Authors: Kyle Joynard and Richard Perrins

Daily Orange Sports Staff

Daily Orange Sports Staff

Daily Orange Sports Staff

Daily Orange Staff

For Jeff and Jane Swede, family holidays revolve around basketball games. Whether it's for Cole Swider or any of his three younger siblings, the Swider family is running around in one game after another. Jenny doesn't know how many times the family has been to ESPN Sports World-this is a hot spot for a youth championship.

But Swiders wants to change. So Jenny and Jeff planned a trip they called the "Pennsylvania Loop" and took their children to child-friendly attractions such as Hershey Park and the Crayola Factory. There was no basketball during the holidays, but there was a problem: the 12-year-old Sweed and his love of basketball, especially shooting. Therefore, Jenny had to choose a hotel with a basketball hoop so that Swider could practice shooting.

"Most kids will look for the swimming pool," Jenny said. "Cole found a basket."

Jeff accompanies Sweed to the court, grabbing rebounds, or watching his son play with a child much older than him. "If (Cole) had to not shoot for more than a day, it would be painful for him to be around," Jeff said, which is why Jeff estimates that the two spent thousands of hours together to complete his shots.

Jenny said that despite this, Swede participated in all the family excursions and had a good time in the park. But when the family returned to the hotel, Sweed’s siblings jumped into the pool and he grabbed a basketball.

Swede joined Syracuse from Villanova, where he played 77 games, averaging 5.2 points and 35.7 percent from three-pointers. In high school, Syracuse was one of his four choices, but he chose to join the Wildcats. But Villanova didn't play to Swede's advantage as a shooter or defender, Jeff said. Now that he is back to one of his best choices, SU head coach Jim Boheim said that Swede may be Syracuse's best wing shooter in decades.

"It's just a mixture of the right place and the right time. Obviously, it's great to have this opportunity so far," Sweed said.

Swider is 6 feet 9 inches tall and weighs 220 pounds, bringing a unique size and shooting ability to Syracuse's lineup. He said that bigger players become more capable of shooting three-pointers is a new phenomenon. But this is the trend his parents saw.

Jenny and Jeff are both college basketball players-Jenny played four years at the University of New Hampshire, and Jeff continued to advance at Fordham University. Coincidentally, Jenny and Jeff are both traditionally big men, but because Swider’s pediatrician predicted that he would end up at 6'9 or 6'10, Swider’s parents said that they did not want Swider to be fixed in one position, but Hope he becomes a comprehensive player.

"We want to make sure that each of our children has the skills needed to hold multiple positions," Jenny said. "Because that is where you are most valuable to the team."

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When he was young, Swad practiced dribbling and breaking through the rim as a point guard, but it was his obsession with shooting that made him special. Swiders built a basketball court in their backyard in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, and Jenny remembers Swider "in his fence" on the court.

As soon as he could walk and hold the ball, Sweed started shooting on the children's basket. In the house, he would shoot in an arcade basketball game. Jenny said that all his birthday parties are basketball themed. When he was old enough, Sweed began to shoot on the court regardless of the weather or time.

"Cole is the kind of kid who doesn't have a few hours a day, that day is incomplete for him," Jeff said. "We have lights on the court and he will shoot late at night all summer. Our neighbors will hear the ball bounce at 10 o'clock."

The lights on the court did not initially exist. They were added because Jenny always had to call Swider inside when it was dark. Long training is not just about shooting three-pointers-Sweed is also good at free throws.

When Swider was in sixth grade, he participated in the Elks Hoop Shoot, a free throw game for children aged 8-13. This game gave birth to more family holidays as Swider reached the finals all the way. In the end, he won fourth place, but he was eager for more competition, Jenny said.

The need to challenge himself is how Sweed finally meets his strength coach Anthony Tinley. Tinley prepared for his senior year by fighting with other high school students and even some elderly people. But one day, Tingley remembered a 12-year-old kid walking into the gym. He estimated that he might be six inches to one foot shorter than the other players there. Usually, they hate playing with young children because it may slow down the game. But with Swider, the situation is different.

"It's not like,'Oh, (that) baby, that kid,'" Tinley said. "It's like,'Oh, he can shoot and catch him.'"

A few years later, Swede played for head coach Michael Hart at St. Andrew's School. Swider played in what Hart called the "offensive first" system, which resulted in Swider becoming St Andrew's historical scoring leader with 2,900 points. In Hart's system, Sweed controls the offense. Although he is the tallest player on the court, he still plays the point guard.

"He did everything. He drove the ball, he took a three-pointer, he layup," Hart said. "He did everything. You say it, he did it."

Although Hart is the star player of the team, Hart remembers catching Sweed in the gym at 6 o'clock in the morning. Glover said that Tim Glover (Tim Glover) used to be a shooting coach and once trained for the team. Later, Sweed stepped forward and asked him if he could continue training.

At that time, Sweed was already among the top 100 players in high school, so the two did a lot of work on small things such as footwork and where the left hand was placed on the ball when shooting. Glover said that Swede is different from other shooters in the height of his pass at the shot point. But he also said that most of the players in Swider's height are trying to get a stable release.

Glover said: "Whether he misses four or five consecutive shots or makes four or five consecutive shots, his shooting state is perfect every time." "It's always the same every time."

Hart said that by the end of high school, Sweed was one of the best shooters in the country. Around this time, Gerry McNamara contacted Swider, hoping to play in Syracuse.

When Sweed finally chose Villanova, Hart said he was shocked because he felt that the “four” schools were the least suitable for him-Xavier, Villanova, Duke and Tin Lachuz. But Sweed wanted to join a contender for the national championship, so he chose the Wildcats.

In 77 games, Sweed only started 17 times for the Wildcats. Nevertheless, in the limited action, Swede's shooting skills are still very prominent.

Jeff remembers watching a training session where the coaching staff used a machine to measure the angle of the ball into the net. Ideally, the player's shot enters the net at a 45-degree angle. All attempts by Swider were conducted at 44, 45 and 46 degrees, which was the best range of all Wildcats at the time. Villanova's deputy head coach George Halkovac said that Swede's shooting arc and depth are always perfect.

"He is one of the best shooters, probably in this country," Halcovage said.

However, Swede never really integrated into Villanova's playing style. Jeff said he now realizes that Villanova's conversion defense poses a challenge to Swede, who sometimes has to defend a 6-foot point guard or a 7-foot center based on the conversion. Hart said it was frustrating to see Sweed only take a few shots per game.

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Swede went from averaging 26.5 points per game in high school to 4.4 goals per game with the Wildcats. After playing for Villanova for three seasons, Swede decided to transfer.

Jenny remembers Sweed returning from Villanova and answering phone calls from other universities for three hours. Soon, he received a call from a familiar face-McNamara. This time, Sweed carefully studied the style of play in each school and decided that Syracuse was the most suitable for him and his shooting ability.

"Villanova's offense is a lot of guard penetration," Sweed said. "Here (at SU), we have a lot of low screens, a lot of staggered screens, and the offense penetrates the shooter."

At SU, Swider will be responsible for replacing some of the works left by forwards Quincy Guerrier and Marek Dolezaj. But Swider offered something different. He showed his ability to shoot first points against Orange in the exhibition game against Pace.

Swede started the game in the lower left corner of the court, with the ball in the hands of Benny Williams on the other side. But then Frank Anselem (Frank Anselem) bends to Sweed and sets a ball-free screen to let Sweed free. He flashed to the top of the wing to catch Williams' pass, then turned around, stood firm, and made a three-pointer. He made another shot from outside the three-point line and ended the night with 21 points. His three-point shot percentage reached 71%. Swede scored more than 20 points only once in Villanova's three years.

"He understands what we are doing, he can shoot. He can shoot, he can shoot, he can also shoot, okay?" Burheim said with a smile.

For Swider, Syracuse is returning to the team, where he can do what he does best: shooting.

"For the past two or three years, I have always wanted to play with the same chips and passion I used to play in high school and AAU," Sweed said after the Pace game. "So it feels good to finally feel like myself and come back to the players I know."

Posted at 12:17 AM, November 8, 2021

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