City of Basketball Love

Zak Wolf (@ZakWolf22)
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(Ed. Note: This story is the latest in 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 2021-22 season preview coverage. As we publish more, the complete list of schools previewed will be found here.)

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When you look at Plymouth Whitemarsh basketball, you see a historic program that, year in and year out, has teams competing for district and state championships. Even though the titles can be enticing, it’s the family culture that’s what’s so special about the PW program. 

“It’s kind of like the mob,” head coach Jim Donofrio quipped. 

Donofrio knows all about the culture that’s been created at PW, dating all the way back to the 60’s when the school first became a force. Donofrio has been with the program since 1991, when he coached the JV team, before becoming the boys’ varsity head coach in 1998. In the 23 years that Donofrio has been at the helm, the team from Conshohocken has had some notable teams and produced a lot of talent. 

Whether it’s Jaylen Bond (Temple) or C.J Aiken (St. Joe’s) from the state championship team in 2010, who both are getting ready to play overseas, Xzavier Malone (Oregon State), Naheem McLeod (Florida State), or Chuck Moore (Seton Hall/Vanderbilt) who’s become an assistant under Donofrio in recent years, there’s a tight-knit group of alumni. 

With the success over the years, it’s no secret to the players that there are expectations when it comes to playing for PW. 

“It’s not stressful, but it’s hard, holding up to that standard of what people see PW as,” senior guard Zende Hubbard said, “but I think we’re all mature and realize that we’re able to hold that standard.”

Even though this year the Colonials might not have a historic team like they’ve had in the past, they still are ready to leave their mark. It’s a hungry group, as they return seven of their key guys from last season, where they went 14-3 in the regular season and won the Suburban One Liberty division and had the third seed in District 1 6A playoffs. 

A big source of motivation has been what happened in the playoffs last year, when they got blown out by league rivals Abington, a team PW had already beaten twice in the regular season. 

The core group of players, some of whom have been playing together since seventh grade, have a very strong connection. They’ve been working hard all off season to right what went wrong at the end of last year, going to the gym four to five nights a week, working on their game and trying to get better. 

“They don’t give you a night off,” Donofrio said.

The leader of that group is sophomore point guard Jaden Colzie, who stepped into the spotlight as a freshman. A starter from his first game Colzie had to deal with some nerves at the start, but he got more comfortable with his role as the season went on and now knows what he needs to do to lead his team in year two.

It helps his confidence that he picked up his first Division I offers this offseason, from St. Bonaventure and North Texas.

“Each dead ball, I make sure coach and I are on the same page,” Colzie said. “I also got better with my patience and IQ of the game, making sure everyone’s on board and on the same page and knows what they’re doing.”

Colzie is the head of a versatile group that can attack teams in many ways. Along with Colzie, there’s twins Zende and Taji Hubbard, who are both physical guards that provide experience to the Colonial back court. Both can get into the lane and are tough defenders, especially when PW decides to implement their full-court press. 

Senior sharpshooter Marshall Baker is another guard that provides experience and adds to the Colonials’ excellent guard play. 

PW lost some size last season with Zuri Jerman (East Stroudsburg) and their leading scorer Luke DiCianno (Pitt walk-on), but they return Quadir Bennett, who’s 6-5. Bennett is the jack of all trades for the Colonials and his ability to play ‘1’ through ‘4’ (and maybe even the ‘5’ at times) for PW will be big. Senior Pat Flynn is 6-7 and is ready to contribute more after having a limited role last year. And newcomer Rodney Willis, a 6-8 junior, could see some action after moving into the school district this year. 

The Colonials have both the speed and physicality to give a lot of teams problems. Donofrio likes to press other teams’ guards by picking up full court and making the other team uncomfortable.

“Most teams enjoy seeing a two-three zone and making it a chess match,” Donofrio said. “You have to blow that up.

“How many times this offseason has a point guard called up his buddies and said, ‘Come trap me for an hour outside the park?’ No one likes pressure and you have to have that as a gear.” 

This PW team is one that likes to put up a lot of shots, but the key for the Colonials this season will be how they respond when the shots aren’t falling. At the end of last season, PW struggled with their consistency, especially when playing against tougher opponents. After starting 10-0, PW got blown out by Public League powerhouse Imhotep Charter and a tough Central Dauphin out of District 3. 

“They’re really confident and loose,” Donofrio said, “but when things went bad last year, they kind of got a look in their eye that doubted, and you cannot doubt. We’re going to go through cold spells shooting, but do we understand how to make that adjustment.”

For a group that’s expecting to challenge for a District 1 title, they’ll need to be able to find the right consistency if they want to achieve their goals this season and be remembered like PW teams of the past