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Radnor's Bodenger commits to D-III Catholic U

02/21/2016, 11:15pm EST
By Josh Verlin

Radnor senior Jacob Bodenger (above) committed to D-III Catholic U (D.C.) on Sunday. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Every big man needs a good point guard.

Radnor’s Jacob Bodenger can thank his own floor general, Michael Li, for more than just helping him get buckets--Li also helped him find the right college.

Right after his junior year of high school, Bodenger sat down with Li, his classmate and good friend, to figure out what schools would be the best fit for him to play and get a good education at the same time.

They settled on the Division III Landmark Conference, full of strong academic institutions with good basketball programs.

“I pretty much sent an email to every school,” Bodenger said.

Eventually, he focused on four schools in particular--Elizabethtown College, Juniata College, Goucher College and Catholic University of America--whose coaches were intrigued by the 6-foot-5, 190-pound forward. In visiting all four prior to his senior season, one in particular stood out.

With its 193-acre campus and nearly 7000 students nestled in the middle of Washington, D.C., Catholic U brought a lot to the table.

“When I first visited,” Bodenger said, “I had a feeling that it was where I wanted to go.”

On another trip to D.C. on Sunday, Bodenger watched Catholic’s basketball team dismantle Merchant Marine for its eighth straight win, improving its record to 20-5, including 13-3 in league play. And afterwards, he committed to 12th-year head coach Steve Howes.

The program’s basketball success--with NCAA tournament appearances in 2006, 2007, 2013 and 2015--combined with the school’s overall academic reputation made it the obvious pick.

“A school in Washington, D.C., I think is a really cool place to start with, and the campus, I’d describe it as a little oasis in D.C., it doesn’t feel like you’re in D.C,” he said. It’s a very good basketball team, I really like Coach Howes, what he’s doing. Watching their style of play, it just all came together.”

As a senior, Bodenger averaged nine points and seven rebounds per game for the Raiders, missing seven games in the middle of the season with a broken foot. Radnor went 11-11 during the regular season and qualified for the District 1 AAAA Playoffs as the No. 31 seed, losing to Plymouth Whitemarsh in the opening round of the playoffs.

“We still made playoffs and that was the goal, I think we played through adversity pretty well,” Bodenger said. “We got in the playoffs, which a lot of teams didn’t, and overall I’m pretty happy with the year for everyone.”

At Catholic U, he’ll be joining several other area products, including freshmen guard Andre Mitchell (Plymouth-Whitemarsh, Pa.) and post John Nutatis (Moorestown Friends, N.J.) and sophomores Brian Seward (St. Augustine Prep, N.J.) and Jay Howard (Paul VI, N.J.).

Going down today, especially after seeing them play, they’re a very good team,” Bodenger said. “I was really excited to finalize my choice.”

And Li officially can mark down the assist.


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