City of Basketball Love

Rich Flanagan (@richflanagan33)
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(Ed. Note: This story is part of CoBL’s “Prepping for Preps” series, which will take a look at many of the top high school programs in the region as part of our 2016-17 season preview coverage. The complete list of schools previewed so far can be found here.)

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Marc Rodriguez has always enjoyed a challenge.

The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Father Judge senior relishes having things be tougher than they should be, especially against his opponents in the Philadelphia Catholic League, which boast several players with heights approaching seven feet. The Crusaders have not had a player with that type of size since 6-9 Seamus Radtke last patrolled the paint in 2011, but Rodriguez likes how his team has found success despite being not always having the size and length of their opponents.

“We had a lot of 6-3 guys going against some 6-8 guys and that could be a confidence issue a lot of times,” Rodriguez said. “With last year’s group, I think it didn’t matter [being undersized] because of how hard and tough we played out there. The chemistry was great. We played hard and together all the time.”

Rodriguez (14.7 ppg) earned Second Team All-Catholic honors after helping Father Judge finish last season 13-10 (6-7 PCL). He scored 14 points in the team’s first-round playoff loss to Archbishop Wood at home; in fact, Rodriguez scored in double figures in every PCL game last season and may need to duplicate that output after the Crusader’s lost a number of three starters from a year ago.

Wing Justin Fleming (12.3 ppg) moved on to Neumann, Quincy Reed (11.3 ppg) is at Manor and center Quinn DeNofa is at Penn State-Abington. Fleming and Reed were three-year varsity players leaving Rodriguez with the role of being both the primary playmaker and leader for head coach Sean Tait’s squad.

Tait noted there was a lot to build on coming off another PCL playoff appearance, something he has done every season at Judge, his alma mater, plus the one season he spent as head coach at Archbishop Wood before taking his current job.

“We were a home playoff team but unfortunately you figure if you get a home game in that seeding you’re not going to get a team like Wood in the first round,” said Tait, now in his eighth season at Father Judge. “Our goal is [always to] win a quarterfinal or be in a game before the Palestra. Seeing what [Archbishop] Ryan did last year shows what can happen. We play in one of the best leagues in the state and maybe also on the east coast.”

Tait knows Rodriguez, who has received strong interest from Millersville and East Stroudsburg, will not have to shoulder the entire scoring load as he’ll be joined in the backcourt by senior point guard Mike Power.

While he only averaged 4.2 ppg as a junior, Power “started every minute at the point guard spot,” according to Tait, and put up some impressive games including a 15-point outing in the regular season victory over Wood as well as 10-point performance vs Hatboro-Horsham in non-league play. Power has evolved from being used primarily as a defender and will be called upon to provide scoring while also setting up the offense.

Up front, 6-3 senior forward Mackenson Juste will have to build upon a season where he “played in some significant games and had some big moments,” as Tait describes. His best scoring output was six points in the season opener against Lincoln but Tait feels Juste will use his “nice jumper” and improved offensive skillset to solidify the middle. Alongside Juste will be senior guard Matt O’Connor, who scored 11 points vs Bartram last year.

The fifth and final starting spot currently remains up for grabs but Tait suspects a good competition for that along with the primary three bench spots he has been accustomed to utilizing during his tenure with Crusaders. Nick Conway, a 5-10 junior guard, looks to be “the fifth starter,” according to Tait but 5-9 junior guard Steve Arrington and 6-0 sophomore guard Shane Dooley, a transfer from Wood, will have an opportunity to win that spot. Connor McKee, a 6-3 junior guard, will be one of the main options off the bench this season.

Tom Quarry, a 6-6 junior guard/forward, was a guy Tait had high expectations for coming into the season but he broke his left wrist and will be out until at least late December. Drew Reilly, a 6-1 junior forward, and Mark McGuire, a 6-foot junior forward, round out the remaining players who will be competing for the final three spots off of the bench and attempting to increase the bench’s depth to possibly four spots.

After a season in which they claims marquee wins over Wood and St. Joe’s Prep, the Crusaders open the season at home on Dec. 9 against Bartram. They also have a good early season test against Germantown Academy on Dec. 20 as well as a tournament at Norristown during Christmas break with potential matchups against Hatboro and Upper Merion.

The PCL has continued to adapt, particularly with the new PIAA classification changes, but Tait is sticking with what has made his program successful over the years.

“I went back to going after the kids that are in your area who should go to your school and buy into big things within your program,” Tait said. “In this day and age, everybody wants to start varsity as a freshmen. We’ve had some guys play young and if kids can do that I have no problem doing that.”

Tait and Rodriguez have grown together over the past three years and both have similar outlooks on how they expect the season to turn out.

“I would like to win a championship. To some people that might sound crazy but it comes down to who wants it more,” Rodriguez said. “The guys want it and come Catholic League play we’ll be more than prepared for it.”

“The one thing we’ve been able to be consistent with in the PCL is be a playoff team,” Tait said. “You can’t go to the Palestra unless you qualify for the playoffs. We’ve been able to do and that’s the same goal [as last season.] We want to get to a playoff game then be 32 minutes away from the Palestra. If we can get to that every year, anything can happen. I’ve been there as a player and as an assistant coach, and anything can happen on any given night.”