On Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022, Michael Farley and Jesse Rotunno were recognized for committing to continue this basketball careers at the collegiate level.
Michael Farley – Ursinus College (Basketball)
Major: Pre-Med
Final list of colleges: Ursinus, York College, Scranton, DeSales, Catholic University
Reasons for choosing Ursinus: “I really connected with the team and the guys on the team. Also, it’s right down the road, so that was another big factor.”
What was the progression that led you to competing in basketball at the collegiate level? “I always knew I wanted to play in college. A lot of kids – high school sports make them face the reality of what it’s going to be like. I really enjoyed my time here at South playing basketball, and I wanted to keep that going.”
Coach Jason Campbell says: “Michael Farley has achieved so much on the court, and he is tremendous off the court as well. His awards and achievements speak for themselves, being a two-time second team all-league, a first team all-league this year in the Colonial Division. He is the second all-time leading scorer in CB South history, scoring 800 points, and the list goes on, but what most impressed me about Mike is that over the four years that he’s been a part of our varsity program is how he’s matured so much. He’s become mentally tough, handling adversity in games and controlling his emotions. When it comes to his personality, he is so warm and welcoming to any individual that he speaks to. Especially working with kids at basketball camp and how he’s able to communicate and teach the game. It was the same thing I saw at practices how he would communicate with his teammates, and his tone of voice would be right on point to help his teammates be encouraged to improve or just to pick somebody up. His leadership skills and what he did for our program this year really helped lead us to a conference championship, making sure guys were being accountable every single day in practice but also being accountable in games. Michael Farley on the court, off the court was a well-rounded student-athlete who represented CB South every time he put on the uniform.”
About Michael:
Favorite food: Pizza
Favorite TV show: Breaking Bad
Favorite music: Modern Rap
Jesse Rotunno – Ave Maria University (Basketball)
Major: Sports Medicine/Exercise Science
Final list of colleges: Ave Maria, Scranton, Waynesburg
Reasons for choosing Ave Maria: “I think it was mostly the coaching staff. I grew really close with them over phone calls, texting back and forth and the conversations we had – it was super good. They made me feel super at home, especially when I went and visited.”
What was the progression that led you to competing in basketball at the collegiate level? “It started in elementary school – I always wanted to play in college because I always looked at that as the biggest achievement. I grew up watching college basketball and my family did too. It was a goal for me to make it to the collegiate level.”
Coach Jason Campbell says: “What first comes to mind with Jesse is what an incredible work ethic that he has. He would come to practice sometimes before I would even get to the gym, especially on Saturdays. He would find his way into the gym, and he would already be working on his game. He always had a plan in place as he worked on his game prior to practice officially starting in the morning or after school. Those things he was working on – as I would watch – he would then incorporate them into practices, and then they would eventually be incorporated into his game.
“An interesting story about Jesse when he was a junior – as we were going through tryouts, I brought Jesse in just to talk about options for him. I thought he would be a borderline varsity player as a junior, he certainly had the athleticism to play and had defensive footwork to be able to compete at that level but needed to work on his offensive skills. I wanted to put it out there as – hey, do you want to practice with the varsity every single day and maybe not get much playing time, but you’d have to earn it, or do you want to go on the jayvee team and start and get minutes. He chose to be on the varsity team where he could practice and compete against a higher level competition within our practice, and he had a game plan in place of what he wanted to work on every single day, so over that year, he grew tremendously as a player.
“What I also loved most about him was his mental toughness, how he’s able to take on a role for the team, and that role can change. There were many things that were asked of him, and minutes could vary over his last two years as a varsity player, but he was accepting of that. He was very unselfish, and he always put the team first, so that was clear every day by his work ethic of showing up early to practices, sticking around where he could to work at his game, and the effort he put into those practices where he would never take a play off, never take a drill off, and the same thing would be implemented when he checked into a game. He had a great season for us – led us in field goal percentage overall and effective field goal percentage. He had a number of buzzer beaters that I can recall that happened right before halftime that gave us momentum going into the half. I could say so many more things about Jesse about his positive attitude, his work ethic and the love he has for basketball. Putting his team first always stood out to me. I’m super proud of all his accomplishments.”
About Jesse:
Favorite food: Barbecue
Favorite TV show: Friends
Favorite artist: Tupac
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