City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Tristen Guillouette thought he had everything in order last fall. He was committed to play Division I hoops, going into his senior year at St. Joseph’s Prep, with eyes on a Catholic League title run.

Suddenly, everything fell apart: the coach he planned on playing for resigned, his senior year of high school not playing out anything like he’d planned. 

“It was hectic, it was kind of unnerving,” he said. “It was hard to operate knowing that my future just got thrown off from things that I can’t control. One thing I pride myself on is controlling the things I can control. 

“Even though all of those things were very unsettling…I knew God was going to have a plan for me.”

Guillouette got everything in order, though it took a little time — first finding a landing spot at the George School and then again Tuesday night, announcing his commitment to Florida Gulf Coast University.

“I knew FGCU was the right fit when I talked to the people around me,” he said. “When I took my visit, I really liked being there, being around the people there, it’s a really nice area, there’s a lot of great people there, and a lot of opportunity for me.”

A 6-foot-9 forward and South Jersey native, Guillouette came to St. Joe’s Prep for the 2021-22 season, a raw-but talented young forward. He continually refined his body and improved his game to the point that he was a coveted mid-major post target, ultimately picking Fairfield over St. Joe’s, Drexel, Towson and others. 

The first blow in the fall was getting denied his senior season at Prep, having played two years in South Jersey already, though one of those years was the COVID season and he’d barely played as a freshman. Instead of being the centerpiece for a Hawks’ squad with Palestra aspirations, he was left to wonder if he’d even find a place to play out the 2023-24 season.

It was just a couple weeks later that Stags head coach Jay Young resigned in mid-October; assistant coach James Johns, who had been Guillouette’s primary recruiter, left with him. Guillouette, understandably, withdrew his commitment from Fairfield shortly thereafter. 

It took six weeks, but Guillouette found a place to play at the George School, enrolling at the school on Nov. 29, the same day as the Panthers’ season opener. He came off the bench in that first contest, then started every other game.  

“He’s an incredible person that you want to be around each day,” George School coach Ben Luber said. “He makes others around him better when he walks into the room. One of our staples is we look each other in the eye and tell each other the truth […] he did that right from the start without knowing anybody, it was really admirable.”

“We’ve been really cool since my first day here,” Guillouette said of Luber, who played at Penn State and has turned the George program into a competitive one in his five seasons in Newtown. “On and off the court, he’s a good dude, always helping me, just with everything really, just always helped me no matter what it was.”

Just having a senior season was in itself a weight off his shoulders; the fact that he got to do it at a program with plenty of college eyes on it was a bonus. 

Guillouette spent the year playing for George but continually checking in on Prep, attending Hawks’ games, while the Prep players came up to suburbs to see him play in return.

“When we played Rocktop Academy, during warmups, I’m hyped for the game, and I just hear a loud roar come from the doors and it’s the whole St. Joe’s Prep team running through the door, excited,” he said. “My eyes lit up 10 times more than they already were.

“St. Joe’s Prep shaped me to who I am and George School helped me through my growing pains,” he added. “I’m forever grateful for both of them.”

“It was important just to make sure he knows he’s always family and part of what we’re doing,” Prep coach Jason Harrigan said. “[He’s a] big part of our team, big part of our turnaround at our school. We wanted to support him like we support all family.”

Guillouette said that schools started reaching out to him almost immediately upon his arrival at George: FGCU, Mt. St. Mary’s, Colgate and Manhattan were among the programs that got involved, several of his previous options having gone in other routes after he picked Fairfield. 

FGCU had a leg up, both in terms of being the first one to make contact and also a host of local ties within the Eagles’ program led by head coach Pat Chambers, a Philly U product from Newtown Square. Assistant coach Kyle Griffin is a Germantown Academy grad who used to be on the La Salle bench. Former Roman Catholic and Penn State guard Shep Garner is on the staff as well.

Chambers, formerly the head coach at Penn State and Boston U, has always recruited the Philly area, and he’s continued to do so in Florida. Current Eagles freshman Rahmir Barno (Imhotep) is one of four on the roster from the region, and Guilouette’s joined in this class by Archbishop Ryan point guard Darren Williams. 

“It was kind of a familiarity thing,” Guillouette said. “I played against Darren Williams a couple years, he went to Ryan, he’s a good player, competes really hard, very skilled and talented, so I knew who he was. I played against Barno in a scrimmage and he was good. Coach Chambers coached one of my former AAU coaches, Maalik Wayns, so coach Mak gave me some insight.”

He started watching FGCU games on television, able to evaluate the program and its playstyle, get a feel for what he’d be walking into, then took an official visit to the school in January, his only visit. 

“I was watching so much I was getting notifications on ESPN when they did have a game,” he said. 

“When I was down there, it didn’t feel like I was just a recruit, like I was one of the guys there. And the environment, they’ve got a good student section there, and a crowd, that’s always fun to play in front of. Got to see how coach Pat is on the floor when the lights are on.”

All those factors checked off for Guillouette, who committed to his clear frontrunner last week. With his George School season over, for the first time in a long while, he was able to sit back and feel comfortable about what’s next.

“Not that I wasn’t proud of myself the first time, but I feel like I climbed over a mountain,” he said. “All this stuff was up in the air, and I got myself together, played at the George School, had a great year individually, I was really proud of myself. I persevered and that’s what I was really proud about.”