PHILADELPHIA – With tears in his eyes, Archbishop Ryan head coach Joe Zeglinski poured his heart out about what this program has done in his two years at the helm.
But, he also made one thing clear, this is just the beginning of a new era of Archbishop Ryan basketball.
“This group of guys shouldn’t hang their heads, they should just be very proud of what they accomplished this season,” Zeglinski said. “We came up a little short, but they really put Ryan basketball on the map.”
The list of accomplishments Archbishop Ryan’s four seniors put together was as impressive as any in school history.
The senior group which included Izaiah Brockington, Matiss Kulackovskis, Fred Taylor, and Chris Palantino won 17 games last season in Zeglinski’s first year on the job and won a program record 23 games this season to cap off arguably the best two year stretch in program history. They also added back-to-back trips to the Palestra for the Catholic League playoffs to that list of accomplishments. And were one game away from competing for a state championship.
Ryan senior, Izaiah Brockington - PSD Photo by Zamani Feelings
The guy from the senior group that led the pack was guard Izaiah Brockington, who finished his career with over 1,000 career points and will continue his playing career next season at NJIT.
“Ryan means everything to me. If it wasn’t for my coaches, my teammates, the students, and the teachers I wouldn’t be the man who I am today,” Brockington said. “Nobody can do it by themselves and I’m just really glad I made the right choice to come here when I was a freshman.”
Coach Zeglinski added that NJIT is getting a steal.
Ryan senior, Fred Taylor - PSD Photo by Zamani Feelings
“They are getting a guy who works as hard as anybody day in and day out,” Zeglinski said. “He is just going to keep getting better and better, the sky is the limit for him.”
While Brockington has had a lot of individual success in his career, he didn’t want to focus on that, he just wanted to talk about what his fellow seniors have meant to him during his time at Ryan - even though two of them were only in the program for his junior and senior years.
One was Fred Taylor who transferred in from Boys Latin before the start of last season and the other was Matiss Kulackovskis who came over from Latvia before the start of last season.
“Fred Taylor has been my man since freshman year going into AAU. Before junior year I told him he needed to come here to Ryan because together I knew we could do something special,” Brockington said. “And, Matiss also came over my junior year and from that first workout he had with us, everybody could see the ability he had and he just became a great teammate. He really became family that quick.”
Finally he talked about the other senior, Chris Palantino, the guy who Brockington has had the longest history with.
“Chris and I go back to all the way back to the fifth grade and he was the one who first threw the option out to me that I could go to Ryan.” Brockington said.
“I was thinking about where to go, and he [Chris] said he was going to Ryan, and I didn’t even have Ryan on the map of a possible place I could go.
Ryan senior, Matiss Kulackovskis - PSD Photo by Zamani Feelings
“We both thought about going to Judge, but we picked Ryan because we could see the coaching staff knew and did what was best for the players.”
While Brockington went on about how much his fellow seniors meant to him, he also talked about how this program has changed over the course of his four years here.
“Freshman year I sat on the bench and watched us not even make the playoffs and then sophomore year, I became a starter, but we got knocked out in the first round.” Brockington said. “But, we had the same group of guys and then with the additions we got last year, we knew we could be something special.”
Ryan senior, Chris Palatino - PSD Photo by Zamani Feelings
While the additions of Taylor and Kulackovskis made an impact, the guy who might have made the biggest impact to Brockington and turning this program around was Coach Zeglinski.
“Coach Zeglinski brought in this energy that was just different. The first day he came in he said 'I want to win a Catholic League championship and are you guys with me',” Brockington said. “At first we all just looked at each other like he was crazy and did he know what we had done the last two years. We agreed with him, but then we really started to believe it and we saw what we could be every day at practice.”
With the four seniors graduating, sophomores Amin Bryant and Jyquill Stone will take the reins of the team next season.
“Those two guys have learned a lot from the seniors in their two years here. So they just need to continue to carry on their work ethic and practice the right habits.” Zeglinski said. “We’ve got a good crop of young talent that will be ready to step up too.”
Brockington wrapped up his talk with one statement to drive home his point of what this program has meant to him.
“It’s just crazy to look at how the whole landscape has changed over my four years here and what the name Ryan basketball has become. We’ve become a program that needs to be taken seriously.”
