It’s not easy being Sean Finn. When you are 6’ 11″, it isn’t easy to become a wallflower. Everybody notices when you walk into a room and certainly everybody expects you to be All-World on the basketball floor. It wasn’t easy for Sean when his father passed away when he was in the second grade. It’s still not easy for him to talk about it as he quickly moves on to another subject. It isn’t easy to move from a city of 25,000, wheat fields, and a place that made the Scarecrow, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, and a grungy mutt named Toto famous, to a metropolitan city the size of Dayton. It also isn’t easy sitting on the bench most games until the game is pretty much decided when you are used to being ‘the man.’The life that Sean Finn has led hasn’t always been easy, but you would never guess it from talking to him.

The fact that his father died when he was eight is not used as an excuse for anything.”It’s been 12 years and I really don’t think about it a whole lot,” Finn admits. He transcended this difficult time by becoming closer to his mother, Linda. I close most interviews with the question, ‘Who do you admire most?’ It was an easy one for Sean because of the bond between parent and child. Most guys his age don’t even like to admit they have a mother, let alone say that she’s an important part of their life. “It’s been a difficult twelve years for my mom, and I admire her for what she has done for us.”Unlike many extremely tall individuals, Sean never experienced a growth spurt. He was always the tall kid in the class and reached 6’ 6″ in the eighth grade. His mother is 5’ 10″ and his dad was 6’ 7″ so having a tall son was not totally unexpected.”I really never had a growth spurt,” he says. “It seemed to be about two inches each year. I really haven’t grown much since the summer before my junior year. I would really like to get one more inch because there is some added intimidation when you are listed as 7’ 0″.” One of the reasons that so many big men take longer to develop is the fact that they grew so fast that it takes their coordination a while to catch up with their body. One of the reasons that Finn runs the court so well and possesses the soft hands that he does is because of his ability to play other sports as he grew.

In addition to running track and playing football, Sean played the outfield in baseball and was just beginning the conversion to pitcher when he decided to concentrate on basketball.All of us have known kids that were taller or heavier or smarter or just plain different than the rest of us. Sometimes we treated them differently, sometimes we didn’t.”It really wasn’t that bad growing up. You get a little tired of everybody asking you how tall you are. It all depends on what kind of mood I’m in. After a loss, I really don’t feel like telling somebody my height. Normally, I really don’t mind. I really love being this tall. My friends really don’t say anything about it. People that haven’t seen me before may make a comment, but it’s really no big deal. Sometimes, I’ll just play around with people and tell them that I’m 6’ 2″ and don’t play basketball.”Once Sean started to concentrate on basketball, he became consumed. There was little time for other normal high school activities but that didn’t mean that his grades suffered. He always knew that he would be going to college, but it wasn’t until the opportunity to play basketball at the Division I level became apparent that he began to look past the local Division II school, Fort Hays University.During his sophomore year his game began to elevate. Shortly after the season, he played in several tournaments and began to catch the eye of several major universities. This was, of course, before he had even played a game at the varsity level in high school.

The letters introducing the coaches and their universities were next. It was during his junior year that the secret was let out: Sean Finn could play basketball. Finn averaged 15.4 points and 6.8 rebounds while shooting .638% from the field. UD and many others became very interested after the summer and Sean began to make his official visits. UD, however, wasn’t going to be one of his stops.

“Dayton wasn’t interested in me until my senior year,” Finn says. “I had a lot of people in for in-home visits, probably too many. I really have a hard time saying no. I just have trouble being mean to people.”Although he would have preferred a college decision before his senior season started, it wasn’t to be. It turned out to be a season that thrust Sean into an even higher echelon. Finn averaged 22.7 points and 9.1 rebounds a game while shooting an incredible .744% from the field. The big boys were now knocking on his door.”Pittsburgh, Kansas State, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Utah, SMU, Nebraska were all interested. It was going to be a difficult decision to come as far as Dayton. It came down to UD and Kansas State. I knew that UD had the better basketball program and I really wanted to get away. Dayton is a big city but UD is small enough that you can feel really comfortable. I really liked the school. I really wanted to experience things on my own. Leaving my family was tough, but not as bad as I thought it would be.”

You can talk all you like about the school and the coaches and the facilities, but many players have been lost or gained during their time alone with their escort. Keith Waleskowski and Brooks Hall did a tag team on Finn during his visit — with Brooks carrying the main load. Probably the most intellectual of the players on the current team, Brooks and Keith talked about a lot of things, but the academics at UD seemed to strike a cord with Finn.

“Even without basketball,” Finn says, “I would have gone to college. I doubt that I would have gone to an academic school like Dayton, though. That is one of the big reasons that I picked UD. They not only have a good basketball program, but also a great academic situation.”

It didn’t take long for our conversation to turn to basketball and the state of his first season in the red and blue. With basketball is becoming a never-ending journey with little time off during the year, preparation before the season can make all the difference in the world for an incoming freshman.”I should have worked harder on the weights,” Finn confides. “I thought I worked hard, but not what I should have. If I had been here, I probably would have worked harder on my running and the weights. The thing that I have noticed since I got to college is how strong everybody is. When I was in high school, I faced some pretty strong guys, but never really had any trouble. It’s a totally different story here.” That lack of strength became an early obstacle to his development, but Sean wasn’t going to let that get in his way. “If I could change one thing about me physically, I would really like to be bigger, stronger. I’ve been working with Todd [Todd Forcier, UD Strength and Conditioning Coach] just about everyday since I’ve been here. I weighed about 225lb when I graduated, but my body fat percentage was high. After I got here I dropped down to 220 as my body fat was reduced. My fat percentage now is the best that it has ever been. I’ve been up to 235lb, but the season tends to take weight off and I’m down to 230lb. When the season is over, I’m really going to hit it hard and try to add another 15 pounds.”Although somewhat disappointed in his season thus far, he has not given up hope. Sean is a realist in that he knows that he has miles to go before he can be a major force on the inside. “When the season started, I was just hoping to get some spot playing time. I just want to improve myself and get stronger. I want to be ready to contribute when needed and then in the future be able to contribute a lot.”

It is not unusual for a player to form a special bond with one of the coaches. There’s one name that keeps coming up when I talk to the players, Assistant Coach Ron Jirsa.

“I really am pretty close to Coach Jirsa,” says Finn. “There are times it seems like he is my personal coach. He is the one that rides me the most. I really don’t mind that because when they quit riding you is when you have to worry. He will call me out for things that he doesn’t call others out on. I really get along well with him.” With Jirsa’s continued help, the sky may be the limit for Finn in the seasons to come.This has been a season of ups and downs for our Flyers. We fans in the stands aren’t the only ones to experience these moments of exhilaration and depression. As a player, these feelings become part of their daily life, yet deep down they haven’t given up. “We can’t look back on what might have been, we need to focus on the next game,” he says. “I think we have a pretty good attitude. There are times that we haven’t taken a loss as hard as we should. It should drive us to play better. Everyone believes that we can do it. We need to stop talking about it and get it done.”And for those of you that spend too much time reading the numerous message boards that exist, Sean reads them too. His parting comment when I asked about the possibility of transferring was, “I laugh about the transfer rumors that appear on message boards.” We can all rest easy knowing that all is well with Sean Finn. We know we have a potentially great player in this soon to be seven footer and he loves what he sees in our favorite university and basketball program.

Most Flyer fans expected a return trip to the NCAA Tournament and it was no different for the players. When I asked Sean what his goals were for the season, the first thing out of his mouth was seeing the Dayton name on the board on Selection Sunday. It is rare when asking a player what his goals are to have him mention a team goal first. Usually it is about minutes, points, and rebounds. But Kansas native Sean Finn is different than most basketball players in that the team comes first. If that doesn’t tell you a great deal about this young man, you’re not the Wizard I thought you were.