{"id":5601,"date":"2024-04-30T10:37:58","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T14:37:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/?p=5601"},"modified":"2024-04-30T10:37:59","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T14:37:59","slug":"behind-the-player-kendall-arcuri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/2024\/04\/30\/behind-the-player-kendall-arcuri\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Player: Kendall Arcuri"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Many people might recognize Kendall Arcuri\u2019s name from his ESPN Top 10 buzzer-beating game-winner in overtime against Plattsburgh in the first round of the SUNYAC playoffs this season, but there\u2019s a lot more to the story for the Cortland Men\u2019s Basketball rising junior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coming from a family with a rich history of basketball, with his father and aunts being college basketball players themselves, and his grandfather a coach, some of Arcuri\u2019s earliest memories come from simply being around the sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I just grew up around basketball,” Arcuri said. “Wherever I was, there was a ball in my hand.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seeing that a love for the game was brewing from a young age, Arcuri\u2019s family wasted no time in getting him involved in organized sports as early as they could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I started playing biddies at the age of four,” he said. “But as soon as I could start walking, the first ball I would grab was always a basketball.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While basketball was by no means forced upon by him, Arcuri remarked that it is tough not to take an interest in something that you are constantly surrounded by. He notes his family, specifically his parents, as his biggest source of both inspiration and support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy father always did his best to coach and train me, even as a hard-headed kid that would give him problems sometimes, and my mother was always a supportive voice,\u201d Arcuri said. \u201cMy father is a very tough and strong individual, and seeing him lead by example throughout my life has undoubtedly made me a stronger man.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The encouragement given to Arcuri by his family instilled a mindset into him that playing basketball at a higher level was always on the table as a real possibility, not just a dream. With his family behind him, the only thing stopping him was himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCollege basketball was most certainly always the goal for me, and although I was a late bloomer, by the time my end of junior year hit I began to grasp the game much better.\u201d Said Arcuri. \u201cI became more athletic and much better skill wise which really helped me have a great senior year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has only been since arriving at college at Cortland that Arcuri feels as though he is truly reaching his finally realizing his full potential as not just a student-athlete, but an overall person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne thing being a college athlete has made me realize about myself is that the skies the limit. I was very self-conscious throughout high school and felt I was always lesser than what I was. College helped me realize to trust the work I put in and understand that the mind is the biggest factor in performance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coming off a career year with averages of 15 points per game (a team-best), 6.3 rebounds per game, and 2.5 assists, Arcuri truly does believe that the best is yet to come for him and the rest of the Red Dragons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne thing I look forward to is being competitive with them throughout next season as our relationship allows us to battle hard but not let it get to heart,\u201d he said. \u201cMy goal is to win a SUNYAC championship. Almost all our athletic programs are consistent winners in the SUNYAC conference except for basketball, and I want to change that.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many people might recognize Kendall Arcuri\u2019s name from his ESPN Top 10 buzzer-beating game-winner in overtime against Plattsburgh in the first round of the SUNYAC playoffs this season, but there\u2019s a lot more to the story for the Cortland Men\u2019s Basketball rising junior. Coming from a family with a rich history of basketball, with his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":352,"featured_media":5603,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-opinions","entry"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/04\/63A41B63-FC0F-49DB-97FD-0C5DD8FA6BB8.jpeg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/04\/63A41B63-FC0F-49DB-97FD-0C5DD8FA6BB8.jpeg","author_info":{"display_name":"Holden Gumb","author_link":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/author\/holden-gumb\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/352"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}