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Visconti's choice pays off big-time for Swarthmore MBB

12/08/2022, 12:45am EST
By Ty Daubert


George Visconti (above) is a senior at Division III Swarthmore. (Photo: Dan Hilferty/CoBL)

Ty Daubert (@TyDaubert)

SWARTHMORE — George Visconti almost can’t believe that he came close to not playing college basketball.

The entire premise sounds absurd at this point to the Swarthmore College senior, but it was the reality for a high school student who wanted to study electrical engineering.

As he prepared to graduate from Arthur Johnson High School in Clark, New Jersey in 2018, Visconti had a his options narrowed down to two: Villanova University, where his playing career would come to a close, or Swarthmore, one of the few liberal arts colleges in the area that offered his intended major, where he could play for the school’s Division III basketball program.

Ultimately, Visconti chose the latter.

“It sounds very, very crazy,” he said on Wednesday. “I think about it like this: If I chose Villanova, I would’ve robbed myself of this experience. And this has been some of the best memories and years of my life.”

Nearly five years later, Visconti is in his final season with Swarthmore, a fourth-year guard, a captain and a standout for a Garnet team that’s lost only eight games in the four seasons since he stepped on campus. He can thank a rocky end to his high school career — at least partially — for that success at the next level.

After appearing in the New Jersey state title game as a junior, Visconti’s senior year ended with his Arthur Johnson team losing in disappointing fashion in the quarterfinals. He couldn’t let his hoops career end on the note it did; while Villanova was a tremendous option academically, Swarthmore was the school that gave him the chance to play basketball.

“I just had so much more basketball to play,” he said. 

Visconti found his fit in Swarthmore so he could stick with basketball, but — funny enough — he did not do the same with electrical engineering. After his sophomore year, he took a gap year during what would’ve been the 2020-2021 season, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time, Visconti took up work in artificial intelligence and software engineering.

“After that year,” Visconti said, “working a bit and having that gap year, I was able to realign myself academically and career-wise.”

Realizing the engineering aspect would not be as important for the line of work he was pursuing, he switched his major to computer science and applied math when he returned to school. Visconti has found opportunities in that field, most recently serving as an iOS intern at the streaming company Twitch, where he helped program its app for the iPhone. 

“George is a very smart young man,” Swarthmore coach Landry Kosmalski said. “He’s very curious and passionate about learning. And that carries over to basketball.”

Kosmalski credits Visconti for his attentiveness during film sessions and setting the tone for the Garnet with the effort he puts in during practice. 

“He’s got personality,” the coach said. “Teammates respect him, listen to him, follow his lead.”

On the court, Visconti is a versatile guard, one of the driving forces of Swarthmore’s 8-1 start to this season as he’s averaged 14.6 points per game. The senior scored a season-high 24 points in the Garnet’s most recent matchup, a dominant 84-65 victory over Susquehanna on Wednesday night at the Tarble Pavilion.

Visconti dropped 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting in the first half, before his timely shot-making played a key role in the second as the River Hawks threatened to make a dent in Swarthmore’s lead.

“I definitely felt good,” he said. “They were playing that zone, so I just tried finding some of the soft spots. I think my teammates did a really good job finding me when I was open. We have so many offensive threats that you kind of just have to pick your poison, and tonight they chose me.”

It wasn’t just scoring for Visconti, though, as he also grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out five assists.

“He’s doing a little bit of everything for us,” Kosmalski said. “... The experience shows.”

Following the win, the Garnet have a rather long layoff in front of them before they take on Immaculate in their next game on Dec. 30, their final non-conference contest before closing out with 15 more Centennial matchups.

Once the season and school year are over, Visconti has a full-time job as a software engineer waiting for him at Twitch. But for now, he’s focused on finishing out this senior campaign and competing for a Centennial Conference and national championship. After all, he almost missed out on it altogether; Visconti wants to make sure he doesn’t let it just pass by.

“I think, quite simply, I just want to enjoy the experience,” he said. “I want to enjoy every last day I have here, because those days are slowly dwindling down, unfortunately. So, yes, I’m just enjoying the experience.”


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