City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2022-23 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 9. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season click here)
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The Harcum men’s basketball team is no stranger to roster turnover. 

As a junior college program, the Bears’ goal is to replace a significant portion of their roster on an annual basis after the latest group of players leave with scholarships in hand.

Replacing a head coach? That’s a first.

For the first 17 years of the program, Drew Kelly headed Harcum, building it from scratch into a national power. When Kelly left for an assistant position at Northern Illinois, his top assistant John Ball became the second head coach in the Bears’ history.

So far so good for the first-year coach.

“I’m enjoying it. It’s a good group,” Ball said. “They come in and they try and they listen. We’re just young. At this level you’re only freshmen and sophomores, so there’s no upperclassmen to kind of lead. 

“You try to empower them to lead each other and they’re doing a good job of that of taking over and taking the leadership roles themselves. I keep preaching to them, ‘We’re only going to go as far as you guys want us and you guys take us.’ They’re doing a good job.”

There aren’t too many major differences between Kelly and Ball, who served as an assistant coach at Harcum for the last five seasons, and his players have quickly embraced him 

“It’s a whole new team,” sophomore forward Justin Owens said. “It’s a chance for him to learn. It’s a chance for us to learn. It’s a fresh start for everybody.”

“It was kind of an off guard situation when we found out he was the head coach, but after last year building a bond with him throughout the year, it was like, ‘I’m cool with coming back if he’s the head coach.’”

Harcum is coming off a 32-3 season and a NJCAA Elite Eight run in 2021-22. The Bears matched the program record for wins and recorded the highest winning percentage in program history.

They began their 2022-23 campaign on Tuesday night with thoughts of matching those feats, and started strong with a 104-67 win over CCBC Catonsville

“It was a great run,” Owens said of last season. “This year, we just gotta come in and put in the same work we did last year. Last year, we were in here every single day, we were going at it every single day, but this year we gotta build that back up. It starts from the bottom up.”

There’s always a lot to replace at Harcum, but this season there may be more than most. Harcum sent six players to the Division I level after last season in Mohamed Wague (West Virginia), Louis Bleechmore (St. Joe’s), Yazid Powell (Buffalo), Tre Dinkins (Canisius), Derrius Ward (UT-Rio Grande Valley) and Abdul Shanunu (Delaware State).

It showed this year’s group the kind of recognition that could possibly come with another historic follow-up season.

“It was a real eye opener for me,” Owens said. “That opened my eyes to show me anything is possible because there were a lot of guys on this team last year that didn’t have anything at the beginning. I watched those guys grind all year, and each one of them, they deserve what they have.”

Sophomore guard Amahrie Simpkins (7.1 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 1.1 spg), redshirt-sophomore guard Jordan Martin (9.4 ppg, 2.2 apg) and Owens 2.8 ppg, 1.6 rpg) were significant contributors from last season and are likely starters this season. 

Sophomore forward Naji Hamilton (Octorara) and sophomore forward Jonathan Izemef also both saw action in 20+ games and will be in the frontcourt rotation once again. Sophomore guard Mekhi Marshall played in 11 games.

Along with Hamilton and Izemef, seven-foot sophomore center Tegra Izay, who transferred from La Salle in the middle of last season, will hold things down in the paint. Ball added another pair of  Division I transfers to help fill some holes in sophomore guard Ahmad Harrison (Fordham) and sophomore guard Bernard Blunt (Quinnipiac). 

The Bears also added a talented group of freshmen headed by 6-7 guard Zaiden Cross, who was recruited by all the top junior colleges in the country coming out of Crestwood Preparatory College In Ontario. Forward Po’Boigh King (Word of God Christian Academy, N.C.), forward Raheem Roberts (Bill Crothers Secondary School, Ontario) guard Avant Coleman (Crosby HS, Texas) and guard Bilal Crucifix (Andre Malraux HS, France) are the other newcomers.

“The success of the program is one of the reasons that attracted these guys from all over,” Ball said. “We have guys from Africa, Bilal’s from Paris. It’s the success and the history of this program that coach Kelly built up from nothing and we’re lucky to have the opportunity to give these guys the opportunity and they’re grabbing it by the reins and making the most of it.”

Ball expects to play as many as 12 guys regularly given the Bears’ up-tempo style of play that Kelly implemented throughout his nearly two-decade tenure at the school.

“A lot of transition, a lot of threes, a lot of layups, a lot of dunks,” Owens said. “It’s going to be run and gun. That’s how we played last year and that’s how Kelly’s played it for the last 17. He’s not gonna stop it now.”

The Bears won’t alter their expectations under their new head coach either.

“Hopefully we have another good year,” Ball said. “Last year was a special year so this group has a chance to do something special. We just gotta do it. We just gotta be together and do it.”