Injury Hampers Swanston's Campaign

Kyle Swanston spent the past month having to sit and watch his James Madison University teammates. The Hernando High grad was ready to re-join them on the court.

The 21-year-old son of Kelston Swanston and Sharon Swanston, both of Spring Hill, suffered an avulsion fracture in his left knee in a Jan. 9 game versus the College of William and Mary.

Last week he returned to the Dukes, the Division I Colonial Athletic Association team for which the junior has played the past three seasons.

"It's been real tough," Swanston said. "If my team is winning, I want to be out there celebrating and winning. If my team is losing, I want to be out there trying to help them win.

"I feel good. I feel ready to go out there and play. I felt that way for the last week and a half. Now that I've sat out and rested it with the extra time, I can make a difference and help my team."

Shooting star

The 6-foot-7, 180-pound Swanston has essentially started at small forward for JMU since midway through his freshman year.

He averaged 6.2 points and 2.5 rebounds in a combined 58 games over his first two collegiate seasons, making 42 starts.

Prior to his injury, Swanston had appeared in 14 games, starting 13, and averaged 8.5 points and 3.4 rebounds.

His 29 three-pointers made still ranks him second on the team, and has him well on pace to surpass his career high of 35 set last season.

"I feel like I bring a lot of energy to the team," Swanston said. "I was leading the team in three-pointers made. I think I was fifth in the league. I'm still tenth in the league. I felt like I was one of the leaders of the team."

JMU entered the week 11-12, already its best record during Swanston's time with the program. The Dukes have gone 5-23 and 7-23 the past two seasons.

"The difference this year is probably experience," Swanston said. "When I was a freshman, we started three freshmen. We have years under our belts. We know the way the league works a little better.

"Physically we're more developed. We have a couple new players. I think we've bought in better this year."

Future in finance?

Swanston has challenges off the court, as well. He chose an unusual major for someone in his situation: finance.

"It's a tough major," Swanston said. "I did something not a lot of athletes do. It's a tough major to balance with practices and games. But if you do the work, go to class, pay attention, it's manageable.

"I'm usually pretty good with numbers. I wasn't a big science person. I kind of liked finance classes."

He added that he would like to continue playing basketball beyond college, even if it takes him overseas. But he feels he'll have a "back-up plan" with a degree in finance.

"Next year I'll know a lot more about what I want to do when I graduate," Swanston said. "Right now, I'm concentrating on winning basketball games. I haven't put much thought into it.

"Hopefully by the time I have to leave, this school will be one of the best basketball schools in the league. I want to leave a legacy, something incoming players can look back at and say that team got JMU back on track."