Fairfield’s Goodine perseveres
Sometimes as a kid, after piecing together a game he was proud of, Brycen Goodine returned to the car eager for approval from his parents.
His mother, New Bedford High School Hall of Famer Tiffany Rodrigues, and his father, former UMass basketball player Jonathan DePina, instead provided constructive criticism.
“They challenged me, sometimes broke me into tears,” Goodine said. “But it taught me how to be tough.”
Now, a new father himself, Goodine fully grasps the concept of unconditional love between a parent and child. He’s grateful that his parents never let him settle and helped him reach his potential.
The New Bedford native, who starred at Bishop Stang and St. Andrew’s (R.I.), has had a circuitous college basketball journey. He began at Syracuse, transferred to Providence, and is now in Year 2 at Fairfield.
Through several setbacks, including a torn meniscus that kept him out the bulk of last year, the fifth-year senior has persevered. He’s averaging 14.6 points and shooting a staggering 49 percent from 3-point range — the second-best mark in the nation as of Sunday. And the Stags (20-11), seeded second in the Metro Atlantic Conference, are in the hunt for their first NCAA Tournament berth since 1997.
“Everything that has come has been paid for on the front end in pain,” Goodine said. “I went through a lot of pain.”
Goodine, a 6-foot-4-inch, 180-pound guard, dabbled in several sports at a young age, but basketball stood out. He was home-schooled, and in between academics, he found pockets of the day to shoot outside.
He tore an ACL his freshman year at Bishop Stang, then returned as a sophomore to fuel the Spartans to their first state title in 2016. Goodine dropped 27 in the championship game, then reclassified at St. Andrew’s and started to garner heavy Division 1 interest. He was the 2019 NEPSAC Class AA Player of the Year and earned Gatorade Player of the Year honors in Rhode Island.
Goodine arrived at Syracuse eager to contribute, but he averaged just 1.9 points in 8.7 minutes over 23 games.
“That’s what I didn’t know before going there — that things take time,” Goodine said. “You have to be patient.”
So he transferred to Providence, where he still didn’t see the court much but found other ways to help the team. Goodine got his first taste of the NCAA Tournament in 2022.
“I learned the most there,” Goodine said. “That taught me what it feels like to be part of something bigger than just yourself.”
But he knew he was capable of more, so he entered the transfer portal again and Fairfield stuck out. It was relatively close to home, the coaches seemed to care, and he knew he would have a shot to contribute.
Early last year, though, he injured his meniscus and ended up playing just four games. After the ACL tear, this felt like a relative breeze, and it motivated him even more.
“It gave me time to think,” Goodine said. “The injury helped me sit back, watch, and reflect. It gives you that time to work on yourself.”
He put on some weight, diversified his game, and entered the season mentally sharper than ever.
Goodine erupted for 40 in a win over Siena in January, then poured in 37 in a victory over Canisius last Thursday and 25 more in a comeback win over Mount St. Mary’s Saturday. He’s the only player in the nation with multiple games of 37 or more on fewer than 20 shot attempts.
“It’s honestly satisfying that I’m finally reaping the benefits of my hard work, but these kinds of things take time,” Goodine said. “It’s not going to be instant gratification. You have to earn everything.”
He’s grateful for the green light from the coaching staff and that his teammates get more upset when he doesn’t shoot than when he does. Goodine said the confidence first-year coach
Chris Casey has shown in him has been “life-changing.”
“He’s been through a lot to get to this point,” Casey said. “You always like to see guys that stick to it, keep putting the time in, don’t get discouraged, and find success. That’s what Brycen’s doing right now. He’s had hurdles, but he hasn’t given into those hurdles.”
Goodine, 24, has extra incentive this year. His son, Koen Luis Goodine, was born Nov. 20, two weeks into the season.
He is overjoyed to support Koen through the ups and downs of life, whether he wants to be a basketball player, a doctor, a rock star, or anything else.
“It’s motivational when I’m on the court,” Goodine said. “I have someone watching.”
Local contenders
No. 2 seed Merrimack, now eligible for March Madness, hosts No. 6 Wagner in the Northeast Conference championship game Tuesday at 7 p.m.
. . . UConn secured the No. 1 seed in the Big East tournament, which starts Wednesday
. . . No. 1 Vermont vs. No. 4 New Hampshire and No. 2 UMass Lowell vs. No. 3 Bryant are the matchups for Tuesday’s America East semifinals . . . UMass is the No. 4 seed in the Atlantic 10 tournament, which starts Tuesday . . . No. 11 Boston College faces No. 14 Miami in the first round of the ACC tournament Tuesday at 7 p.m . . . . Yale is the No. 2 seed and Brown the No. 4 seed in the four-team Ivy League tournament, which starts Saturday . . . Quinnipiac clinched its first Metro Atlantic title and enters as the No. 1 seed.