City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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The first time Pocono Mt. West coach Rich Williams saw a young forward working out with the eighth grade hoops team four years ago, he was intrigued. The first-year head coach asked Quindell Brice — a former PMW and East Stroudsburg standout who was coaching the 7th graders — what he thought of the 6-3 youngster, who stood a good head above his peers.

“I walked in and said ‘who’s the big kid?” Williams recalled, “and (Brice) said ‘he stinks.’

“I probably watched for three minutes, four minutes, and he couldn’t make a layup.”

To say that Christian Fermin has come a long way in the four years since would be a slight understatement. The 6-3 kid who didn’t know which foot to launch off for a simple layup has grown into one of the top prospects in the state, and on Saturday he announced his college decision: he’ll be playing for head coach Mike Rhoades at Virginia Commonwealth University, better known as VCU.

“I knew for a while now,” he told CoBL by phone Thursday afternoon. “In the middle of (last) week, I sat down and had a conversation with a bunch of coaches and decided it was a good time, it was a great school and it was a fit for me.”

VCU was one of Fermin’s five finalists, along with Big 5 members Temple and Saint Joseph’s as well as Power 5 programs Penn State and Pittsburgh. All were heavily involved with the 6-10, 220-pound forward, watching him multiple times during the last two weekends of June at the Philly Live events at St. Joe’s Prep. 

But Rhoades and at least one assistant were there for every game, a common theme as the Rams’ staff made Fermin their biggest priority of the 2022 class.

“Mike Rhoades is right there, front and center, watching me play. He could have been watching whoever else,” Fermin said, “but he was there watching me. It just showed (there’s) a lot of love there, they really love me as a player and it’s hard not to see something like that.”

Rhoades and Fermin had plenty of connections before the recruitment even began. Rhoades, who starred at Lebanon Valley, went to Mahanoy Area High School, located less than an hour west of Pocono Mt. West in the state’s Northeast quadrant. One of Fermin’s teachers, Brian Cusatis, was one of Rhoades’ childhood friends; his guidance counselor had been at the wedding of one of the other coaches on staff. Rhoades did his homework.

“There were five or six people who were close to me that I didn’t know had a relationship with Mike Rhoades,” Williams said, “and he called all those people first, and then he called me.”

Fermin (above, left) impressed during the two Philly Live weekends at St. Joe's Prep last month. (Photo: Spencer Kahn/CoBL)

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That Fermin’s recruitment skyrocketed as his high school career went on wasn’t just due to his impressive stature and musculature. The engaging, quick-talking young man has become a formidable on-court presence, averaging 17.5 ppg, 12.0 rpg and 6.5 bpg as a junior as Pocono Mt. West took in the top seed in District 11 6A but lost to William Allen in the semifinals. 

A high-energy forward, Fermin excels at establishing a post presence and finishing around the bucket, with an expanding face-up game; he’s also a top-level rebounder who can finish and defend above the rim. Layups are no longer a problem, though a thunderous dunk is more likely.

“He was walking to the school for two-a-days with Quindell, three-a-days with Quindell, you couldn’t keep him out of the gym,” Williams said. “Something stoked the fire in him, and now we’re here. It’s been pretty wild, a pretty crazy ride.”

“It was just conversations I had with (Williams), he was a part of that, the conversations I had with him and coach Brice made me realize this was something if I took it seriously, I could be great at it,” he said. “Just a passion for the sport and a realization that if I take this sport as seriously as I can, then I’m going to end up being great at it.”

As his junior year progressed, the college interest came in hot and heavy; first were low-to-mid-major types, but eventually the likes of Big East, Big Ten and more were getting involved. VCU got involved during the winter and offered on March 11, giving Fermin enough time to see a few games as the Rams finished off a 19-7 (10-4 A-10 season); Rhoades’ squad was selected for the NCAA Tournament, but a positive COVID test knocked them out of the field.

They were Fermin’s first official visit last month, and though he also saw the campuses of all his other finalists — only St. Joe’s got another official — it was love at first sight in Richmond.

“Seeing the campus on Zoom and meeting people on Zoom was okay,” he said, “but to finally get out to the campus...getting to see all that in person, it was really like wow, this Zoom call can’t compare.”

The first member of Rhoades’ 2022 recruiting class, Fermin will join a frontcourt that also includes 6-8 Philadelphia native Mikeal Brown-Jones, who was a freshman on the Rams’ roster last year and gets that year of eligibility back due to the NCAA’s COVID year waiver.

A public research institution with more than 20,000 undergraduates, VCU has a lot going for it on the hardwood and beyond.

Its hoops team became a Division I program in the mid-1970s and has developed a rich history since then, with 18 NCAA Tournament appearances. The Rams have become one of the best non-’Power 5’ programs in the country, winning 28 games and making it to the Final Four in 2011 under Shaka Smart, starting a stretch that’s seen them go dancing nine times in the last 11 years. 

The other four teams that were in Fermin’s final five had been to March Madness a combined 11 times over that same span.

VCU’s program is perhaps best known for its fantastic band, the Peppas, as well as its full-court ‘Havoc’ pressing defensive style that Smart popularized a decade back.

“They were definitely hyping up how I would fit that style of play,” Fermin said. “They know I’m a really energetic player that likes to bring it on both sides of the ball and (gives) lots of effort.”

“Having Havoc on the back of the jersey, that’s something they preach to me, it’s something I stand for as a player, I want to cause trouble when I’m on the court...that kinda reminds me of my school, we have ‘compete’ on the back of our jerseys. It’s those subtle things that were turning me towards their program.”

An added bonus from Williams’ eyes was the opportunities VCU presents as the most popular athletics program in Richmond. In a city without a professional sports franchise or a Division I football program, the NCAA”s new Name, Image and Likeness rules mean a popular player in a hoops town can finally benefit off their fame in the form of advertisements, sponsorships, and other money-making opportunities.

“That’s not why he made the decision, but that’s icing on the cake if I ever saw some,” Williams said. “He’s personable, he’s energetic, he knows how to speak to people in a way that makes people smile. It’s like, boy I know this isn’t why you went there, but you’re going to have some great opportunities to leave there with a degree, go pro, and maybe leave college with a couple hundred thousand dollars in a bank account.”