DeAngelo keeping culture, success alive for Swarthmore
SWARTHMORE » Vinny DeAngelo didn’t know where his career path would take him when he arrived at Swarthmore in the summer of 2019 after an All-Delco career at Sun Valley. He just knew the expectations for the team were high.
The Garnet were coming off an appearance in the NCAA Division III championship game, the second straight season they went at least as far as the Elite Eight. That featured heavily in the recruiting pitch, from head coach Landry Kosmalski and assistant Shane Loeffler.
It didn’t take DeAngelo long to realize the secret to that success.
“We try not to focus on the results,” the junior point guard said. “We focus on us, on our culture, on being the best versions of ourselves and being the best version of our team and success follows after that. Focusing on what we can control is the mainstay of what’s made us so successful.”
Swarthmore (24-3) is back in the Division III tournament for the sixth straight season and is hosting a firstround pod for the fourth tournament in a row and the fifth time overall. The Garnet face North Atlantic Conference champion SUNY-Delhi (20-8) in the second game of Friday’s doubleheader at Tarble Pavilion (7:10 p.m. tipoff). Whitworth (18-9) faces St. John Fisher (217) in the opener at 4:40. The winners meet Saturday night at 7:10 for a trip to the Sweet 16.
“We’ve got such a good culture here that’s been passed down and made better by guys from the previous years,” DeAngelo said. “To be back hosting an NCAA Tournament game, I’m very spoiled because every year I’ve been here we’ve had the privilege of doing so.”
DeAngelo has played a key role in maintaining the culture and success Swarthmore had enjoyed since 201617. He has the accolades to show for it. He was the Centennial Conference and D3Hoops.com Middle Atlantic and National Rookie of the Year as a freshman. DeAngelo earned first-team All-Centennial Conference honors as a sophomore and was named conference Player of the Year this season. DeAngelo also
was named MVP of the Centennial Conference tournament after leading the Garnet to their third conference title and first since 2019.
He leads the team in scoring (17.5), assists (3.0) and steals (1.2) per game. The last player to lead the Garnet in all three categories was another point guard, Cam Wiley, the 2019 Centennial Conference Player of the Year.
“Our last two point guards, Cam and Vinny, have been very good,” Kosmalski said. “The way we play we need that. We need guys who can push it up and create. Cam and Vinny are very different, but Vinny is the engine. He’s the guy that drives the bus. He’s pushing the pace. He’s creating off of ball screens for his teammates and for himself. He’s just done a really good job of that.”
Humble as he is, DeAngelo credits teammates for his success.
“I don’t think you get conference Player of the Year without being on the best team,” DeAngelo said. “We’ve got some amazing shooters on our team like George (Visconti) and Cal (Hanson) and Colin (Shaw). It opens the court up tremendously. We throw it into our big men and if you don’t double them it’s an automatic bucket. Just having the balance that we have on this team really makes it hard for defenses to guard us and has allowed me to enjoy the success that I’ve had.
“I’ve got to mention defense. I’m definitely not guarding the best player on the other team to save energy for offense. Some of these guys, you don’t see it in the box score, but they’re putting in just as much effort if not more in making sure our team is successful at the end of the day. Also guys on the bench cheering and supporting and making sure our team is upholding our standards and getting us ready for these game days and giving us a really good look at what the other team is going to do defensively and offensively. I’d be remiss in not mentioning all of my teammates in helping me get to this point.”
Fellow junior Michael Caprese also earned first-team all-conference honors. Visconti, who ranks eighth in program history with 1,429 career points, was named to the second team. Ten players average double-digit minutes, and five score 7.9 points per game or more.
“It’s a real resilient group,” DeAngelo said. “George Visconti said that earlier this season. We’ve won a lot of games this season and a lot of them we’ve had to work hard to come back from a deficit. We had a lot of adversity, a lot of things didn’t go our way and we just stuck to what we believe in. we believed in ourselves, our system and our culture and came together to put together a very successful season that isn’t over yet.”