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Trinity's Sean Good pledges to Lafayette

09/20/2017, 10:30am EDT
By Michael Bullock

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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Sean Good may have wavered a bit as he considered each of the four schools that had ascended to the top of his recruiting list, but what made his ultimate decision so incredibly difficult was he felt each of his options would be fantastic landing spots and provide great opportunities.

All were terrific academic institutions offering terrific science and engineering curriculums.

And all four of the schools that had survived his intense scrutiny and made his cut were willing to give Trinity’s lanky 6-10 senior big man the chance to play Division I college basketball.

Last Friday night, following plenty of self-reflection and introspection, Good finally reached a conclusion and issued a verbal commitment to Fran O’Hanlon’s Lafayette Leopards — just a week or so after making an official visit to the Easton, Pa., campus.

Good chose the Leopards over Colgate, Rice and Columbia — Colgate head coach Matt Langel is married to the former Tara Twomey, who starred in basketball at Trinity before playing at the University of Pennsylvania — although he had some 10 D-I offers before finalizing his decision.

Rice head coach Scott Pera grew up in Hershey, just a 15-minute drive from Good’s New Cumberland home, and assistant coach Mark Linebaugh also is from Pennsylvania.

“[There was] very much back and forth,” Good admitted late Monday afternoon during a telephone conversation. “I thought I had very good options. I definitely feel like I made a good choice.”

Good admitted he had a terrific time on his official visit — Lafayette freshman and former Perkiomen Valley great Justin Jaworski was his host — meeting and bonding with all of O’Hanlon’s players but especially the fiercely competitive Jaworski.

“I didn’t really know any of them going into it, but the great thing was I met all of them individually at one point. They’d at least come up and say, ‘Hi’ and stuff like that. That was really cool. That was awesome,” recalled Good of his stay on the Lafayette campus.

“Jaws was my host, so he was showing me around. He’s a great guy. He reminds me a lot of [my former Trinity teammate] Austin Gilbertson. He has this extraordinary desire for competition and to win and to play and play well. I was immediately drawn to that as well.”

While Good says that O’Hanlon reminds him of veteran Trinity skipper Larry Kostelac Jr. — the former Villanova standout is about to enter his 23rd season (304-353) at Lafayette — he’s also become quite fond of Leopards assistant coaches Justin Burrell and Jimmy Fenerty.

“They’re young, but not too young,” Good said. “Coach J.B. was a great player at Holy Cross. It’s always a good thing to have a team of assistants like that. They’re not laid back, watch practice, make a few notes [kinds of guys]. They do that, but they’re in the drills, they’re with guys, they can relate to the guys, they can kind of interpret a lot of what Coach O’Hanlon is saying.”

“I love the players. I love the coach,” added Good, who expects to play a power forward role for the Leopards. “Coach O’Hanlon reminds me so much of Coach Kos, and I was blown away by that.”

Lafayette finished 9-21 last season — 5-13 in the Patriot League — but Good really likes the Leopards’ pace of play and can see himself fitting into O’Hanlon’s rotation.

“[They go] up and down, they’re always in great shape, they shoot it well, I really like their guys, how they play and how they move,” Good said. “They’re not like a half-court team, Everybody’s defensive minded to an extent, but they really know how to score the ball.”

Good also was impressed by the science and engineering programs that Lafayette offers — he even mentioned a particular piece of modern equipment the chemistry department was adding — since he wants to pursue a technical curriculum once he steps on the Easton campus.

“They’re like an old school, but they’re on the cutting edge — especially their science,” Good gushed.

Having made his decision to attend Lafayette, Good can turn his attention to playing a lead role for a Trinity squad that hopes to lock up its fifth consecutive District 3 championship and the fourth in a row since he joined a perennially powerful program prior to the 2014-15 campaign.

“That’s definitely the goal,” said Good, who will start for the fourth straight season.

Good last season averaged 8.6 points, 10.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 4.4 blocks per contest — Good’s career totals number 681 points, 766 rebounds, 127 assists and 395 blocked shots — as Kostelac’s Shamrocks posted a sparkling 23-4 record.

Trinity also has won 63 games during Good’s career, a number that has pushed the determined Kostelac closer and closer to career victory No. 700. He’s at 676-281 right now.

Kostelac’s Shamrocks also captured the Mid-Penn Conference’s Capital Division championship — eventually winner State College bested Trinity in the postseason semis — won their fourth straight District 3 title and advanced to the second round of the PIAA’s Class 3A tournament.

While Good will sport Trinity green for one final season, he’ll also have an eye on Lafayette as his senior year of high school continues to play out and, in his mind, that’s a big plus.

“It’s something I feel very good about,” Good admitted. “I’m very happy.”


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