City of Basketball Love

Antonello Baggi (@AntonelloBaggi) & Zak Wolf (@ZakWolf22)
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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — The Hoop Group helped kick off the July live periods with the start of the AC Jam Fest this week, a three-day tournament to set up the final Hoop Group Summer League events of the season. A couple hundred teams and a couple thousand players filled the 30-plus courts at the Atlantic City City Convention Center throughout Wednesday, Thursday and Friday  in front of all levels of college coaches.

The CoBL staff was on hand throughout checking in with some potential recruits. Here's the second part of our recruiting notebooks from the event.:

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More from the AC Jam Fest: Day 1 Standouts | Day 2 Standouts | Day 3 Standouts | Recruiting Notebook (Pt. 1) | Recruiting Notebook (Pt. 2)

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Josh Reed (2024 | Philly Revolution HGSL 17U)

Josh Reed grew up with basketball in his family. His father, Rick Reed, played point guard for Temple in the 1970s and was inducted in the Owls’ Hall of Fame in 2018.

It’s looking more and more likely that the 6-foot-3 combo guard from Archbishop Wood will follow his father’s legacy as a D1 player — and maybe even play in the Big 5.

Reed’s only D1 offer before last month was Albany from back in October, but after a strong junior campaign and terrific showing at Philly Live his phone has been ringing more than usual  in the past two weeks.  

He added offers from Quinnipiac, Buffalo, Iona, North Carolina A&T, Manhattan, Fairfield, Merrimack and lastly La Salle last month before receiving an offer from Drexel on Sunday. Reed said he will take an official visit to Iona and Albany soon.

“Philly Live went well. I played exceptional,” Reed said. “I picked up a ton of schools, made a name for myself, put my name on the radar. (I’m looking for a) school that fits my playing style, a coach that believes in me and my play style, teammates that believe in me all around and a good environment.”

Reed averaged 9.2 ppg, 4.0 apg, 5.8 rpg and 1.3 spg for Wood this past season as the Vikings, lost to Roman Catholic in the PCL and PIAA semifinals after finishing with a 9-4 record in the PCL.

The Vikings have  a talented group back that hopes to take home both titles this season.

“Number one goal is to win the PCL,” Reed said. “That’s been a goal all along, for three of my years I’ve been there so that’s the main goal. Next goal is to win states. Those are all goals that I wanna achieve this year.”

Reed wants to step up as a senior and be a leader — the guy who the younger players look up to. He will lead alongside long time friend and teammate Jalil Bethea, who was most recently ranked No. 9 in the ESPN top 100 list for his class, and Milan Dean, who recently received an offer from Manhattan. 

“Jalil…That’s my dawg. We go back from way back since we were kids,” Reed said about his friendship with Bethea. “And to finish the season with him senior year and top it off with a win that would be a great story to tell everybody.”

Bethea and Reed are looking to follow a long list of Archbishop Wood players who have succeeded at the collegiate level and are even pursuing a professional career like Colin Gillepsie and Andrew Funk. With multiple offers already in hand after a big June, Reed just needs to figure out where he will fit best.

While Reed keeps putting up great performances this summer and thinks about his college future, his goals for next season are already clear. 

“I wanna make first team All-Catholic.I wanna put myself in the MVP voting,” Reed said. “

I wanna just have my name in those conversations with all those other big names.” — Antonello Baggi

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Alex Bruskotter (2024 | Ohio Buckets 17U)

Shelby High School had a problem heading into this year. They didn’t have a natural point guard. So what do you do when you’re without a point guard? You turn to the 6-8 guy with guard skills to be the floor general. 

It’s not often you find someone as big as Alex Bruskotter playing point guard at the high school level, but when his coach asked him to step into that position he took it without hesitating. Playing for Shelby High School, a small high school in Ohio, Bruskotter took on the challenge. Bruskotter had always been a guard his whole life and as he’s gotten taller nothing has changed about his game. Even with his size, he still moves well on the court and has a good handle, which allowed him to play point guard this past year. 

“My coach told me that I handled the ball the best and I had the best vision so he told me he’s probably going to need me at point guard,” Bruskotter said.  “It was fun and it’s something different.”
Although he’ll be more of a wing at the next level, running the point has its benefits. Bruskotter has more responsibility on his high school team while playing with less talented players, forcing him to have to be smarter with the ball. Bruskotter knows schools are impressed with his versatility.
For Ohio Buckets, Bruskotter plays more off the ball while running off screens for catch-and-shoot scenarios. Bruskotter had a strong showing in a five-point loss against Team New England, finishing with 16 points. He flashed his offensive skills getting the ball in a variety of ways. He was strong in the pick and roll, with his shooting ability posing a threat from deep while his size makes him difficult to deal with down low. 

“A lot of schools told me they like seeing me at a different position…they see different stuff in my game,” Bruskotter said. “Most of the time they see me playing AAU, but then they watch me play point guard in high school and when they see different stuff, it’s a good evaluator.”

For his recruitment, Bruskotter has a number of MAC schools looking at him with offers from Belmont, Wright State and Toledo. Bruskotter said he visited each of those schools while other schools contacting him are Ohio University and Southern Illinois. Bruskotter wants to make a decision by the end of the AAU season.  

“They all bring such great things,” Bruskotter said. “I mean, it's gonna be a really hard decision to make because I have really good relationships with the coaches, I like all the cultures and how they do stuff. And I feel like I could see myself at all three of them. And maybe there'll be more. I never know but it's been really cool so far.” 

Even though he has a strong offensive game, Bruskotter wants to work on his athleticism for the next level.

“I need to be more athletic and get off the ground quicker and have a better second jump. I feel like I'm not bad laterally but sometimes my explosion holds back a little bit,” Bruskotter said. — Zak Wolf

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Jake Bolyn (2024 | Penn Warriors HGSL 17U)

The decision of reclassifying and transferring to the Perkiomen school a year ago turned out to be the best option for Bolyn’s future. The 6-6 shooting guard, who spent his first three seasons at Owen J. Roberts, spent last season on the Perkiomen School’s Varsity team.

Bolyn experienced the transition from a public school to a prep.school where he didn’t only get to play with new teammates and for a new coach, but he had to get used to a different school system and lifestyle.  

“The switch was awesome. From going to a school where it’s like seven periods a day of class to three periods of class, a bunch of free time,” Bolyn said. “It’s more of like a college feeling, it’s definitely getting ready for college.”

Bolyn is an interesting profile for coaches at the next level. The shooting guard is a real 3&D player with a quick release and high shooting percentages. He can also play and guard multiple positions as he gets many steals, especially when guarding the post player. 

The shooting momentum didn’t stop during the live period, where he ran with Perk’s national squad against some top prep squads from the Mid-Atlantic and beyond.

“High School Live period went great. We played some really good teams, “ Bolyn said. “I shot the ball really well against them.” 

Bolyn said that their goal next season is to win another state championship. The Panthers will add to the roster D1 prospect KJ Cochran, who just received another offer from George Mason, and will return junior Gabe Tanner and senior DeMajh Salisbery and forwards Macon Emory and Alfredo Addesa.

Perkiomen has had many players playing at the collegiate level in recent years and Bolyn is trying to become another. He has received interest from D3 schools. 

“Recruitment is going good so far. I have a bunch of D3’s from all around the area, from Pennsylvania, New York [...] in the states around us,” Bolyn added. “I do have some visits I set up. Hoping to get some D2s soon, that's the goal.” 

One of the things he wants to show the college coaches is his athleticism, as he feels like he didn’t get the chance to do it yet, like an in-game dunk. Playing a lot of minutes and having a lot of responsibility with Penn Warriors this summer will help him do so. 

“Continuing the consistent shooting. Showing off that I can guard 1 through 5, showing off that athleticism ‘cause in warmups I can dunk the ball easily but once the game starts I haven’t gotten one yet,” Bolyn said about his goals. — Antonello Baggi

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Bradyn Foster (2024 | Caveman Academy 17U)

In May, Bradyn Foster realized the dream of receiving a D1 scholarship. Toledo was the first D1 school to offer him.  The 6-8 SF/PF is playing AAU for the first time with Caveman Academy and with a group of players that have never played together before. Foster said that they are playing better now. 

The Pittsburgh talent, who plays for Highlands High, averaged 20 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocks as a junior. He has good technique around the rim and he is big. His footwork and the ability to score points around the rim makes it challenging for the defense to stop him. The versatile and athletic forward can also create something from outside the paint with a good ball-handling and spin moves. Defensively, he gets all the boards he wants and is an outstanding rim protector. 

Highlands’ goal for next year is to get further in states and in districts. While he tries to achieve these goals Foster said he wants to get better and find a college program where he can improve and continue to grow. In the meantime he is planning on going on a visit to Toledo, after previous visits at Yale and Kent State. — Antonello Baggi

Bill Sackor (2024 | Philly Pride Aces 17U)

Despite missing his junior season due to knee surgery, the 6-0 guard is getting back in shape and he has been showing off his talent this summer. His bag is still there. 

Sackor can create a lot of problems for the defense with his elite ball-handling, and has the ability to get to the rim and finish with different options, like eurosteps or fadeaways. He definitely worked on his body while he was out, since he is strong and uses the contact for his own benefits. 

Sackor still wants to get better and win, which is clear by his hustle plays. 

The guard, who has been playing with Philly Pride Aces 17U for about four years, will be an essential re-addition to Souderton’s roster. 

“It was hard to start, but the process kept getting better and I was just trusting it every day with therapy,” Sackor said. “Right now I feel good. I feel like my knee is getting better, I keep progressing every day,” Sackor said about the period of rehab and therapy. I've been working very hard, all the therapy, so I think I'm gonna be good by the time the season starts.”

While he is still doing work for his knee, Sackor has been putting good numbers all spring and summer. Alongside Brayden Ryan (Wissahickon), Sackor had a few 20-point performances with Philly Pride Aces and continued the good scoring momentum in Atlantic City. 

These games have definitely been helping him get noticed by the coaches and he is trying to get as many games in as he can to receive more interest. 

“I went to Towson men’s basketball camp recently two weeks ago so that was a good experience,” Sackor said. “I’ve been getting a lot of emails and stuff from colleges.”

The guard is looking for a place where he feels welcomed and where he feels like he belongs on and off the court because he is going to be there for many years, so it’s important he finds a good environment. 

In the meantime, he is confident that next season will be successful and Souderton will make it to district and state playoffs. He wants to make an impact and said he wants to get first team in the conference.

“Play good defense, be aggressive, attack more and knock down some shots,” Sackor added on his upcoming goals to get attention from scouts. “Show that I got some dawg in me.”  — Antonello Baggi

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