Men's Basketball: Carroll hoops players flocking to York

It was just a casual conversation at the Carroll County High School All-Star basketball game a little over a month ago.

Liberty's Chad Barcikowski, the Times Player of the Year, was asking fellow teammates where they were headed for college and if they intended to keep playing basketball.

Initially startled when four of them said York College, Barcikowski figured he should check it out and York's coach Matt Hunter helped him gather information about the program and the school.

After taking a visit, Barcikowski came to the decision that York was the place for him to continue his education and career so he made the move.

"The four-year college has always been a dream of mine and I just wanted to play somewhere," Barcikowski said. "I sat down with my dad and coach [Brian] Tombs and talked it over. When this opportunity arose to play at York, I wanted to take it."

He will be joined by South Carroll's Tyler Alcid, Francis Scott Key's Max Bell and Blake Straitman and Westminster's Dalton Myers, all fellow all-countians. Hunter has only been at the school for one year and these five and others, represent his first real recruiting class.

While he didn't set out to lock up five Carroll kids, he said he is pleased with how things turned out.

"It's a place where we want to be able to recruit. It's an hour from our campus," Hunter said. "We will recruit wherever there are talented players and it just so happens, there was a lot of talent in Carroll."

Noting a desire to get longer more athletic players, Hunter said he thinks all five have something they can contribute right away to the program.

The Spartans' current roster, before the recruiting class, features five seniors and three sophomores. While playing time could be sparse in the beginning it seems as if the opportunity is there.

Alcid was the first to commit and he had a previous relationship with Hunter when he was an assistant coach at DeSales University. Citing the opportunity for early playing time and Hunter's passion for the game, Alcid said York appealed to him from the beginning.

"I went up for a visit sometime in early August and I just loved the feeling of the campus," Alcid said. "What really got me was he said the fan section was crazy, especially for a Division III school. He said the students have a lot of passion for basketball."

It seems that Hunter's passion and energy were a crucial factor for several of the boys. Unintentionally, Alcid's commitment started a domino effect and helped convince the others to join the Spartans' program.

It was Bell and Straitman who were next to commit, but Straitman didn't do it just for basketball. Looking to go to a smaller school and wanting to pursue an engineering degree, Straitman was intrigued by the facilities in addition to the chance to continue his basketball career.

Narrowing down his choices to York and Elizabethtown College, Bell's decision sealed the deal for Straitman.

"I knew Tyler was committed and I know he is a good player so I figured it would be fun to play with him," Straitman said. "Then about a week before me, Max committed. After Max did it, I felt it was the right thing for me."

Said Bell: "We always talked about how it would be cool to play together for another four years. We talked about committing on the same day but I did it sooner and I was really excited about my decision. I told him all about my experience and I think that put him over the edge and he decided to come, too."

Next came Myers, who said building a program appealed to him and the coach's style was a big factor too.

"He's the kind of coach that's not going to give you what you want, he's going to make you work for it," Myers said. "I never played travel my whole life. I worked every day in the summer for like four hours a day. I like to work at my game and I think this is the best place to keep doing that."

The team dynamic and the familiarity will help eliminate what Straitman calls the "awkward" phase of beginning college and making a new transition. After Alcid was on board, the other four said existing county players being on the team as factor working in York's favor.

Building relationships and establishing early contact is crucial, Hunter said, because of the inability to offer athletic scholarships on the D-III level.

"The word is relationships, no matter when it starts," Hunter said. "My assistant Nick Brady handled a lot of the recruiting in that area and I think he did a great job relating to the athletes. The kids should feel comfortable with the coaching staff and feel like they can relate to us even if it's not basketball related."

Barcikowski, who was considering several other schools, thought there may be a time he wouldn't be playing in college after a tumultuous junior season. But after a highly productive senior season and watching other county players get on board, the decision became clear.

"After junior year I thought college [basketball] was looking a little bleak. I was just going to school and have fun with my friends," Barcikowski said. "But after my junior year, a fire started burning and I had to get better. I had to turn [Liberty] around and it really turned out well for me."