But in the month of March, he’s been a part of one of the NCAA Tournament’s biggest underdog stories.
“I’m blessed to be here,” Swain said. “Before the season, we were selected eighth in our conference. People never expected us to be here.”
Swain, a junior guard on the Saint Francis men’s basketball team, helped the Red Flash win the Northeast Conference tournament and earn their first bid to the Big Dance since 1991.
When the selection show on Sunday revealed who Saint Francis was playing in the first round — and where — “it became a full-circle moment for me,” Swain said.
“My phone started blowing up. I was so excited. I started calling all of my friends, ‘Like, yo, I’ll be back.’ This was a full-circle moment for sure.”
The Red Flash were set to face Alabama State in the NCAA Tournament’s First Four as the No. 16 seeds at University of Dayton Arena — a 45-minute drive north from Swain’s hometown Hamilton.
“I felt like God set it all up,” said Tesha Swain, K.J.‘s mother. “When I knew where they were playing — out of all the places — I couldn’t believe it.”
“It was a big deal,” K.J. jumped in. “I talk to my parents every night and told them, ‘I can’t believe this happened.’”
Prepping for success
Swain was enrolled in the Hamilton school district before attending Cincinnati Christian, where he was a standout player his sophomore and junior seasons.
He was named to the all-Ohio, all-conference, all-district teams along with the District 15 All-Star team and earning the Playmaker of the Year award as a junior.
His team won the Miami Valley Conference twice, districts as a junior and sectionals as a sophomore.
It was during his playing days at CCS that helped Swain garner attention from Saint Francis located in the middle of Pennsylvania.
“One of our assistant coaches was from out this way, Eric Taylor who was with me for 12 years,” Red Flash coach Rob Krimmel said.
“We started to compile kids, and his name had come up. He was in that Covid class, and from a recruiting standpoint, things kind of shut down.
“He was someone that was on our radar. The needs of the program sort of went in a little bit of a different direction after that.”
Swain left CCS and returned to Hamilton his senior year. He felt it was the right move.
“I went to Hamilton pretty much all of my life growing up since I was a kid, and with the thought of my final year of high school, I was like, ‘I want to go back,’” he elaborated. “I told my parents that I would kind of want to get my feet back and go to Hamilton again.”
Swain decided to attend Xavier out of high school, but the itch to play basketball hung around.
“My dad always told me, ‘Closed mouths don’t always get fed,’” he said.
“I just continued to talk and reach out, and they gave me an opportunity when I came out there.”
“He reached back out to us at some point during his sophomore year at Xavier,” Krimmel added. “He said he really wanted to play and asked if there would be any opportunities for him to be part of the program.”
Swain’s visit was all it took for him to be back on the court.
“We had a chance to interact with him, and we knew people in his circle that would sing praises about who he is as a person,” Krimmel said.
“And then he left Xavier as a student and joined us as a student athlete.”
Mom and dad supported the decision simply because K.J. put himself in the best position to follow through with it.
“When he was at Xavier, he was doing well,” Tesha said. “He won Academic Student of the Year.
“He thought basketball was over for him, but his heart wasn’t ready to give it up. ... He said, ‘You guys, I’ve done everything right. I’ve kept my grades up. I just want to go try.’”
‘People don’t know his adversity’
Exactly a year ago, Swain’s father was receiving words of wisdom from his son.
Kareem just didn’t know it because he was in a coma.
“When you say things come full-circle, we just think about this time last year,” Tesha said. “K.J. was literally standing over his father’s bed and said ‘You will never miss a game. Please open your eyes.’
“That’s what makes this moment beautiful.”
Kareem wasn’t necessarily diagnosed with a certain disease. Doctors couldn’t find what was wrong with him.
“My organs shut down, I was weak,” described Kareem while propped up in a wheelchair on the UD Arena concourse. “I had brain issues, my liver shut down. I had some type of infection parasite in my brain.”
“He’s been in the ICU for about a year,” Tesha said. “It’s just a miracle him being here after suffering through so many operations that we can’t keep count.
“So people have no clue about K.J.’s adversity,” preached Swain’s mother, who also was dealing with some undisclosed health issues as well. “These past few years he’s been through it.
“But no matter what life has thrown at him, he just keeps going,” Tesha added of her son, who majors in marketing and maintains above a 4.0 grade point average.
K.J., who provides a spark during practice with the Saint Francis scout squad, watched his team fall to Alabama State on a last-second basket.
It happened on the same floor he played on during the regional finals at Cincinnati Christian when the Cougars lost to Jackson Center 40-30 in a Division IV regional semifinal.
“I got emotional before the game,” K.J. said. “Like, I was just here in high school.
“Then you think in college, you could play anywhere in the country. What’s the chances you play right back at home for this one?”
“This has been a wonderful experience for the family all-around,” Kareen said softly while smiling. “K.J., he just works so hard. He deserves this. He works hard in school and out of school as well.
“The fact that we’re here — I definitely dreamed of this as a kid,” K.J. noted. “I dreamed of this all my life to be in a position like this.”
And so did his family.
“I got to watch him play on TV and in March Madness,” Kareem said. “It’s my favorite time of the year.
“My son allowed me to have the chance to watch him during it. This was my March Madness.”
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