Swarthmore, Neumann, Cabrini cap historic year for Delco hoops
Swarthmore coach Landry Kosmalski tried to work up a smile after the Garnet’s 7767 loss to second-ranked Christopher Newport in the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament Saturday night at Tarble Pavilion, but could not. The best he could do was a grimace. A night earlier, and a few miles away in Aston, Neumann’s Jim Rullo had the same look of disappointment on his face after the 11th-ranked Knights fell to Nichols, 96-93, in the opening round of the tournament.
Ditto for Cabrini’s Tim McDonald after the Cavaliers dropped an 86-70 decision to MAC Commonwealth champ Lycoming Friday night.
Losing is never easy, and the pain of being knocked out of the NCAA Tournament is magnified because of the finality of the situation. Just like that, your season is over. No more practices. No more games. The year is relegated to history.
And because the end is so sudden, it’s not really a good time for reflection. The coaches and players are not thinking about what they accomplished during the course of the season. They’re wondering what they could have done to keep the season going.
It usually takes a few days for the former to sink in. And when the coaches and players reflect on their accomplishments they should do so with pride because what the Garnet, Knights and Cavaliers did was historic.
Not only did Swarthmore win the Centennial Conference title and reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time, the Garnet (23-6) also set the program record for wins in a season, hosted an NCAA sub-regional and came out victorious in their first NCAA Tournament game.
Neumann (25-3) also had a number of firsts. It was the first time the Knights won the CSAC title on their home floor and the first time the school hosted an NCAA event with a team involved in the tournament.
While Cabrini (19-8) reached the tournament for the 13th time in program history, it marked the first time that Delaware County had three schools in the Division III tourney at one time, and it could have been more. Widener (16-10) won nine of its last 10 games to make the MAC Commonwealth tournament, before falling in the semifinals. And Eastern (16-10) reached the semis of the MAC Freedom tournament.
And the postseason awards reflected just how good a year it was for small college basketball in the Philadelphia area in general, and Delaware County in particular.
Swarthmore sophomore Cam Wiley was the Player of the Year in the Centennial Conference, while Kosmalski earned Coach of the Year honors. Rullo was picked as the Coach of the Year in the CSAC, while Cabrini’s Tyheim Monroe was the Player of the Year. Widener’s Chris Carideo earned Coach of the Year honors in the MAC Commonwealth, while Eastern’s Shaquan Turk took player of the Year laurels in the MAC Freedom.
Neumann’s DeShawn Lowman was named the CoSIDA Academic All-America Player of the Year and is a finalist for the Jostens Trophy, which goes to the Division III men’s and women’s basketball player who excels on the court, in the classroom and in the community.
The success did not happen overnight, especially at Swarthmore, where a winning season was the exception, not the rule. Kosmalski gave a lot of credit for Swarthmore’s success to seniors Chris Bourne, Sam Lebryk and Michael Rubayo.
“These three guys, I think what they did, which is really difficult, is they challenged the status quo at Swarthmore,” Kosmalski said. “They kind of broke through limits and I think their leadership this year got us over the hump. They said that they weren’t just going to be a team that tries hard and gets some wins; we’re going to be one of the best teams in the country.”
That was done the old-fashioned way, through hard work, a trait, Bourne, Lebryk and Rubayo said was passed down to them from the seniors that came before them.
“We would come in and we’d expect the best from ourselves and our teammates,” Rubayo said. “By expecting that and pushing each other and making each other work as hard as we possibly could we were able to achieve what we have this year and over the past four years.”
That’s how the foundations of winning programs are laid. It’s starts slowly and is passed from class to class.
“Their legacy of the example they set will live on through their teammates,” Kosmalski said of his seniors. “They’ve had a huge impact on the people around them.”
Lowman and fellow seniors Darien Barnes (Penn Wood) and Carl Wallace did the same thing at Neumann.
“These three guys (Lowman, Barnes and Wallace) along with Matt O’Keefe set the bar high with 25 wins and establishing themselves as a national power,” Rullo said.
Don’t expect a drop off anytime soon. This is no passing fancy. Five of Swarthmore’s top six scorers were underclassmen. Cabrini, Widener and Eastern all return key players. Neumann will be the hardest hit by graduation, but the groundwork has been laid for that success to continue.
“Having this kind of season validates what you’ve done, but at the same time it challenges you to stay hungry and go out and not forget how you got here,” Rullo said.
There is little chance that the Garnet, Knights or Cavaliers will rest on their laurels. The quest to be the best is part of their DNA. None of the teams were merely happy to be in the NCAA Tournament. All three expected to be there and all three expected to win, which is why the losses were so painful and there was little satisfaction immediately afterward.
Only one team is left celebrating at the end of every tournament. Every other team ends its season with a loss and it takes a while for the sting of defeat to subside.
Once it does, the players and coaches will appreciate what they’ve been able to accomplish over the course of the season.