Swetye plays ‘integral’ role as Xavier walk-on

As the University of Connecticut returns to the Big East, the Big East is unusually bereft of Connecticut players.

Last season, three of the top players in the league hailed from Connecticut: Seton Hall’s Quincy McKnight (Bridgeport), St. John’s Mustapha Heron (Meriden) and Xavier’s Tyrique Jones (Bloomfield). All three have exhausted their eligibility and moved on.

This season, there are no scholarship players from the Nutmeg State on any Big East roster. Zero. Zip. Nada.

Heck, even little old Rhode Island has a couple (Providence’s David Duke and Villanova’s Cole Swider).

There are a few walk-ons from Connecticut, however. UConn has two of them — Glastonbury’s Andrew Hurley, the coach’s son, and Southington’s Matt Garry, who recently suffered a season-ending injury during practice.

The third is Zak Swetye, a Darien product who is entering his third season as a walk-on at Xavier.

Swetye (pronounced “SWEET-TIE”) was a pretty good player at Darien High, where he still holds the school record for most 3pointers in a single season and career. He once poured in 38 points in a postseason all-star game as a senior,

including his first two ingame dunks and a gamewinning stepback jumper.

Swetye was recruited by a bunch of Division III programs and a couple of Division II schools, but he was looking for something more.

“I really wanted the most out of basketball and to compete at the highest level,” he recalled, “even if it was in a minimal role.”

After a visit to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio (his parents, John and Alice, were born and raised in Ohio before moving to Connecticut more than 30 years ago), Swetye drove 40 minutes south to Xavier and was truly blown away.

“Even though I might not be able to play basketball here,” he thought at the time, “it’s a school I would be happy at. Let me try to walk on, and I was very blessed with the opportunity.”

As a freshman, Swetye was one of 28 players trying out for a spot, and was one of just three to make the cut. He had to try out again last season and, again, made the team. This season, with COVID-19 halting tryouts, he was welcomed back to the same role.

And what exactly is that role?

“I think first and foremost, it’s being a high-energy guy,” Swetye said. “To be able to jump in at any position at any time (in practice) and always be ready to go — whether that be as a point guard, small forward, always being able to know the plays for that position and put your best foot forward, working hard and doing everything you can.”

Swetye and Xavier’s two other walk-ons often help prepare the rest of the team as members of the scout team — “running the other team’s plays, trying to impersonate the type of moves that the other players do, little things like that to prepare for a game.”

The walk-ons don’t watch as much film, but otherwise do everything else their scholarship teammates do — from academic counseling to grueling off-season workouts.

“We’re always included in everything,” Swetye noted.

Well, just about everything.

“Walk-ons don’t get the notoriety that some of our other players get in our program, but they’re an integral piece to our success,” Xavier coach Travis Steele said. “Every single day, with Zak, for example, they bring it. They know they’re not gonna play, right? But they come to practice every day, and they’re banging with our guys, they’re competing, they’re making our guys better every single day, for two hours of practice. And yet they don’t get to play in the games.”

Indeed, in Swetye’s two seasons at Xavier, he has gotten into exactly three games. He has played a total of 90 seconds. That’s an average of 30 seconds per game, for those keeping track.

He has yet to take a shot, grab a rebound or even commit a foul in his brief time on the floor.

“That probably tells you how selfless a guy like Zak is, the amount of work that (the walk-ons) put in, their character,” Steele continued. “They’re all about the team. They want to help see Xavier succeed, and their teammates succeed. They’re an integral part to our success.”

For Swetye, who started The Walk-On Podcast earlier this year, the rewards go far beyond any playing time.

“Hearing my name announced, when I first step on the court, and hearing ‘Let’s go, Zak,’ cheering me on, whether it’s playing defense, I haven’t gotten to shoot yet, but if I were, I’m sure they’d be supportive of that, too,” Swetye said. “And my family at home, sending text messages after the game, ‘I’m so proud of you,’ knowing I have so much support in my corner.”

Much of Swetye’s family still lives in Ohio, and they get to plenty of Xavier home games. Later this winter — unless COVID-19 intervenes — Xavier will play at Gampel Pavilion. Although no paying fans will be allowed in the arena, visiting players are allowed four tickets for family members, and Swetye will certainly dole out his.

“I am so excited to come back home to Connecticut,” he said. “It will be my first time coming home during the school year. I can’t wait to have a familiar environment.”

There’s a good chance he won’t even get into the game. But that doesn’t matter to Zak Swetye.

“I just love basketball,” he said. “I love doing the drills and all the hard work that goes into it. It’s a great experience, being able to compete at the highest level against some of the country’s best players and upand-coming NBA players (in practice). Having that disciplined schedule, where you have to go in and work six hours a day, every day, for eight months, pretty much. It’s all about the experience playing at a high-major level.”

CONNECTICUT CONNECTIONS

While there are no scholarship players from Connecticut on any Big East rosters, here’s a list of Nutmeg State players on college basketball rosters this season:

Joey Kasperzyk (New Haven), Southeastern Louisiana; Rich Kelly (Shelton), Boston College; Tahj Eaddy (West Haven), USC; Tyler Thomas (Woodbridge), Sacred Heart; Walter Whyte (New Haven), Boston University; Jalanni White (New Haven), Canisius; Jonas Harper (Stamford), Boston University; John Kelly (Shelton), Fairfield; Ty Flowers (Waterbury), LIU; Mike McGuirl, Ellington, Kansas State; Jaiden Delaire (North Granby), Stanford; Vin Baker, Jr. (Old Saybrook), Milwaukee; Jaylin Hunter (Manchester), Old Dominion; Joey Reilly (Cromwell), Holy Cross; Raheem Solomon (Hartford), Niagara; Matt Knowling (Ellington), Yale; Corey McKeithan (Windsor), Rider; Nick Guadarrama (Newington), New Hampshire.

Meanwhile, Byron Breland III, who played at NJIT last season, has wound up at Missouri State-West Plains, a junior-college program.

Swetye