It’s a simple philosophy, but one that escapes many players. It’s a little thing called hard work and attention to detail. But Northeastern basketball coach Ron Everhart can safely say that not only has his team bought into the idea, but they have embraced it and, in the process, have their sights on the America East title. “It’s a pleasure to coach this team,” said Everhart. “It makes it fun to come in here and come to work every day. Everyone on this team is serious. It hasn’t been a task to get this team to believe in the philosophy, they want to work hard.” Not only are the Huskies serious about winning, they are also serious in the classroom. Six players were on the All-America East academic team. Much like NU football coach Don Brown, Everhart inherited a woe-begone team that struggled to find an identity and had an even worse time winning close ball games. The Huskies stood just 10-19 overall (8-10 in the America East) two seasons ago and, despite what many have called the greatest shot in NU history by Marcus Blossom in the America East tournament in Dover, Delaware in which Blossom drained a 15-footer to bury Drexel in the first round, the Huskies had little direction. Then coach Rudy Keeling was fired and AD Ian McCaw was sent out in search of the right choice. Again, like his choice with Don Brown, McCaw’s decision to bring in Ron Everhart was not just another coach signing, but he established the point that losing would not be tolerated and the players were going to have some direction when they played. The Huskies lost 10 conference games in Keeling’s last season, and only three of those defeats were 10 points or less. Everhart, who came in from McNeese State, a program which was turned around by the coach and was in the NCAA tournament three years ago, came in with players who were soft and had murky pasts. Still, he was able to manufacture the right formula, and the players bought it. There were a couple of players who battled legal trouble and many who had a disdain for Keeling’s coaching method. Last year, his team struggled going 7-21 overall and just 5-11 in the conference, but managed to stay in most games. Even though they were 1-5 in conference games decided by three points or less, they were competing hard. This season, Everhart has taken his team to an all new level and, with their 76-59 trouncing of a solid Vermont team, the Huskies stood 7-6 in the conference and 14-12 overall. Not only are the Huskies serious about winning and work hard, but they have got some guts. Take Sylbrin Robinson for example. The man is currently playing with a dislocated elbow. He is also playing on two bad ankles and has no tendons in one of his thumbs. The standout junior has been nothing short of a Ben Wallace type of body around the basket, grabbing more than nine rebounds a game. He is scoring over 12 points a contest and is shooting a ridiculous 59.8 percent from the field. “We have some real warriors on this team,” said Everhart. “Guys who care about winning and make a concerted effort to work hard and they’ve been real mature about doing it. I can’t say enough about how pleased I am with this team’s effort.” Still, effort was not really an issue; the adversity which the team faced, however, was. The Huskies have been nailed with the injury bug, starting with Aaron Davis and his shoulder which is still sore, then Cornellius Wright and his bad hamstring and now Robinson and Jose Juan Barea and his ineligibility problems. In the last eight games, NU is 6-2. I was so very pleasantly surprised by the way Don Brown was able to resurrect the football team in the first three years in office, leading the Huskies to an Atlantic-10 Championship. But I think Ron Everhart has done much more. While Brown was forced to figure out a way to develop that offensive line, Everhart had to figure out the character of his players and he managed to mold his team into believing his scheme. Everhart had several situations he had to deal with involving discipline, but the most impressive facet of his ability is how he’s been able to not only command, but earn the respect of his team. “This team has guys with good character,” he said. “I can’t say enough about their character.” So how far can this team go? “This team believes they can win the conference tournament,” said Everhart. “And as a coach, I have to believe it. I don’t think we’ve played our best brand of basketball yet. I thought at BC [a 72-67 win] we played well, but if we had Aaron [Davis] we might have played better. Every guy is stepping up when we need him to. Do we need some things to go our way? Sure. But we’re going to work hard.” Somehow, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.

In the locker room: The snow that hit the Boston area on Monday night caused an outbreak in snow-football games on Columbus Ave. … I love the heart the men’s hockey team showed last weekend. A nice comeback that was almost completed on Friday in New Hampshire and the solid tie that could have easily been a win on Saturday … Finally, Red Sox positional players reported Tuesday to spring training. Thank goodness for baseball!