City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2016-17 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 11. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season, click here.)

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We’re here.

The 2016-17 college basketball season is upon us.

Somewhere around 5,320 hours after Kris Jenkins’ 3-pointer splashed through the nets at NRG Stadium in Houston, the first official games of the year will tip off, with 351 programs going through their final preparations in search of conference tournament titles and March Madness glory.

With the defending champions playing in the Big 5, there’s going to be extra attention on the Philadelphia hoops scene this year, which certainly isn’t a bad thing. It’s going to be an interesting year, with a variety of plots and subplots running through the six Division I programs in the immediate vicinity.

Here are 11 (mostly) local storylines that I’m looking forward to see how they play out this season. Why 11? Because I wrote 10 and then realized I forgot one. Call it a bonus.

Anyways...

1. The Follow-Up Act. You knew it was going to be at the top of this list. How could it not be? The VIllanova Wildcats put themselves in “elite” territory with the program’s second national-championship, and now all eyes are on Jay Wright’s bunch to see how they bounce back after spending the entire summer being told just how great they are. He’s challenged his group with a true road game at Purdue, plus a trip to the Charleston Classic and a neutral-arena clash against Notre Dame before they go for their fourth consecutive Big East regular-season title. With seniors Josh Hart, Kris Jenkins and Darryl Reynolds leading a group that’s still got plenty of experience despite graduating Ryan Arcidiacono and Daniel Ochefu, I don’t think there’s any chance that Villanova doesn’t have another successful regular-season and top-4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. But winning it all requires catching lightning in a bottle, and whether or not this group has that special factor to do so won’t be determined in November, December, January or February.

2. Fab freshmen in key roles. For Penn, Temple, Saint Joseph’s and Drexel to exceed expectations, they’ll all need at least one true rookie to open their college careers with a bang. The Quakers will see freshman big man A.J. Brodeur start in the middle, and the hyper-talented 6-foot-8, 230-pound forward out of Northfield Mt. Hermon (Mass.) who can both stretch the floor and handle the physicality of the post has Ivy League Rookie of the Year potential. The Owls will start freshman point guard Alani Moore for as long as senior Josh Brown is sidelined with an Achilles injury suffered in May, which could be only a few games or could be the whole season; either way, he’ll be counted on to play big minutes, as will 6-5 wing Quinton Rose. St. Joe’s head coach Phil Martelli will feature a pair of Philly products in the starting lineup, including first-year wing Charlie Brown, a 2015 George Washington grad who left town 6-5 and came back from a year in prep school at St. Thomas More (Conn.) standing 6-7. A terrific outside shooter, he’ll start right away as a ‘3’/’4’ in the Hawks’ offensive system, and could be their leading scorer from year one. Finally, Drexel will start a freshman point guard for the third year in a row, as new head coach Zach Spiker hands the reigns to Kurk Lee, Jr. in what should be a rebuilding year for the Dragons.

3. How good can La Salle be? Explorers head coach John Giannini adds a huge influx of talent to the lineup now that a trio of high-major transfers are eligible in Pookie Powell (Memphis), Demetrius Henry (South Carolina) and B.J. Johnson (Syracuse), and all three of them will play starters’ minutes if not starting roles. Their presence should mean a lot more open shots for senior guards Jordan Price (19.2 ppg) and Cleon Roberts (12.9 ppg), and it’s not crazy to think that the Explorers could be good enough to reverse their 9-22 (4-14 A-10) record from a year ago. If they’re getting regular performances from Johnson like the 18-point, 11-rebound effort the 6-7 Lower Merion product put up in an exhibition win over Carleton (Can.), they could be a matchup nightmare for a lot of teams.

4. Breakout star options. All throughout the city are players with a lot of potential who now might finally see the minutes needed to be known throughout the region or across the country. Here are a few likely candidates:

• According to hoops statistician Ken Pomeroy, the most efficient offensive player on the Villanova roster last year wasn’t Arcidiacono, Josh Hart, Kris Jenkins or Daniel Ochefu -- it was Mikal Bridges. The 6-7 redshirt sophomore wing out of Great Valley averaged 6.4 ppg and 3.2 in just about 20 minutes last year, but is ready for a more prominent offensive role, which he showed by going off for 17 (and six rebounds) in an exhibition win over IUP on Saturday.

• Okay, let’s be honest, Villanova has like four breakout star candidates. There’s junior guard Phil Booth, who averaged 7.0 ppg last year while dealing with injuries but busted out for 20 points in the national championship game. Oh, and sophomore guard Jalen Brunson, a five-star prospect who bided his team last year to the tune of 9.6 ppg and 2.5 apg. Take your pick, the Wildcats have an embarrassment of riches.

• At 6-8 and with the ability to pick-and-pop out to the 3-point arc (.386 last season), Temple junior Obi Enechionyia has the size and offensive game to scream “mismatch problem.” He made a nice jump from his freshman year (5.3 ppg, 3.6 rpg) to sophomore (11.0 ppg, 3.8 rpg), but now it’s his time to really turn the motor up and be a dominant two-way player for the Owls. His 75 blocks in 66 career games are a testament to his abilities at the defensive end.

• There’s a reason the Saint Joseph’s Hawks voted sophomore guard Lamarr Kimble one of three captains, along with seniors Javonn Baumann and Brendan Casper. The 6-0 point guard is crucial to the program’s success over the next three years, as both a steady lead guard who can get his team into its offensive sets as well as a solid shooter (.372 3PT%) who can work off screens. And coming out of Neumann-Goretti, he knows exactly what it takes to win a lot of basketball games.

5. Penn making noise. It’s been a decade since Penn was a regular contender in the Ivy League, 10 seasons since the program’s last NCAA Tournament appearance, with just one season in that time -- a 20-13 (11-3) season in 2011-12 -- that saw the Quakers even be a factor in the Ancient Eight race down the stretch. Last year’s 11-17 (5-9) finish in Steve Donahue’s first season was the program’s best in the previous four seasons, and now the goal is to finish in the top four of the league, which brings with it the ability to play in the league’s first-ever playoffs in March. The addition of transfers Caleb Wood (Lassen CC) and Matt McDonald (FDU) to a group that included senior Matt Howard (12.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg) and sophomore Jackson Donahue (9.7 ppg, .378 3PT%) should be enough for the Quakers to get there. If they get junior guard Antonio Woods back for the second semester, things could get really interesting. Those playoffs, by the way, happen to be at the Palestra, giving Penn the potential a two-game homestand to get to March Madness and get back to college basketball relevancy. 

6. Playoffs? Playoffs?!?! Yes, Jim Mora, the Ivy League has playoffs. For the first time in the league’s 62-year history, the Ancient Eight might not necessarily be sending its regular-season champion to the Big Dance, with the top half of the league meeting in Philadelphia for the rights to take the auto-bid in the NCAA Tournament. Harvard and Princeton are the heavy front-runners, with Yale and Penn the most likely to join them; however, an injury to the Bulldogs’ Makai Mason adds even more uncertainty to the picture. One thing’s for sure: a Penn-Princeton/Yale-Harvard doubleheader at the Palestra in March for playoff basketball would be a win for us all.

7. Happy Valley Hype. There's some serious intrigue surrounding the basketball team up at Penn State for the first time in quite a while, and it's a Philadelphia-centric core that is leading the way. Roman Catholic grads Tony Carr, Lamar Stevens and Nazeer Bostick will all be big pieces for head coach Pat Chambers from the get-go, with Carr going to be starting at point guard alongside another Roman product, junior Shep Garner, plus Germantown Academy alum Julian Moore in the middle; another local, former MCS/Phelps School big man Mike Watkins, will also see sizeable minutes. While PSU might not be ready to challenge for a Big Ten title right away, this is a group that should at least be fun to watch even if they go through some growing pains this season.

8. Look out for Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks aren’t a stranger to the Cinderella role, having knocked off Duke in the opening round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament behind current NBA star C.J. McCollum. This Lehigh squad is Brett Reed’s best since that year, featuring the two-time Patriot League Player of the Year (Tim Kempton, Jr.) in the middle, surrounding the 6-10 center with a great group of guards including junior point guard Kahron Ross and senior shooting guard Austin Price, as well as 6-6 wing Brandon Alston, who returns for his redshirt sophomore season after tearing his ACL last preseason. We’ll know a lot more about them soon enough -- Reed has challenged his team with an opening stretch of @ Xavier, @ Yale, vs. Princeton and @ Mississippi State, with further trips to La Salle and Stony Brook all in the the first five weeks of the season.

9. Spiker’s inaugural season. Nobody’s expecting too much out of Drexel, a program wrecked by injuries over the past four years, which finally culminated in the removal of Bruiser Flint from his position after 15 years as head coach. Now it’s up to former Army boss Zach Spiker to rebuild, and he’s going to completely change the way the Dragons played basketball. Where Flint played a grind-it-out style that often ran through the whole shot clock and forced opponents to do the same, Spiker will push his team to get out and run much more, with a heavier emphasis on 3-point shooting and offensive freedom. That’s going to take some getting used to, especially with a roster that will start a freshman at point guard (Kurk Lee, Jr.) for the third straight season. Curious to see how Wake Forest transfer Miles Overton, a former St. Joe’s Prep standout, plays in his return to Philadelphia.

10. Can Delaware surprise? The Blue Hens have basically the same expectations as Drexel after going 7-23 (2-16 CAA) last season, which ended the Monté Ross era, except new skipper Martin Ingelsby has some more depth and talent to work with. Convincing sophomore wing Chivarsky Corbett and senior forward Skye Johnson to return after initially expressing their intent to transfer was big, and the Blue Hens were without both Corbett and fellow redshirt sophomore Eric Carter  last year due to torn ACLs. They’re both back now, and joined by George Washington transfer Darien Bryant, give Delaware more depth than the program had a year ago. Most importantly, the new staff has energized the program and the players in it, and Ingelsby is hoping that the success he saw at Notre Dame for the last 13 years trickles down into Newark. Even if they can get to .500 this season, that’ll be a success -- but there’s potential for more.

11. Who’s the X-factor? Every year, there’s someone who suddenly bursts out from role player to star, someone who wasn’t necessarily expected to make that jump like the players we named above. Last year it was Isaiah Miles, the St. Joe’s senior forward who was a rarely-used role player as a freshman and sophomore, scored 10.7 ppg as a starter as a junior and then burst out for a team-best 18.1 ppg and 8.1 rpg as a senior, knocking down 38.5 percent of his 3s. As good as DeAndre’ Bembry was, it was Miles’ rise to star (plus the play of Aaron Brown and others) that got St. Joe’s to 28 wins and the third round of the NCAA Tournament. This year it could be Temple senior Daniel Dingle, a 6-7 wing who can play all five positions; it could be Darryl Reynolds, Villanova’s 6-9 senior center who’s the Wildcats’ featured big man for the first and only season of his career; or any one of a number of other players. But someone will step up, and his team will benefit greatly.