City of Basketball Love

Jared Leveson (@jared_leveson)
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The Big 5 continues to stay active. Several teams on the men’s and women’s sides have been making news recently with recruiting developments, player departures, coaching staff changes, and tournament runs. Here’s a round-up of Big 5 news as of late which we haven’t yet written about: 

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Temple

New men’s head coach Adam Fisher has hit the transfer portal hard, pulling in two players during the early days of May. The most recent signee is Jordan Riley, a 6-foot-4 guard who officially joined the Owls on May 8th. He spent the last two seasons with Georgetown where he saw in-game action. The sophomore made 25 appearances and nine starts for the Hoyas, averaging 4.6 points and 2.8 rebounds. He scored in double figures four times with highs of 18 points (8-12 FG) and six rebounds at Villanova.  

Riley is joined by Quante Berry, who signed his aid agreement on May 4th. The 6-foot-4 freshman guard redshirted last season at Providence and hails from Cleveland, Tennessee. Berry averaged 16 points and six rebounds as a senior at Winston-Salem Christian School in 2021-2022 and was the 43rd ranked point guard in his class by 247sport.com. 

The two guards join PIAA Class 3A first-time guard Zion Stanford from West Catholic and senior Matteo Picarelli, a 6-foot-3 Italian national who transferred from UMBC. Fisher has also made some noise on the grassroots circuit, offering scholarships to local standouts Iziaiah Pasha and Matt Gilhool. Pasha graduated from Cardinal O’Hara and will play prep basketball this season, while Gilhool left Westtown Friends for Long Island Lutheran. 

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Villanova

Junior Maddie Burke and sophomores Zanai Jones, Lucy Olsen, and Christina Dalce competed for the Wildcats at the 2023 USA Basketball 3X Nationals and fell short of a championship, losing to Big East rival Creighton in the semi-final, 21-18. 

All-Big East second team honoree Olsen totaled six points, two blocks, and five rebounds in the semifinal. But Creighton’s Morgan Maley and Lauren Jensen shot the lights out and scored 10 points each and shot a combined 43% from the field. 

The USA Basketball 3X Nationals was held from May 5 to May 7 and is a 3-on-3 basketball competition that plays on a half-court with a 10-minute game clock and 12-second shot clock. The team who scores 21-points first, or has the lead after regulation, is the winner. 

The event hosted by Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colo., featured 16 women’s collegiate teams and 12 men’s collegiate teams competing for a title. Potential roster spots on the various USA Basketball 3x3 women’s and men’s national teams where also at stake, including the 2023 FIBA 3x3 World Cup, set for May 30-June 4 in Vienna, Austria, and roster spots for USA Basketball World Tour, Women's Series and U21 and U23 Nations League teams.

The women’s competition was split into pool play then a tournament format. Villanova finished first in Pool D with a 3-1 record ahead of Oklahoma and Colorado. The Wildcats defeated Maryland in the quarterfinals 21-20 before falling to Creighton in the semis. Creighton eventually defeated Duke in the championship round, 21-17. 

On the recruiting front, Villanova also added Mississippi State transfer and St. Basil’s product Denae Carter to the frontcourt. Carter, a 6-0 forward, was a two-time SEC Freshman of the Week in 2021-22 and averaged 5.0 ppg and 6.1 rpg in 47 games (10 starts) across two seasons at MSU. 

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La Salle 

Head coach Fran Dunphy landed 18-year old Swedish national Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi for this upcoming season. Fasasi announced his commitment via his Twitter on May 6. 

The 6-foot-8 wing played professionally for Promitheas Patras in the Greek Basketball League and EuroCup, but made head waves with the Swedish U18 National Team in August of 2022 during the FIBA Euro B Division Championships.

The Stockholm native scored 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting in a pool-play win over Finland. In the quarterfinal against Romania, he finished with 28 points on 12-of-16 shooting in 34 minutes. Fasasi then poured on another 29 points against Iceland in the semi-final round, shooting 12-of-23 from the field and notching up three steals. 

He cooled off in the championship game against Denmark and scored 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting in the 79-66 win. Fasasi and Elliot Cadeau (North Carolina) led Sweden to their third B Division title, securing promotion to the A Division which featured countries like Spain, Israel, Serbia, and Greece. 

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St. Joe’s

Head coach Billy Lange announced a pair of changes to his coaching staff on April 28 after John Griffin III’s departure for Bucknell University. Lange elevated Justin Scott to associate head coach and Thomas Boyle earned a promotion to assistant coach.

Scott will replace Griffin III as St. Joe’s recruiting coordinator after spending the last four seasons on Hawk Hill as an assistant coach, wearing many hats for the program. According to his bio, he coordinates the Hawks’ “situational excellence,” which specifically focuses on clock management, dead ball situations, and rule education. 

Boyle has served St. Joe’s basketball program for the past five seasons. The St. Joe’s alumnus was a student manager under head coach Phil Martelli as well as a graduate assistant and video coordinator. His promotion comes after spending the last two seasons as St. Joe’s director of basketball operations where he was responsible for the Hawks’ video and data for game preparation, statistical analysis, and research projects.

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Penn

Ivy League and Big 5 Player of the Year Jordan Dingle entered the transfer portal on April 28. The country’s second leading scorer averaged 23.4 points per game, shot 46% from the field, and created 2.3 assists per game. The 6-foot-3 guard is one of the top players available in the portal and St. John’s, Kentucky, and Indiana are linked to the prolific scorer. Dingle is also testing NBA draft waters.

Penn loses their top leading scorer, Dingle, but returns their number two and three leading scorers, Clark Slajchert (13.6 ppg) and Max Martz (10.8 ppg). The Quakers are also adding a pair of local players, Lower Merion’s sharpshooting Sam Brown and Hill School’s big man Augie Gerhart, as part of a four-man freshman class that also includes Chicago’s Nik Polonowski and DC’s Tyler Perkins, who recently won the Capital Classic MVP in a star-studded field.