For La Salle 5, a great graduation

Standing inside La Salle's McCarthy Stadium on Sunday just before the university's commencement exercises began, Explorers men's basketball coach John Giannini seemed as proud as any of the parents in the crowd.

Five of Giannini's players were among the graduates.

Guards Rodney Green and Ruben Guillandeaux and forwards Kimmani Barrett and Yves Mekongo were members of Giannini's first full recruiting class at La Salle. Vernon Goodridge, who transferred to La Salle in 2007 after spending two years at Mississippi State, also picked up his degree.

"This is as close to having your own kids graduate as you can get," Giannini said.

It was a bright spot for the Explorers, who saw a season of promise wrecked by injuries last winter.

Foot injuries cost Barrett and Guillandeaux nearly the whole season. Mekongo missed five of La Salle's last six games with a broken finger. And Goodridge never suited up because of an NCAA violation related to participation in an off-season game.

La Salle finished 12-18.

"It's a hard-luck story, but it's a happy ending to a hard-luck story," Giannini said of seeing his players graduate.

Green, a former Prep Charter star, was named all-Big Five (first team) and all-Atlantic Ten (second team). A four-year starter who scored 1,914 points, Green tallied 48 points in three games at the NBA's Portsmouth (Va.) Invitational.

The guard averaged 18.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 4.2 assists last season.

"Graduating from college was at the top of our lists," said Green, who received a degree in business management. "Last year is one I'll never forget, in a bad way. Graduation day is still going to mean a lot, though, to go out with the people I started my college career with."

Barrett, a 6-foot-6 forward from Paterson, N.J., leaves La Salle with 1,072 career points. He gave the Explorers a versatile and athletic scoring threat to go with the 6-5 Green. As a junior, Barrett averaged 11.8 points.

Like Green, Mekongo, and Goodridge, Barrett has hopes of playing professionally in the NBA or overseas.

"I'm the first in my family to graduate from college, and I can't wait to put a smile on my mother's face," said Barrett, who majored in criminal justice. "But it had an effect on me not to finish the way I wanted to on the basketball court. That was the most painful thing that ever happened to me."

The 6-7 Mekongo, a sturdy and steady performer who had 1,014 career points, averaged 11.0 points and 5.1 rebounds last season. An integrated science and business technology major, Mekongo was named a first-team academic all-American and was the Atlantic Ten student-athlete of the year.

He graduated maxima cum laude from La Salle.

"Everybody tells you its going to go by fast, and I didn't believe them," Mekongo said of his college years. "I really wish we could have done better last season. It was unfortunate. Tough luck. But we bonded in a way that I couldn't see happening."

The 6-6 Guillandeaux probably would have given La Salle a fourth 1,000-point scorer if he had not been sidelined. Playing either guard spot, Guillandeaux was averaging 9.5 points and shooting 62 percent from beyond the arc before going out with 776 career points.

Because of the brevity of his 2009-10 season, Guillandeaux has been granted an additional year of eligibility by the NCAA. He was asked what made him happier - graduating or having another season to play for La Salle.

"That's a good question," the business management major said. "Graduating feels great, and it's going to feel good to see how my mother reacts to it. But it also feels great to get another chance."

Goodridge, a 6-9 forward, averaged 6.7 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in his only season with the Explorers. Last winter, all he could do was watch after the NCAA ruling.

"Yeah, it hurt, but I wish the team hadn't been so out of luck after that," said Goodridge, a native of Barbados who grew up in Brooklyn before attending Lutheran Christian Academy.

Goodridge, an integrated science and business technology major, was asked he if considered dropping out of school after finding out he wouldn't be able to play last season. He said he had promised his grandmother, who died in April 2009, that he would get his degree.

"I had already spent four years in school, and I figured I might as well get something out of it," Goodridge said. "My grandmother didn't live to see it, but it still counts for something. To play with these guys, we had good times and bad times. Graduation day, we . . . share the moment. We made it."