Goodwin stands out early in the season

The Chaminade men’s basketball season is currently underway. The ‘Swords played their first PacWest Conference game on Dec. 3 against Concordia University, where the Eagles came up with the win in overtime. Regardless of the result, some of the new players are fitting in well with the style of play coach Eric Bovaird likes.

Junior transfer from Oakland, Calif., Rohndell Goodwin has been playing exceptionally well, averaging 15.8 points, six rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 0.3 steals per game.

Goodwin transferred from Cañada College in Tracy, Calif. There he earned the Northern California Junior College Player of the Year after averaging 17.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game.

“I wasn’t eligible to go Division I because my clock ran out so I felt that the Maui Invitational and Hawaii is a good place for me to showcase my talents,” Goodwin said.

Goodwin mentioned that the Maui Invitational was the biggest influence on him to come out to play for the Chaminade Silverswords and live in Hawaii. The Maui Invitational was everything Goodwin expected, and he enjoyed every moment of it. Regardless of the game results, Goodwin put up good stats throughout the tournament. He averaged 14.3 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 0.3 steals, in the three losses to Division I opponents

“It was a hell of an experience, it was just everything that I thought it would be,” said Goodwin. “National television, it was just breath taking you know, cameras everywhere. If you play good everyone is going to know who you are and that’s what I did.”

Despite the loss against Concordia on Thursday, Goodwin believes the roster is good enough to win the PacWest title, and he assures that’s the mentality everybody has in the locker room. Chaminade is 0-1 in the PacWest Conference.

“I believe in my teammates, I like my teammates,” Goodwin said. “We just got to work on our defense, and our scoring is there. I believe we can win the PacWest.”

Goodwin also has personal records that he wants to achieve on the court this season other than winning the PacWest. As he did at his junior college, Goodwin is quite ambitious, as he wants to be the player of the year.

“My personal goals are to win PacWest Player of the Year, along with averaging 17 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and be a team leader,” he said.

Nonetheless, Goodwin enjoys attending school at Chaminade and he loves the weather here in Honolulu.

“It’s Hawaii, I love it. It’s paradise, a different type of weather,” Goodwin said. I haven’t had a cold night since I’ve been here. That’s one thing I love about it, just the weather. And everybody is laid back and nice,”