City of Basketball Love

CoBL Staff (@hooplove215)

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The second weekend of Philly Live 2022 came to a conclusion Sunday at Jefferson University with a total of four courts going from morning through the evening. A ton of the region’s talent — and a few others who made the trek to Philadelphia — competed in front of a large group of college coaches to finish off the June live period. 

Here’s Part 2 of a notebook filled with recruiting information from the final day of the June live periods; click here for Part 1:

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Jackson Hicke (2023 | Radnor)

It was, to put it lightly, a good week in the Hicke household.

After leading Radnor to one of its best seasons in program history, Jackson Hicke spent the whole spring trying to prove to Division I coaches he was worthy of a scholarship, getting plenty of positive feedback but lacking the one type of phone call he dreamt of receiving. That was, until Cornell coach Brian Earl called Monday night after Philly Live I.

“We talked for a little bit about the game, kinda just a normal conversation, and he said ‘I’ll just cut to the point, we’re going to offer you at Cornell,’” Hicke said. “So, a ton of emotion, super-excited, super-grateful. Great, great experience.”

Earl wasn’t the only one with good news for the 6-foot-5 wing. The next night, it was Colgate head coach Matt Langel. Wednesday, Army coach Jimmy Allen called. 

Suddenly, Hicke found himself with three Division I offers, with further calls from Northeastern and Princeton, and his whole situation vastly different than it had been four days before.

“It felt like everything opened when I got the first one,” he said. “The first one made a big difference, I didn’t expect it. A couple coaches said ‘when you get one, they all start to come in;’ I didn’t really believe it, honestly. But I mean, it kinda did. It was awesome, just an awesome three days.”

While Hicke has yet to visit the US Military Academy at West Point, he has already been to both Cornell and Colgate, on unofficial visits earlier this spring. 

“They’re both pretty close to each other, up in New York — not super-close, but same general area,” he said. “And they’re both smaller towns, and I think I like that, and both great academic schools, which is really important. And also I feel like I don’t want to go too far from home.”

Hicke certainly didn’t seem to be resting on his newly-acquired laurels on Saturday as Radnor took down a talented Teaneck (N.J.) squad 77-64. He led all scorers with 26 points on 11-of-19 shooting (2-6 3PT, 2-3 FT), grabbing 11 rebounds (four offensive) and dishing out five assists, grabbing two steals for good measure. 

There wasn’t much Hicke didn’t do; he slashed through the Teaneck defense and finished in the lane, hit tough mid-range shots over 6-8 Tyler Tejada, made no-look passes and completed a put-back 3-point play.

“I think ultimately what we’re trying to do is win,” he said. “We love playing together, just love playing with these guys; I just like being on the court with them, so any chance I can get, we’re just going to go out there, try to out-work the other team and win, no matter what’s happening off the court.” — Josh Verlin

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Jacob Nguyen (2025 | Spring-Ford)
The Rams’ talented rising sophomore didn’t want to be known as a player who can only do one thing.

“I used to just be a shooter,” he said. 

Entering high school last year, Nguyen was a bit of a unitasker who could let it fly from deep. But as his first year at Spring-Ford went on, he started to develop into one of the more dynamic and promising guards in the area. 

The first step was becoming more comfortable with the ball in his hands, working to better his handle. That had a domino effect on the rest of his game by giving him more freedom to create for himself — and others.

“I improved my ball-handling,” Nguyen said, “so it helped me get paint touches. Then I just make the easy pass to my teammates when they collapse.”

However, what Nguyen described as “the easy pass” is often far from simple. He’s an unselfish and instinctive distributor, able to see the floor and pass teammates open. Nguyen credited his basketball smarts for allowing him to compete with more athletic opponents, and that comes across most vividly in his passing game.

As a freshman, Nguyen also had to get adjusted to the high school level as the season went on. It was a challenge as a young player, but the difficulty was ultimately better for him in the long run.

“Last year, I was trying to learn the pace of varsity,” he said. “Now, I think I understand the reads, the rotations on defense and all that stuff.”

Now in the summer before his sophomore year, Nguyen not only looks like a polished varsity player, but a well-rounded 6-3 guard prospect, standing out among a talented cast of players at Jefferson on Sunday. His assist numbers weren’t flashy as the Rams took on Lincoln, but his advanced passing ability was notable. And while he’s no longer just a shooter, Nguyen can still hit shots from the outside, showing off his jumper on his way to 16 points.

Nguyen said that no college programs have reached out to him at this point, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t caught their attention. Some coaches were in attendance during Spring-Ford’s first game on Sunday, keeping an eye on his performance. 

While recruitment is something Nguyen thinks about from time to time, it’s still very early in the process for him. He’s more focused on continuing to develop throughout the summer, preparing for Year 2 of high school hoops.

“I’m just here with my team, trying to compete,” Nguyen said. “Trying to get better against better competition. I’m just trying to play my game.” — Ty Daubert

(Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Quick Hits
— One of the best shooters in the tri-state area, Jalil Bethea (2024 | Archbishop Wood) (above, left) has generated interest from college coaches, even at the high-major level. In the last week or so, Bethea has heard from schools such as Auburn, Miami, Virginia Tech, Xavier, DePaul, Temple and St. Joe’s. The 6-foot-4 guard already has offers from Temple, Jacksonville, Robert Morris, Albany, Radford, Mount Saint Marys, VCU, Mississippi State, Bryant, St. Joe’s and Fairfield.

This season, Bethea will likely play more point guard with Justin Moore now at Drexel, and in his team’s 80-74 win over Hudson Catholic, N.J., he showed off his vision with two terrific passes that led to buckets. This offseason, Bethea is working on becoming more of a leader because his role with the team has changed, and keeping his head and not getting frustrated.

— After leading Devon Prep to its first ever state title last winter, Lucas Orchard (2023 | Devon Prep) has continued to excel this offseason, catching the eyes of college coaches at all three levels. Orchard has received interest from multiple schools including Monmouth (D-I), Randolph Macon (Va.), Scranton, and Arcadia. He has visited Randolph-Macon and just last Monday made his first unofficial visit to Monmouth. 

“It went well, I liked the Monmouth visit a lot,” Orchard said following an eight-point loss to Don Bosco on Sunday morning where he had a game-high 32 points. “I learned a lot about their program, what they do there and just learned about all the stuff it takes to be a college basketball player.” 

The 6-4 wing is a consistent shooter and dangerous on the drive when going to his right. This offseason, Orchard has seen improvements in his defense and rebounding and he is still working to improve that left hand so he can play a more “complete game.” 

— Thomas Batties (2023 | Gonzaga College HS, D.C.) is a three-star recruit, according to 247Sports, with two offers from Howard and George Mason, though many other schools are interested. The 6-foot-7 wing has mostly heard from Princeton, Yale, Brown, UPenn, Harvard, Fairleigh Dickinson, the University of San Francisco, George Mason and SMU.

Batties is doing his due diligence when it comes to taking visits. He has already been on unofficals to Howard and Yale, which took place last summer, and recently visited San Francisco, George Mason and Brown unofficially as well; he also played in a team camp at Brown. He has spoken to coaches about taking official visits to Yale, Brown, George Mason and San Francisco.

This offseason, Batties is working on becoming more of a wing player and a guard, something he showed in his team’s 60-46 win over Camden (N.J.) as he was handling the ball on the perimeter at points and also knocked down two three-pointers.

“I pride myself on versatility. I think that’s what makes me a great player,” Batties said. “Where I can defend the ‘1’ through the ‘5’, but I want to be able to also just expand my game more. I can already take the ball up the court, set up plays for myself, but I just want to become better at everything like that on the wing, on the perimeter.”

— Terry Copeland (2024 | Bergen Catholic, N.J.) is one of the more physically imposing players in the class of 2024, standing 6-foot-9 and weighing 235-pounds, with a lot of muscle. A four-star recruit in the 247Sports Composite rankings, Copeland has heard from Pittsburgh, Auburn, Providence and Iona, with the latter two offering him a scholarship recently. Copeland has also been offered by high-major programs Seton Hall, St. John’s, Texas A&M and Creighton.

At the next level, Copeland wants to be more of a ‘3’/’4,’ and he has been working out with guards, having them guard him full court and doing what they do in the workouts, such as their footwork drills, to help evolve his game.

—Duce Jackson (2023 | Collegium Charter) dropped 19 points against Gloucester Catholic (N.J.), muscling his way inside and cleaning up on the boards. The 6-6 wing has drawn interest at the Division II and III levels, hearing from D-IIs West Chester and Wimington (Del.) along with D-IIIs Arcadia, Alvernia and Brandeis (Mass.). He’s hoping that his play this summer can start bringing some Division I attention as well.

“It feels good to get that exposure, to talk to some coaches,” Jackson said. “There’s some coaches from D-II and D-III, and it’s a blessing for them to talk to me. Right now, I’m just trying to take my looks and just keep working.”

—Tyler Tejada (2023 | Teaneck, N.J.) put his versatility on the forefront at Jefferson, running the break as a 6-8 forward and hitting pull-up jumpers to go along with his post-up work.

“I think that’s what kind of separates me a little bit,” he said. “That, at my size, I can handle and shoot the ball pretty well.”

Tejada holds D-I offers from Towson, LIU, Robert Morris, Fairleigh Dickinson, Fairfield, Rider and Texas A&M-Commerce. Saint Peter’s and Monmouth have  also been in touch with him recently.

— Zaki Alston (2023 | Sankofa Freedom) is a 6-4 combo guard with length and shot-making ability, scoring 25 points against Chichester on Sunday. He claimed interest from D-I Marist and Lehigh along with D-II Chestnut Hill.