City of Basketball Love

CoBL Staff (@hooplove215)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2023-24 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 6. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season, click here.)

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As always, Philadelphia basketball is everywhere.

Year after year, well over 100 Philly-area ballplayers are spread around Division I rosters, from East Coast to West Coast, North to South, low-major to high-major and everywhere in between. Each fall, CoBL rounds up all of those local prospects to update you on how their careers are going and what’s expected of them in the year to come.

We’ve split the area’s D-I alumni into a four-part list, the whole thing way too big to run all at once. Here’s Part 4 of our 2023-24 CoBL alumni roundup, featuring around 30 players who are on a Division I roster this season.

(If we’re missing someone, let us know: cityofbasketballlove@gmail.com)

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2023-24 Alumni Roundup: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

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Bobby Rosenberger III (Fr. | St. Francis)
The hero of Perkiomen School’s PAISAA state championship win over George School, Rosenberger heads to St. Francis on the back of a strong senior year. The 6-6 wing excels as a slashing playmaker who can knock down shots, and he’s got good defensive versatility; SFU’s had success with players in his mold in recent memory.

Preist Ryan (Fr. | Coppin St.)
A 6-6, 210-pound combo forward, Ryan was right there with Rosenberger as a major reason Perkiomen won the state championship for the first time. Muscular and versatile, Ryan tends to produce from the mid-range and in but also can step out and knock down the outside shot, and he’s tough on the glass. 

Donta Scott (Gr. | Maryland)
A 6-7 Imhotep Charter product, Scott’s had a terrific career in a Maryland uniform, starting 114 of his 129 games over four years, scoring 1,320 points (10.2/game), averaging 11.3 ppg, 6.0 rpg and 1.6 apg as a senior. With a similar grad year, he’ll have a shot at finishing in the program’s all-time top 10 scorers (Keith Booth, 1,776). Scott and the Terps will travel to the area this season to play Villanova.

Daeshon Shepherd (Jr. | La Salle)
Shepherd certainly saw his role with the Explorers grow over the course of his second season: though his season averages were 6.1 ppg and 4.6 rpg in 18.2 mpg over 25 games, those numbers jumped to 7.9 ppg and 6.2 rpg in 22 mpg over the final 10 games of the season. A 6-5 wing from Archbishop Wood, he’s in line to take some of the minutes and production left by Josh Nickleberry. 

Horace Simmons (Fr. | Drexel)
Simmons had a solid individual senior season at La Salle HS but the Explorers failed to make any noise. But the 6-6 wing guard is a strong outside shooter with length, and the Dragons could find a role for him this season if he can handle the physicality. 

Shawn Simmons II (Fr. | St. Joe’s)
A Philly native, Simmons played at Bonner and Friends’ Central before going to several prep schools, finishing up at Hillcrest Prep (Ariz.) before enrolling at SJU midway through last season. The hyper-athletic 6-6 wing has competition for minutes, no doubt, but has the ability to earn some time in the back end of the rotation.

Dan Skillings Jr. (Soph. | Cincinnati)
A standout over his junior and senior years at Roman Catholic, Skillings has a solid freshman season at Cincinnati, coming off the bench (14.6 mpg) in 35 contests to average 5.3 ppg and 3.3 rpg. His best outing came against Temple in the AAC tournament, as the 6-7 wing had 20 points and six rebounds, his third double-figure outing of the year. 

Blake Smith (Soph. | Northwestern)
A 6-3 walk-on from Germantown Academy, Smith appeared in three games last season, scoring two points in four minutes.

Raymond Somerville (R-Jr. | Delaware St.)
The 2019 Shipley School grad has been in college four years but only really played in two of them; this past one was his first significant playing time, as he started 27 of 30 games for DSU, averaging 4.9 ppg and 3.6 rpg. A 6-11, 230-pound post, Somerville had his first collegiate double-double with a 13-point, 10-rebound outing against Norfolk State in January.

Zion Stanford (Fr. | Temple)
The Owls brought in exactly one true freshman this year: Stanford. The 6-5 West Catholic wing guard originally committed to head coach Aaron McKie but stayed on through the coaching change to Adam Fisher.

Masud Stewart (Soph. | Binghamton)
The Neumann-Goretti product was limited to 17 games as a freshman (8.2 mpg), averaging 2.1 ppg and just under one rebound per outing. The 6-1, 185-pound point guard played big minutes in a few games, including Maryland and La Salle, and only turned it over 18 times on the season.

Jaylen Stinson (Jr. | Merrimack)
The former Archbishop Wood and Haverford School standout transferred to Merrimack last season after starting his career at James Madison. Stinson, a 6-foot-2 guard, played in 34 games (eight starts), averaging 2.3 ppg in  16.1 mpg for the Northeast Conference Tournament champions, who will be NCAA Tournament eligible for the first time this season.

Elijah Taylor (Sr. | Quinnipiac)
The Imhotep Charter alum hasn’t been able to stay/get healthy during his college career. He missed his entire freshman season due to injury at Notre, played three games for the Irish as a sophomore then sat out the entire season at Quinnipiac in 2022-23 due to injury. A 6-foot-8 forward, Taylor will have the chance to reunite with Panthers teammate JJ Riggins on the court in 2023-24. 

Christian Tomasco (R-Soph. | Hofstra)
Tomasco, who played his senior high school season at Archbishop Ryan, saw his first action last season after redshirting in 2021-22. The 6-foot-9 forward played in 13 games as a deep reserve on a squad that went 25-10.

Deuce Turner (Jr. | San Diego)
After a slow start in his first season after transferring from Bucknell and South Plains College (Tx.), Turner found himself a nice role as one of the Toreros’ top bench options in 2022-23. The Malvern Prep product averaged 6.5 ppg in 31 games, averaging 17.1 minutes per contest. The team graduated its top three scorers, so Turner has a chance to jump into the starting lineup in his second year on campus.

Blaise Vespe (Soph. | Florida Gulf Coast)
Vespe, who won a PCL title with Neumann-Goretti in 2020, is a few years removed from the area as he did a prep year at IMG before spending last season in Estero. The 6-foot-7 forward played in 11 games as a freshman, averaging 2.5 ppg in 7.2 mpg per contest.
Neumann-Goretti

Mike Walz (Soph. | Richmond)
Walz totaled 49 minutes across 13 games in his first season in the Atlantic 10. With a few frontcourt veterans still on the roster, including 7-footer Neal Quinn, it still might be a year or two before Walz, a 6-foot-11 forward from Conestoga, is ready to see significant action for the Spiders.

Dean Wang (Sr. | Drexel)
A 6-1 guard from Friends’ Select, Wang walked onto the Drexel squad as a sophomore. He’s played in 10 games over those two years, scoring his first four career points last season. 

Jalen Warley (Jr. | Florida State)
The  6-foot-6 guard out of Mt. Airy, who played his high school hoops at Westtown, saw a little under 20 minutes per game as a freshman but took a leap as a sophomore as he started 21 of the Seminole’s last 22 games. He’ll look to continue to make strides after averaging 6.8 ppg, 3.3 apg and 2.9 rpg in 32 total games (27.9 mpg) in 2022-23.

Jake Warren (Fr. | Fairleigh Dickinson)
Warren started his career at Downingtown West before finishing at Calvary Christian (Fla.) this past winter. The 6-foot-7 forward didn’t commit until May but he steps on campus as the tallest player on the team, which could help him carve out a role in his first season in Hackensack for last season’s Cinderella story of the NCAA Tournament.

Kareem Watson (R-Fr. | CSU-Bakersfield)
The 6-foot-7 guard out of West Catholic is still looking for his first collegiate action after redshirting last season. He hopes to join his twin brother Kaseem in the Bakersfield rotation after redshirting last season as the Roadrunners went 11-22 and lost in the Big West quarters.

Kaseem Watson (Soph. | CSU-Bakersfield)
The former All-Catholic selection at West Catholic played in 24 games, including one start in his debut season on the West Coast. Watson, a 6-foot-8 guard, averaged 3.4 ppg, 1.3 rpg in 10.9 mpg, including a season-high 14 points against UC Davis. With four of the team’s top six minutes getters gone from a season ago, a bigger role could be in store.

Tyreese Watson (Jr. | Louisiana-Monroe)
Watson’s playing his first Division I season this year at ULM, the former Bonner guard helping Cochise College (Ariz.) to a top-15 ranking in the NJCAA poll, averaging 19.6 ppg last season. The 6-4 guard comes to a retooling Warhocks lineup, and hopes to play a big role from the get-go.

Ife West-Ingram (Fr. | Rider)
A bouncy 6-6 wing out of Abington Friends, West-Ingram is the newest member of the Philly contingent on the Broncs’ roster. He had a strong high school career for a team that was never able to compete with the top half of the FSL, so his freshman year could go any number of ways.

Justice Williams (Jr. | Robert Morris)
The former Roman Catholic standout, who finished his high school career at Montverde Academy (Fl.), returns to the Keystone State after two years at LSU, where he averaged 2.6 ppg in 43 games (13.4 mpg). The 6-4, 175-pound combo guard’s athleticism and play-making abilities should stand out more at his new spot, which has to replace much of its production from a year ago.

Tyrone Williams (Sr. | Old Dominion)
Williams has taken quite a journey from his time at Olney Charter, the former Public League standout going to Grayson College (Tex.), where he became one of the best scorers in JUCO hoops. The 6-5 guard spent last year at Oregon, averaging 2.5 ppg and 2.0 rpg in 23 games (9.7 mpg), and now will finish out at Old Dominion, playing in the Sun Belt Conference.

Zaakir Williamson (R-Soph. | Buffalo)
The Neumann-Goretti product is in his third year up in the Empire State, having redshirted his first year at Buffalo two years back, then played in 18 contests a year ago (1.1 ppg, 1.1 rpg). Now under first-year head coach George Halcovage III, a former Villanova assistant, the 6-7, 250-pound wing forward will see how his game fits into a new system.

Langston Wilson (Gr. | Milwaukee)
The remarkable story of the Bonner-Prendergast grad — who didn’t play at all in high school for health reasons but was cleared before his college years — continues in Milwaukee, where he’s doing his grad year after two seasons at Washington. A lanky, bouncy 6-9 wing forward, Wilson saw action in 46 games in a Huskies uniform but never in a major role, averaging 1.7 ppg and 1.9 rpg in 18 games (6.1 mpg) last year. 

Jeff Woodward (Sr. | Colgate)
It’s been the Golden Age of Colgate men’s basketball over the last five years, with four Patriot League titles (and thus, NCAA Tournament appearances) in that span, and the Methacton forward has been a significant piece of each of the last three. The 6-11, 265-pound bruiser has played in 85 games (7 starts) over the last three years, averaging 6.9 ppg and 4.5 rpg as a junior, making 58.9% of his shots. 

Malcolm Wrisby-Jefferson (Fr. | Brown)
Athletic and versatile, Wrisby-Jefferson is a 6-4 point guard and terrific leader (on and off the court). The New York native has been at the Phelps School for the last few years, playing at a high level against prep competition, and looks ready to make an impact his first year of collegiate basketball.

Joshua Wyche (Fr. | Lafayette)
The first Division I scholarship recipient in Cristo Rey’s relatively short hoops history, Wyche arrives in the Lehigh Valley to join a Lafayette squad that’s in transition under first-year head coach Mike McGarvey. A 6-6 wing forward, Wyche brings good size and versatility to the table and should have a chance to earn some minutes right away.