For his first three years at St. Joseph's, Chet Stachitas played alongside three of the school's all time greats -- Jameer Nelson, Delonte West and Pat Carroll.
But Nelson and West are now rising stars in the NBA and Carroll has graduated, leaving Stachitas -- once the great spark off the Hawks bench -- as the leader of this year's St. Joe's squad.
It's a position that the 6-foot-6 swingman has had to grow accustomed to.
"I've taken a lot onto myself," he said after Saturday's win over La Salle at the Palestra. "I'm always trying to lead by example but I think we need to do more than that. Example's not going to be enough for the younger guys.
"I think we're getting better at it with time. I think I'm getting a better feel for it."
Indeed, he has slowly been growing into this role since his first days on City Line Avenue. As a freshman, Stachitas played in all 30 games, coming off the bench and averaging three points a game.
On St. Joe's legendary 2003-04 squad, he earned the team's most improved player award for his efforts as sixth man. Stachitas averaged 6.5 points per game and shot a blistering 43.9 percent from three.
Last year, after the losses of Nelson and West, Stachitas stepped into Atlantic-10 Co-Player of the Year Carroll's role as wingman. Despite battling a high ankle sprain all year, he started all 36 games for the Hawks (a team record) and averaged 10.8 points.
And this season he has continued his steady progression. He is averaging over 14 points per game, with impressive shooting percentages from the field and for three.
Several times this year, he has put the Hawks on his back and willed them to victory -- not an easy task for a player accustomed to hanging around the perimeter and waiting for kick-outs.
In early December, for example, he scored 27 points at Kansas, including a 6-for-7 shooting performance from beyond the three-point line.
But it would be very easy to imagine Stachitas tallying 20-point performances for another team -- Penn.
Both of his parents were athletes at Penn. His mother, Martha, was a member of the field hockey, lacrosse and fencing teams, while his father, Len, was a standout on the track team.
The two Stachitas parents went on to work at Penn after their graduation in 1975. Martha even went on to become the University's director of alumni relations, holding the position from 1996 to 1998.
Martha was forced to relinquish the job when her family moved to Ponte Vedra, Fla. That's where Chet became a young star at Nease High School, leading his team to a Class 3A state title.
Stachitas was recruited heavily by a handful of programs -- Princeton, Boston University, Davidson, Stanford, Penn and St. Joe's.
He eventually narrowed the field down to the two Big 5 schools before settling on coach Phil Martelli's program in fall 2001.
"I really like the coaching staff a lot," Stachitas told RivalHoops.com soon after selecting St. Joe's. "I had a great time meeting the players. It's a great academic school, too."
And though Stachitas still stands by his decision today, he has a lot of admiration for coach Fran Dunphy's program.
"I grew up going to Penn basketball camp; I know coach Dunphy pretty well," he said. "He came into my home; I was recruited by Penn; I have a lot of links."
It seems as if the admiration between Stachitas and Dunphy is mutual.
"Chet's a good player," the Penn coach said. "He's a real good person. He is doing just fine as the leader of that program."
Still, Dunphy says he doesn't dwell on the fact that Stachitas could very well have been in a Penn uniform for tomorrow's game.
"I'm more concerned with guys like Brian Grandieri and Tommy McMahon and Eric Osmundson," he said.
Another Penn player, Ibrahim Jaaber, stopped to think about what it would be like to have Stachitas by his side.
"His shooting ability -- which we lost a lot of when guys like Tim Begley and Jeff Schiffner graduated -- would definitely be appreciated on this team," he said.
"But we make up for our not-as-good shooting with a lot of good players, so I wouldn't trade any of the guys we have for him."
