Joe Arcidiacono played high-school basketball in Philadelphia and ended up on Villanova’s football squad where he became a captain and played alongside Howie Long.
His second child, Nicole, played basketball at Penn State, also becoming one of the squad’s captains.
Clearly, the family is blessed with athletic ability.
Despite Joe’s sporting proficiency, his second-youngest son, Ryan Arcidiacono (Langhorne, Penn./Neshaminy), has had the upper hand on the basketball court recently.
“He started beating me in about eighth grade,” the elder Arcidiacono admits. “Yeah, I can’t run with him. I couldn’t run with him and I couldn’t shoot with him.”
Lately, it seems like most of the country is having the same problem.
Ryan stands in at 6-foot-4, 191 pounds and was named to ESPNU’s Super 60 as one of the premier point guards in the class of 2012.
Although he had been receiving some attention from programs in the Northeast, his recruitment has taken off only recently after the summer circuit.
Because Arcidiacono’s AAU squad, the PA Playaz, is essentially a team with its members from two high schools, Ryan’s Neshaminy High School and Council Rock North, the club doesn’t have a great national following.
“When we got into summer ball, and Ryan really kind of took off on the national level,” Joe Arcidiacono said. “He had some offers here locally. He had played really well, but he just hadn’t been seen on the national level.”
That quickly changed after the Tournament of Champions in North Carolina over the spring.
“So he went down to North Carolina and played well,” Arcidiacono said. “I don’t want to sound like the father bragging about his son, but he’s played like this his whole life and he was just seen there by the national scouts. So these people saw him and next thing he’s exploding and all these people are calling him and the letters came in. So it’s really been a wild ride for him and the family.”
Ryan currently holds about 15 offers including ones from Boston College, Florida, Georgia Tech, Penn State, Seton Hall, Wake Forest and West Virginia.
Notre Dame has also extended a scholarship offer after beginning Arcidiacono’s recruitment last year.
“There was a gentleman before Martin Ingelsby, Sean Kearney I believe his name is, he was the first guy who contacted us from Notre Dame,” Joe said. “When he took the head job [at Holy Cross], Martin Ingelsby got in touch with Ryan’s high school coach and said he would like to watch him work out. So he came to a workout last year at an open gym in maybe September.”
As Arcidiacono averaged 17 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 2.3 steals per game in his sophomore season with the Redskins, the Irish coaching staff remained in contact with the point guard.
“As the season progressed, he’d keep in contact, usually through the head coach,” Joe said. “They would ask if we could make a quick phone call and I would just call to say hello.”
After Ryan’s success in the spring and summer workouts, the point guard was atop a number of program’s target lists, clearly demonstrated by the attention Arcidiacono received on the first day when college coaches can offer rising juniors.
“I think June 15th is the first day they can call, and everybody called,” Arcidiacono said. “That day, he probably got six offers. And Brey said, ‘Look, I’m sure I’m going to be offering you, I just need to see you,’ like a lot of schools did. And then he saw him in Orlando or West Virginia — one of those two places, I’m not sure — he saw one or two games and then had Ryan call. So we called out there and they offered.”
Besides his imposing frame at the point guard position, Arcidiacono’s father believes that Ryan possesses a number of qualities that make him a valuable asset to potential colleges.
“He’s got great size at the point at 6-4 and he’s up to about 191 pounds,” he said. “With his size and strength, you rarely see that at the point guard position. He’s got great handles, great court sense, he can beat you off the dribble and he’s still growing. He can shoot and has great range.
“I don’t know if there is one feature that stands out. He’s just hyper-competitive. Every loose ball is his ball. He just competes. He competes the whole time.”
If there is one characteristic that Joe stressed when asked about his son’s talents, it’s his aggressiveness on the court. According to the elder Arcidiacono, this was most evident at the very camp that helped put Ryan on the map.
“He’s got a lot of good core strengths,” Arcidiacono said. “He’s just tough as nails. He’s got a real edge to him and just competes. When he was in North Carolina, he took eight stitches to the head. He was in Wake Forest Hospital, at about 12:30, 1:00 in the morning and his doctor said and his coach too, ‘You can’t play.’”
Not seeing that as an option, Ryan put in a call to his parents the following morning and told them that he had made his decision. He was going to participate.
“He put in a call to Patti and I in the morning and he said, ‘I’ve got to play. I absolutely have to play,’” Arcidiacono said. “And I said, ‘You know what, you’ve worked so hard, go ahead and play.’”
The result was a performance that saw him put up a scoring average in the 30s at the Tournament of Champions.
Although Ryan has always had natural talent, it was a former Penn State point guard that helped propel the young Arcidiacono’s game. After starting for four years with the Nittany Lions, Ben Luber graduated from Penn State in 2007 and began his career as a trainer and an assistant.
“I’ve had a trainer with him since he was in the seventh grade, Ben Luber,” Joe said. “Ben did a phenomenal job. He’s now an assistant coach at Rider. He trained Ryan in the seventh, eighth and ninth grades and then he got a basketball ops job his first year at Rider and now he’s a full-time assistant. Ben worked with him for three years. Ben worked his ball skills. Ben really took charge to improve all of Ryan’s skills and took him to a complete next level.”
As Ryan continues to gain exposure and his recruitment unfolds, he and his family have yet to narrow his list of offers into a group of favorites. However, the Arcidiaconos do have a number of qualities they would like to see in Ryan’s future college.
“My wife and I both went to Villanova, so we know the value of education,” Joe said. “Basketball is going to leave you at some point, so you have to go to work. The education piece is important. The player-head coach relationship level is also huge. The facilities and all that kind of stuff does not mean as much as the player-head coach relationship and the education. I like that he wants to play in the Big East or the ACC. He wants to play at the highest level he can. He wants to go where he will have the ball in his hand and be the point guard.”
With visits to Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Villanova, Florida and others in the making, the Irish program seems to have all of the qualities that Joe is looking for in his son’s college choice.
“I think a school like Notre Dame has all of the characteristics that any parent values,” Arcidiacono said. “Based on their education, their commitment to excellence in academics and athletics, their coaching staff, Notre Dame is definitely a school that we’re looking at closely.”
