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Egan's Vinny Dalessandro headed to Pace University (N.Y.)

08/12/2015, 3:15pm EDT

By Josh Verlin

Conwell-Egan's Vinny Dalessandro (above) committed to D-II Pace University (N.Y.) on Wednesday. (Photo: Josh Verlin)

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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When Conwell-Egan big man Vinny Dalessandro pulled up to Pace University’s Pleasantville (N.Y.) campus, he found the entire coaching staff waiting for him.

And right then and there, he knew he’d found his future home.

“I had a feeling that I was really going to enjoy the campus,” he said, “but when I first got there, talking to the coaches, I had it in my gut that this was the school.”

The 6-foot-7, 225-pound rising senior waited a few more hours to tour the suburban New York school’s educational buildings and athletics facilities, and then he committed to head coach Matt Healing and staff.

Dalessandro picked the Setters over a few other Division II offers, including Holy Family (Pa.) and Daemen College (N.Y.), going with the program and coaching staff with whom he felt most comfortable.

Healing, who is entering his first year as head coach at Pace after spending the last two seasons there as an assistant, offered Dalessandro after the Live in A.C. tournament in late July after first seeing him the month prior.

“He’s been a great guy, he’s been helping me a lot, talking to me nonstop,” Dalessandro said. “Me and him have been getting along great, I feel like I could be a really good addition for them.”

As a junior, Dalessandro was part of the most successful team in Conwell-Egan history. He averaged 10.5 ppg and 7.7 rpg as the Eagles went 21-8, winning not just the program’s first playoff game of any type in over 50 years but the entire PIAA Class AA championship. That’s a far cry from his freshman year, when he started for an Egan team that went just 8-16 overall.

He’ll hope to bring a similar type of turnaround to a Setters team that has recently struggled in the Northeast-10, one of the top Division II conferences across the country. Last year, Pace went 5-23 overall, (1-19 NE-10), and hasn’t finished with a better than .500 record in league play since 2007-08.

“One thing about Vinny is he’s a pleaser, he’s a young man who really wants to please and wants to be liked and wants to do the right thing,” said Conwell-Egan head coach Frank Sciolla, who took over the program before Dalessandro’s sophomore season in 2013-14.

“He felt comfortable and happy with the coaching staff...he has an opportunity to come in with them while the program is building,” Sciolla continued. “He’s already been in a similar situation when he came to Egan, I think the challenge of that is exciting.”

Of course, before he gets to college, Dalessandro has his sights focused on a state title repeat and a step up in the ultra-competitive Catholic League. A loss to Archbishop Carroll in the league quarterfinals kept C-E out of the Palestra last year, but the Eagles have plenty of reasons for optimism this upcoming season.

Dalessandro and classmates Stevie Jordan and LaPri McCray-Pace--who are both getting Division I looks--return as four-year starters, and they're joined by a talented junior guard, David Beatty, who transferred from Carroll.

“I think it’s going to be a great season, especially with Dave coming, I think we’re going to be great," Dalessandro said. "We just need to work on our team chemistry with him, to add him in...I think we can repeat.”