City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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Though many of his teammates have changed over his five years with the Swarthmore men’s basketball program, senior guard George Visconti said the Garnet’s goals have not.

That is made very clear prior to the start of each season by 10th-year coach Landry Kosmalski.

“Whenever we start the year, Landry gives us a player handbook and he’ll say right then and there, ‘We want to compete for the regular season conference, the conference tournament and the national championship,’” Visconti, a four-year starter, said prior to the start of the season. “That’s kind of always our vision. 

“But what we found to be most effective is once we establish that vision kind of tuck it away. To use a metaphor, put it in an envelope, stick it in the drawer because what we really need to do is chip away at it daily. … Usually when we do that well, those goals are within reach at the end of the year.”

Visconti’s career to date has included 79 wins compared to 11 losses. There was a Centennial championship and NCAA runner-up finish as a freshman in 2018-19 (29-4), then a No. 1 overall ranking and NCAA Sweet 16 run in 2019-20 (28-1) that was cut short due to COVID in 2019-20.

After having their season canceled in 2020-21, the Garnet couldn’t quite match the success of Visconti’s first two seasons on campus (actually accumulating more losses than those two seasons combined) but still finished with a 22-6 record, ended as the Centennial Conference runner-up and qualified for the NCAA Tournament. A season most programs strive for.

Swarthmore received votes in the D3hoops.com men's preseason Top 25 but finished three spots out of the rankings.

That might not last long as the Garnet made some noise this past week. They opened with 71-70 road win over Rowan (N.J.), another squad that received preseason Top 25 votes. Visconti’s three with 20 seconds left off a feed from junior guard Vinny DeAngelo, a Sun Valley product, was the game-winner.

Then they put together a pair of dominant performances this weekend at home in the Garnet Tip-Off classic, rolling past Bowdoin College (Mass.), 90-68,  on Saturday and handling No. 22 Wesleyan University (Conn.), 79-61 on Sunday.

“Obviously every year our goal is to win a national championship and compete everyday, but we realize it’s a different journey with different guys every year,” DeAngelo said before the season. “We’re just going to enjoy the journey everyday because we don’t know when it could get taken from us, learning from COVID and everything. We have high aspirations in the long run but just to be the best us that we can be we really want to take it day-by-day. Stay in the present, get better every day.”

Visconti and DeAngelo have paired together in the Swarthmore backcourt for the last three seasons. Visconti (12.3 ppg) led the team in scoring with DeAngelo (11.6 ppg) second as a freshman. Last year, DeAngelo took over as the team’s leader in scoring (16.4 ppg) and assists (3.0 apg) with Visconti right behind (14.1 ppg).

It’d be hard to find a more experienced and talented backcourt pairing in the country, particularly one that’s racked up so many wins.

“This is our third year playing together but because of COVID, we’ve known each other for four years,” DeAngelo said. “That’s one of my best friends, love that guy to death. It’s just been a joy to share the court with him through all these years. I can’t wait to do it one more time this year.”

Junior 6-6 forward Michael Caprise (8.5 ppg, 9.7 rpg) is a third starter back for Swarthmore, while the Garnet lost two others in Conor Harkins (9.8 ppg) and Ryan Ingram (4.1 ppg).

Sophomore guard Matt Mulvey (8.0 ppg), sophomore forward Aidan Godfrey (6.0 ppg, 3.9 rpg), senior forward George Corzine (5.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg) and senior guard Colin Shaw (4.1 ppg) give the Garnet seven of the 10 players back who averaged more than 10 minutes per game last season.

Godfrey and Shaw have rounded out the staring lineup with Visconti, DeAngelo and Caprise thus far with Corzine, Mulvey and freshman guard Eddie Paquette the first options off the bench.

Paquette, a 6-2 guard from Gonzaga College (D.C.), has been an impact player off the bench thus far, scoring eight, 12 and 16 points in the team’s three games, respectively, in a little under 20 minutes per game.

“I think we have a lot of veterans who are really battle tested and have a lot of game experience, so that’s great,” Visconti said. “Then we also have a young core — six freshmen, two sophomores — and they all can play as well. It’s just a matter of them catching up to speed. They’ve jelled with us personality wise and that’s awesome. Soon enough, they’ll be on par basketball-wise and we’ll be ready to roll.”

Visconti was a second team All-Centennial Conference selection back as a junior in 2019-20 as well, DeAngelo earned honorable mention and Centennial Rookie of the Year honors that season. DeAngelo was a first team  selection last season with Caprise and Visconti both earning second team honors.

DeAngelo is certainly an important piece for Swarthmore's success. Visconti said DeAngelo’s play has naturally made him a player his teammates have looked to during his first three years (two seasons) at Swarthmore. This season, he’s noticed DeAngelo embracing that role even more as a team captain.

“I just want to win,” DeAngelo said. “I just want to be the best leader I can be, best player I can be so I can help these guys who will work everyday so we can be the best version of ourselves. 

Visconti said it will also be important for DeAngelo to stay healthy this season. The junior guard missed five games due to an injury last season. Swarthmore went 3-2 during that stretch, accounting for two of their three losses in the Centennial.

DeAngelo missed time again this preseason while recovering from mono and is still getting back to 100 percent, building up from 10 to 16 to 23 minutes, respectively, in the team’s first three games.

”He’s incredibly talented. He’s got everything,” Visconti said. “He’s got the complete skill set to be an All-American. In terms of on the court, he checks all of those boxes. It’s just those smaller things, those intangibles, being a complete leader and staying healthy. When he does those things, nothing can stop him and nothing will stop us.”

Visconti and DeAngelo were both starters on the 2019-20 squad and Shaw averaged more than 20 minutes per game, while Caprise (10.9 mpg) is the only other player still around who saw significant action during that run.

There are plenty of good memories of that run despite the unfortunate end. Visconti said those are in the past though.

“I think it’d be awesome to have that success this year, but we kind of move away from that season,” Visconti said. “That’s a season we had and we’re very proud of it, but we have a really different group of guys and we like to think of every season as a new journey so I think that’s what we’re kind of embarking on this year.

"Granted, some of us older guys might be able to draw lessons from that year, but for the most part I think that entire year is behind us. We’re really proud of it, but we know it’ll be a new journey and new challenges and a completely new dynamic as well.”

The amount of winning he and the other seniors have done during their careers is quite impressive. They've posted a 48-6 mark in the conference to go along with the 79-11 overall mark.

Their goals are high, however, as they reminded themselves prior to the season before tucking them away.

The Garnet broke a four-season streak of Sweet 16 appearances when they opened the NCAA Tournament with a one-point first-round home loss to Keene State last season.

Despite making the conference title game for the sixth straight season in 2021-22, Swarthmore hasn’t won a Centennial Conference championship since Visconti’s first season on campus in 2018-19.

It would be nice to go out like he came in — with some more championship hardware in hand.

“For me personally, it’s my last go at it,” Visconti said. “I’ve been part of this program for I guess technically five years now. It means a lot to me. I’m just looking to finish my journey here at Swarthmore strong.”