City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Here’s a notebook from the third and final day of the St. Joe’s Commuter Team Camp, featuring action from Sunday morning’s sets:

(More SJU team camp coverage: | Day 1 | Day 2)

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Carroll’s Romanczuk looking for next point guard(s)
Point guard has not been a position of concern for Archbishop Carroll head coach Paul Romanczuk going back quite a few years.

The last two seasons, it was Josh Sharkey who handled the rock for Romanczuk’s Patriots, teaming with Ryan Daly to form one of the more dangerous backcourts around. Before Sharkey it was Austin Tilghman (Monmouth); before Tilghman it was Yosef Yacob (Binghamton) who followed up on Juan’ya Green (Niagara/Hofstra), who as a sophomore helped lead the program to a state title in 2009 alongside D.J. Irving (Boston U).

With Sharkey off to Samford and Ryan Daly headed to Delaware, Romanczuk for the first time in the better part of a decade will have to entrust an underclassman with the role. Or, based on the way Carroll has been playing this spring, two underclassmen.

A pair of sophomores, Shawn Johnson and Mark Bradford, look primed to run the Patriots’ offense this year. Both stand about 6-foot-tall, and both are physically strong guards who can handle the ball against a press

As would be expected of a pair of lead guards who only saw spare varsity minutes as freshmen, there is a learning curve ahead, namely with shot selection and decision-making against a varsity-level defense.

“It’s almost like one plays well one game, one plays well the other game,” Romanczuk said, “(but) that’s just part of being young and being a little inexperienced running the point and me asking you to pressure full-court the whole game. I’d like to see both of them clicking at the same time, of course, and so would they.

“Obviously they still have a ways to go but they’re a little different in their approach, and I like that,” he added. “The Thunder and Lightning of the Archbishop Carroll Patriots.”

Though neither Johnson nor Bradford are terrific outside shooters, Romanczuk does have a stable of those to spread around the floor. Rising senior Colin Daly, a 3-point specialist who’s developing a more well-rounded offensive game is the only returning starter; rising senior Jimmy Lake and rising sophomore Luke House were also draining jumpers all weekend while 6-6 rising senior Jesse MacPherson and 6-4 rising junior Keyon Butler brought some toughness and rebounding ability to the frontcourt.

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Penn Wood’s Ghee steps up with impressive weekend
From the outset of Penn Wood’s win over Tatnall to begin the 9 AM set, Patriots senior Pernell Ghee was all over the court.

In the first eight minutes of what became a 24-point victory, Ghee had a number of buckets, including a smooth Eurostep on a fast break and a mid range pull-up; a chase-down block on the fast break; no fewer than three assists and a steal or two as well.

In terms of college recruitment, Ghee said the only school he'd heard from so far has been D-III Rosemont, which reached out earlier in the week. With continued strong play, look for plenty more D-III programs and maybe even some D-II schools to reach out.

It was an effort that certainly stood out to his head coach, who’s becoming used to seeing such performances of late from one of his most experienced players.

“He’s been playing well all weekend,” Clyde Jones noted. “He’s coming into his own as one of the leaders of this team, but his skillset is really improving.”

A 6-3 left-handed small forward, Ghee averaged around seven points and seven rebounds per game last year, but those numbers are sure to rise for his final high school year.

Jones estimates that over the course of the team’s spring league games and in two team camps, Ghee is averaging around 15 points and 10 rebounds per game.

“My role is getting bigger, I’m just trying to grow into that,” Ghee said. “I’m starting to have the ball in my hands more, last year I just had to rebound and give it up. This year I have to score more, I’ve got a bigger role, that’s it.”

As important as Ghee’s scoring will be alongside fellow seniors Kairi Jones, Jay Fitzgerald and Rashaad Anderson, he’ll be even more vital on the other end of the court. 

Jones makes defense not just his top priority but the few beyond that, employing a full-court press to wear out defender. And having an athlete like Ghee with the motor he has is a big weapon in that system.

“He’s a great on-ball defender, he can continue defending and pressuring the ball without fouling,” Jones said. “He’s long, he can guard any position from ‘1’ to ‘4’ on the court.”

“On defense, that’s what I take the most serious, that’s where I use all my energy,” Ghee said. “Put it all out on the floor...that’s what we’re known for, so that’s what I take seriously, defense.”

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Bishop Shanahan completes solid weekend
After coaching his team to a win over Neshaminy to finish off the camp with a 4-2 record, Bishop Shanahan head coach Ken Doyle was feeling good about his team’s performance over the course of the weekend.

Though there’s still plenty of time until the season, the Eagles head coach is optimistic about the potential his roster presents.

“We have a lot of inside pieces, outside pieces,” he said. “We can go about 10-12 deep, quality guys who can hit some shots and do some nice things for us.”

Last year was a solid one for Shanahan, which went 15-9 overall and 7-5 in the Ches-Mont League. This year will see a move up in the new, expanded PIAA classifications, where they’ll do battle with the likes of Chester and Upper Merion in the 5A group.

Four seniors are gone to graduation, but five other contributors -- three rising juniors and two rising seniors -- are back from the rotation. Also expected to step up are rising 6-3 senior John Kozinski and 5-9 senior Brendan Dearing plus sophomores Bernie Blunt and Joe O’Malley, who all dressed varsity last year but rarely saw minutes.

With Kozinski, plus classmate Justin Krasnick (6-4) and rising junior Kevin Dodds (6-5), Doyle should once again have one of the physically bigger frontcourts in the league, and their rebounding and ability to score inside was a strength all weekend.

The Shanahan guards were also clicking in the Neshaminy game. Rising junior David Angelo, is a speedy 5-9 point guard with a slick handle who sets his teammates up as well as any guard in District 1, and with Dearing, Blunt and rising senior Danny Browne knocking down shots, the Eagles are a tough guard.

“Fundamental improvement offensively, with moving the ball and handling the ball we’re not very strong," Doyle said. "David’s a great ball-handler but as a whole, it’s not a strength there. And you can always work on defense, we’re not the strongest defense but when we try hard we can do a lot of things.”

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Quick HIts
-- After his older brother Alex worked his way through the Archbishop Carroll program to finally become a reserve stretch forward as a senior, Luke House looks like he'll become a contributor for the Patriots much sooner than that. The 6-4 rising sophomore wing is already one of the best shooters on the squad, with a smooth stroke from beyond the arc and a solid bounce as well. Though Carroll has plenty of guards, including newcomer Justin Anderson, the younger House brother is good enough to get some varsity minutes this year that will benefit him greatly in 2017-18.

--Central Bucks West rising junior Collin MacAdams looks like he's turning into the lead scorer that head coach Adam Sherman was anticipating him becoming at some point in his high school career. The bouncy 6-4 wing is steadily improving his ability to attack off the perimeter in addition to just knocking down shots and making transition layups; against Carroll, he had a nice spin-and-finish in the lane and a floater as well as a few jumpers.