City of Basketball Love

By Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)
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WYNDMOOR — Mike Green knows whether he shoots or doesn’t, or makes it or not, there’s one voice he’s going to hear.

The junior guard may look like the most unassuming of Archbishop Wood’s regulars, but teams that might sleep on him will soon learn why Jalil Bethea passes to him so often. It gets paid back in turn, while Green might not soar for the highlight dunks Bethea can create, a lot of them have come off his lob passes.

Bethea and Green have crafted a uniquely productive connection that they’re looking to get the most out of in the state playoffs.

“I know what he’s capable of doing,” Bethea said. “I believe in him. Everytime he shoots the ball, you can see me in the game, I’m turning around and celebrating. I think every time he shoots the ball, it’s going in.”

Bethea scored 23, most of them at the foul line, while Green added eight as the Vikings secured that spot in states with a 65-43 win over Northeast in Tuesday night’s District 12 6A play-in game held at La Salle College High School. There weren’t any lob passes from Green to Bethea, but the two guards did manage to each assist a three-pointer to the other.

Green, who has started games and come off the bench in others this season, quickly built a rapport with Bethea when he first got to Wood as a freshman. While Green was mostly a swing player as a freshman, it didn’t take long for Bethea to start picking him out last year as a trusted option for kick-out passes.

“It starts in practice with him trusting me,” Green said. “We’re both great shooters, it really just comes with trust.”

With Tuesday’s game well in hand midway through the third quarter, the two guards didn’t have a ton of chances to show their connection. Back in December against Salesianum however, Bethea and Green found each other for a couple of key plays in a Vikings win.

Green was mired in a shooting slump early in the season. Instead of getting down on his teammate, Bethea was constantly telling Green to keep shooting and even Tuesday, the senior University of Miami recruit got on Green after he passed up a look in the third quarter.

“I think it comes from off the court,” Bethea said. “We’re real good friends off the court and that’s basically what builds our relationship on the court.”

Bethea’s game has a lot of flash, from the dribble moves to the dunks to the deep threes, it’s easy to see why he was so highly rated as a prospect and even surging up mock 2025 NBA Draft boards. 

Green’s much more stoic in his demeanor, the junior not often showing much emotion on the court. It might be an invitation to overlook him, but Bethea has seen his teammate take advantage of any teams that do.

“Everybody we play, they see Mike as a liability, they see him as just another person on the court and they try to bully him,” Bethea said. “In real life, Mike is tougher than what other people might think. He sits down on defense, I don’t know why people say he doesn’t move his feet, he stays in front of his guy.”

It takes work to throw a good lob pass. The timing has to be right, the ball has to get to the right height and both parties have to be in sync.

“It’s just a connection,” Green said. “It starts in practice again. I always trust he’s going to catch it whenever I throw it.”

“I think wherever he throws it, I can go and get it,” Bethea said. “But most of the time, it’s a perfect pass so I can just dunk the ball.”

Bethea has caught and finished lobs from a lot of players. Despite Green acknowledging he messed one up on Tuesday, the junior guard still rates quite highly on Bethea’s all-time list.

“He’s No. 2, right under Rob Wright,” Bethea said.

The senior looked over to Green.

“Sorry,” Bethea said.

“It’s alright,” Green answered. “I’ll take that.”

Wood will open its state playoff run next Saturday against District 1’s fifth-place finisher. The Vikings had to wait out their fate after losing in the PCL quarterfinals before having to win Tuesday but Bethea didn’t shy away from saying the team’s goal now is to get to Hershey and win a state title.

For that to happen, Bethea will probably look to Green to knock down some threes and Green may look to set up Bethea in return, whether on the perimeter or in the air. It’s not something Green takes for granted, knowing he has at most five more games to keep their connection going.

“It’s going to be way different,” Green said. “Playing with him consistently the last two years, I’ve tried to take a lot from his game too.”

While the Vikings of Archbishop Wood were moving on to states, the Vikings of Northeast were not.

However, that shouldn’t deflect from what Northeast accomplished this season. For the second straight year, Northeast upped its win total and made a longer playoff stay than the year before.

Vikings coach Steve Novosel called his team a group that worked hard every day and competed, which led to each year being better than the last.

“As I just told our guys, the best thing has been and what I’m most proud of is the way they stayed together,” Novosel said. “Watching them grow as young men, they’re just good human beings and I’m just so proud of them.”

Northeast will lose four seniors - Kyree Williams, Angel Smiley, Darrius Gaeta and Jalen Lee Womack - to graduation. Their impact can’t be summed up by just wins and losses, although the 19-6 record this season is a high water mark of their tenure.

“They got to feel what it was like,” Novosel said. “Being able to play that level of competition, it puts them in check and says ‘hey, we have to put some work in.’”

Novosel’s cupboard won’t be depleted next season, with six juniors and four sophomores on the bench Tuesday and only two starters leaving. He wants to continue to emphasize development and also put a focus on the weight room this coming offseason.

“That senior class, they started this two years ago and they left a legacy,” Novosel said. “This was my first year where I had that special team one through 15 where we were just together and it’s special to coach that.”

By Quarter

ARCHBISHOP WOOD 16 | 25 | 18 | 6 || 65

NORTHEAST 5 | 12 | 12 | 14 || 43

Scoring

AW: Jalil Bethea 23, Josh Reed 12, Brady MacAdams 8, Mike Green 8, Deuce Maxey 5, Tahir Howell 5, Ihsan Beyah 2, Jaydin Jenkins 2

N: Darrius Gaeta 15, Jalen Lee Womak 8, Makai Autry 8, Kyree Williams 6, Bobby Perry 2, Jonathan Miller 2, Mike Freeman 1, Angel Smiley 1