City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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The first session of Philly Live 2024 brought nearly 200 boys teams to the City of Brotherly Love from all over the region — Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware were well-represented, but teams from as far away as Florida came up for three days of competition in front of college coaches of all levels.

CoBL’s writers spent the weekend at both Jefferson University and the Philadelphia Youth Basketball ‘6th Man’ Center catching up with local teams and prospects of note. Here’s a notebook featuring recruiting updates on several area prospects:

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(Ed. Note: Links to all of our 2024 Philly Live I content can be found at the bottom of this article)

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Evan Romano (2025 | St. Rose, N.J.)

The live recruiting periods can change someone’s future in the span of an hour. 

Or, in Romano’s case, about 15 minutes.

The 6-3, 165-pound combo guard had been a quality player for St. Rose for some time, though he was always more of a role player alongside the likes of Matthew Hodge (Villanova), Gio Panzini (Cornell), and current teammate Jayden Hodge (2026), a high-major Division I recruit.

But one spectacular half of hoops turned Romano’s recruiting situation around in a hurry.

Romano poured in 22 of his 24 points to help St. Rose almost pull off a spectacular comeback against Roman Catholic on Sunday, doing it with flair and style. There were deep pull-up 3-pointers, tough layups around defenders, a couple ‘how did he do that’ finishes, and some quality passes with the ball in his hand. 

“I’ve put in too much work to play scared and not play my game and not knock me off my game,” he said. “I really just have a chip on my shoulder, I got really mad and I just started talking to myself, like ‘let’s get it going.’ I started to get it going and got to my spots, knocked ‘em down.”

Interviewed just a few minutes after the game, Romano said his recruitment was “nothing too crazy,” a few texts from a few Ivy League schools.

Just a few minutes after that, James Madison and Buffalo both offered. Old Dominion followed the next morning. Penn, UMBC and Canisius reached out to Romano as well; others hit up his coaches. 

In the blink of an eye, Romano was a hot commodity.

“It feels great to get these offers,” he said by text on Monday. “All of the work I’ve put in is starting to show and people are finally recognizing my abilities on the court.”

He did all of that while dealing with knee tendonitis this summer, which has limited the amount of time he can spend on the court to one workout per day instead of two or three. 

Romano credits his improvement not as much to his skill development but his work with the St. Rose coaching staff, led by former Villanova standout Brian Lynch, who took over the Purple Roses three years ago and turned them into a Garden State powerhouse.

“Coach Brian and the coaching staff are great and they really know basketball really well,” Romano said. “They’ve turned me into a great basketball player; I already had the skillset before, but my brain’s getting there and my IQ.” — Josh Verlin

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Jayden Hodge (2026 | St. Rose, N.J.)

Ever since he made his first appearances with St. Rose two years back, Hodge has always been the younger brother. 

Two years younger than Matthew Hodge, a 6-8 wing forward who became one of the country’s most coveted prospects, Jayden was always a prospect to watch, though his time was a little further down the line. With Matthew now off to start his college career at Villanova, the Purple Roses’ spotlight shifts in part to Jayden, whose own recruitment is taking off. 

“I’ve been ready, I’ve been preparing myself for this big role coming up,” Jayden said on Sunday after a game against Roman Catholic. “Our teammates are great, so it’s definitely not only me, it’s the whole team and we just have a great team, and I know we will do good if we just stick together.”

A 6-foot-6 wing who might not have his brother’s elite size but brings to the table all of his versatility, Jayden Hodge’s phone has been busy since June 15, he told CoBL, naming Ohio State, Rutgers, Villanova and Old Dominion as the schools who had been most in touch in the first few weeks where college coaches were allowed to contact rising juniors directly.

Having watched his brother’s recruitment journey over the last two years since the brothers arrived in the United States from Belgium, Hodge knows exactly what’s coming next, and he’s already got a good knowledge base to build on. 

“I think (watching my brother’s recruitment) helped a lot because I went to visits with him and I think just to see already, to have a little experience [...] going to colleges and stuff, I think it’ll really help me a lot,” he said. “How to feel at home when I’m at the colleges, how to feel like I belong there, and I think he also can give me great tips.” 

While Old Dominion might seem a little out of place amongst the schools from the Big Ten, Big East and other high-major conferences who’ve reached out, the Monarchs have a built-in advantage. Former ODU standout Odell Hodge, Matthew and Jayden’s father, began life as a Division I assistant earlier this offseason, moving over from Belgium to his alma mater.

Jayden said his dad was one of those phone calls on June 15, making it clear he would love to coach his son at the next level. 

“It’s kind of rare, but he does a little recruiting [pitch],” Jayden said. “But at the end of the day, he wants the best for me, so he will let me make my decision.”

Though he had an uncharacteristically rough day from the foul line against Roman Catholic in a game that St. Rose lost by a point, Hodge still showed plenty of potential and production in a 14-point, 11-rebound outing. Equally comfortable facing up and shooting as he is getting downhill off the bounce or even posting up, Hodge plays hard from tip to whistle, a trait he also shares with his brother.

“(I’m working on getting) more physical and consistency in my shot,” he said. “And also just my post defense, definitely have got to get stronger in that, too.”

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Quick Hits
— Quinn Gibson (2025 | Cherry Hill West, N.J.) is one of the select group of rising seniors who’s out to prove himself good enough to the Division I coaches talking to him, but he had to have made a good impression on anybody who watched him on Sunday. The 6-5 guard said he’s been talking to a number of Ivy League and Patriot League programs, and he looked the part in a 29-point, five-rebound, four-rebound effort to lead his team to a 20-point win over Radnor. A skilled wing with great size on the ball, Gibson was 4-of-8 from 3-point range and showed his improved athleticism with a pair of emphatic dunks he created in the half-court. 

“I’m shooting the ball off the dribble more consistently,” he said. “I can definitely jump higher and get to the basket better, and handling the ball, I was playing the ‘1’ some of that game, which I wasn’t a year ago. Just trying to get better every single day.”

— Last year, Kenny Hunter (2025 | St. Elizabeth, Del.) witnessed the rise of Aidan Tobiason, his teammate going from a Division II recruit to a Temple University commitment in the span of just a few months. With Tobiason off at Temple, Hunter is going to be one of the featured pieces for head coach Mike Cassidy’s Vikings; the muscular 6-4 wing looked the part on Saturday in a game against Chambersburg, knocking down four 3-pointers in a 20-point, eight-rebound outing. 

“For sure I’ve been (thinking about) how can I make a play, how can I do what he did,” Hunter said, “just have that motor that he had, keep working like he did.”

So far, Hunter said his recruitment is fairly light, as he’d heard from D-IIIs Albright and Gettysburg thus far. With his combination of physicality and shooting, expect that list of small-college types to grow significantly in the next few months.

— After spending two years as the lone underclassman in a veteran lineup, James Brenner (2026 | Unionville) suddenly becomes by far the most experienced member of Chris Cowles’ program. The 6-6 wing, now with bleach-blonde hair, goes from being the mentee to the mentor for almost an entirely new Longhorns rotation; only 2025 guard Jack Robbins, a reserve sharpshooter last year, saw significant varsity minutes while Brenner was one of the team’s standouts. After winning the Ches-Mont and District 1 5A titles in 2024, it’s going to be a massive rehaul in Chester County.

“As soon as the season ended, it was straight to work,” Brenner said. “I definitely had to step up as a leader and be more communicative. A lot of guys were young, we don’t really know what we’re doing, but we’re getting better each day. I’m leading the guys, and I think we’re getting a lot better.”

Brenner has one Division I offer, from Sacred Heart, which he’s had since last offseason. A Sacred Heart assistant was watching him on Sunday as Unionville play St. George’s Tech (Del.); Brenner said he’s also heard from Loyola (Md.), Bucknell, Lafayette, Penn and Princeton, and that Loyola wants him to visit in August.

— Attention is starting to come Drew Corrao’s (2026 | Archbishop Carroll) way more and more. The 6-9, 205-pound forward has been an intriguing prospect since the gangly youngster started playing with Carroll two years back; now filling out his frame and playing more assertively than he ever has, he’s starting to realize some of his potential. Charleston, Manhattan and Marist have offered him the last couple of weeks, adding to Albany and High Point to bring his list up to five. 

Corrao attributed the increased attention to his increased physicality, having added 15 pounds since the end of his sophomore season. A combination of morning protein shakes and weight training has been the difference-maker, and he said he’s trying to add another 10-15 pounds by the start of his junior year. A smooth-shooting stretch big, he wants to keep getting better in the post to truly take advantage of his size and skills. 

“I want to keep working on attacking, getting paint touches and all that,” he said, “because my jump shot’s already there; it’s good to have both, a balance.”