and he's someone we are going to have to concentrate our efforts on."

Dunphy said that Monroe will be guarded by the likes of seniors Tim Begley and Eric Osmundson and sophomore Ibby Jaaber, among others.

The matchup will depend on who can best stifle both Monroe's shooting touch while also making sure his teammates are not given open scoring chances.

"It would be nice if we could just concentrate on one area of his game, for a point guard especially," Dunphy said. "We can play off him and allow him to shoot if he was strictly concerned with playmaking, but he's going to make some shots."

"I would apply more pressure on him if he was a weaker ball-handler," Jaaber said. "If he is a better ball handler and a threat to score, then I have to respect him more."

Jaaber will have to be very active against Monroe, who will touch the ball on every play and can hit a shot off the dribble very easily.

"I will have to pressure him away from the ball," Jaaber said. "If he's a threat off the ball, you have to make sure he doesn't get it. And if he gives the ball up, you don't want to let him get it back."

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