City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of CoBL's "Prepping for Preps," our series of articles previewing area high school teams for the 2015-16 season. For the complete list of schools previewed so far, click here)

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Last month, a contingent of D-I coaches filled the bleachers to watch one of Westtown’s limited open fall workouts. The big-name schools were represented, from North Carolina to Kentucky, as were big-name coaches: Boeheim, Wright, Mullin.

Many schools were there to see Mohamed Bamba, the gifted 6-foot-11 junior who is one of the most sought-after big men in the 2017 class. And while the team’s center is the center of attention, there is no shortage of skill on Westtown’s roster.

With a roster laced with D-I athletes, Seth Berger said this is the “most deeply talented offensive team” he’s ever had in his seventh season as the Moose head coach. With a challenging schedule ahead, though, and still in search of his elusive first Pennsylvania Independent Schools (PAISAA) state title, Berger is much more concerned about the other side of the ball.

“The question of this team is: Will we defend?” Berger said. “We’re going to score a lot of points.”

Indeed they will. Besides Bamba, who can handle and shoot exceptionally well for a young man of his size, the team has senior point guard Jair Bolden, 6-6 sophomore guard Cameron Reddish, and 6-4 juniors Brandon Randolph and Najja Hunter. All of them can put the ball through the hoop with ease.

Like Bamba, Reddish is considered one of the top 20 players in his age group, and many of the coaches there to see Bamba were also there to see his younger teammate. Hunter and Randolph have several high-major schools after them, while Bolden has schools in the Atlantic 10, Ivy and Patriot Leagues on his case.

If his team can get defensive, Berger said he believes this team could win a second consecutive Friends’ League title and a PAISAA state title -- which has never been done at Westtown under Berger’s watch.

The Moose -- who have won two of the past three Friends League championships -- played in their third state title game in four seasons last year, and they had their best chance to win it with a 16-point lead in the third quarter. However, Westtown stumbled down the stretch and fell to the Phelps School, 50-46.

“It’s brutal,” Berger said of reaching the title game so often without hoisting a trophy.

“Last year is the game where I really feel like I screwed up…[if] I’m coaching here for 30 more years and we win so many state titles, I’ll never forget last year.”

Westtown certainly possess the talent to make yet another run for that state crown this year. Bolden is returning for his third year of running the Moose offense, and all five of the teams’ projected starters should be playing Division I basketball.

Bolden had his summer, and thus his recruiting, slowed by a shoulder he dislocated in early July, but he’s happy to be back on the court. And as one of the few seniors on Westtown’s roster, he’s happy to have one more shot at a state title.

“We’ve got high expectations, but we’re aware and I try to remind the guys every day that there have been great teams that have lost to good teams before that are not playing hard, not playing together,” he said. “It’s just my job as senior, point guard, to get everyone to play hard, together.”

Hunter’s younger brother, Zaki, and Adrian Arroyo Diaz-Morera should also see minutes as guards. In the frontcourt, gameplans -- both Westtown’s and opposing -- will be heavily focused on Bomba.

The nearly 7-foot junior is a handful to guard and box out for anyone, and his length gives Westtown one of the premier rim defenders in the nation.

“Mohamed is as good this year as I thought he would be at this time next year,” Berger said. “His improvement has been really, really fast. When he showed up here, I know he wasn’t highly ranked, and truthfully, I know he wasn’t highly skilled. Now, a year later, he put on 20 pounds, he’s highly skilled and you can see the work that Mo has put in with us and (AAU coach Terrance Munch and the PSA Cardinals).”

But Bomba is capable of doing things beyond the general skillset of a typical big man, and it’s his passing ability and soft touch on jumpers that make him especially tough to defend. Just ask Anthony Ochefu, who has to do it every day at practice.

“He’s a good passer and he can put the ball on the floor,” said Ochefu, the younger brother of Villanova’s Daniel. “He’s kind of like a guard in a big body.”

The younger Ochefu, a 6-foot-8 junior now receiving D-I looks of his own, will also receive plenty of minutes this season. He’ll help fill the void left by Jonathan Kasibabu, now a freshman at Fairfield. The Moose also lost Edvinas Rupkus, a Lithuanian shooting guard who turned down D-I offers to attend D-III Skidmore College.

But the Moose have added and reloaded. And their returning players are hungry for that first state title.

“We definitely have a chip on our shoulders,” Bolden said.