City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2024-25 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 4. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season, click here.)

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The college basketball preseason has begun.

Traditionally, on this day six weeks before the first games of the Division I basketball season, CoBL would release its Preseason Big 5 awards as a first look at the upcoming season. But in this world of the transfer portal, with so many of the city’s stars changing schools each offseason, taking a look at honoring who might be the best in the city this season seemed like an increasingly-meaningless effort. 

So, for the first time, we will not be running a Big 5 Preseason Awards.

Instead, we’re starting off the preseason by recapping who’s come and gone from each of the Big 5 programs, and where that leaves each of the six headed into the six-week stretch of practices which build up to the first games on November 4.

We'll spend the next six weeks making sure to touch on each of the city's six Division I schools, as well as the small-college scene. We'll have a preview hub up and running by October 1 as well, with access to the 100-plus high school and college preview stories we'll run in the next two months.

Here's an overview of the offseason for each of the Big 5 men's programs:

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All players listed as ‘out’ are out of eligibility unless otherwise noted; those who transferred to other Division I programs have that program in parenthesis.

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Drexel Dragons
Out: Jamie Bergens (Fairfield), Luke House, Lucas Monroe, Justin Moore (Loyola Chicago), Lamar Oden Jr. (Charleston Southern), Mate Okros, Amari Williams (Kentucky)

In: Ralph Akuta (Fr./F), Jason ‘Deuce’ Drake (Jr./PG) Clemson Edomwonyin (Fr./F), Villiam Garcia Adsten (Soph./F), Victor Panov (Jr./F), Josh Reed (Fr./G)

Stayed: Shane Blakeney (Soph./G), Yame Butler (Sr./G), Cole Hargrove (Jr./F), Kobe MaGee (Jr./G), Horace Simmons Jr. (R-Fr./SF), Garfield Turner (Sr./F)

Bottom Line
“New-look” doesn’t even begin to describe these Dragons. Drexel saw its entire starting lineup either graduate or transfer, losing more than 72% of its total minutes played and 73% of its scoring, not to mention all of its leadership. Williams, House, Okros and Monroe all had at least four years of Division I hoops under their belts. Turner, Butler, and MaGee all got a considerable amount of playing time a year ago, with MaGee (6.3 ppg) the leading returning scorer. 

The biggest issue will be at point guard: with Moore transferring out with two years remaining and Bergens out as well, either Reed — a 6-2 combo guard out of Archbishop Wood — or the JUCO transfer Drake (Butler CC), who started at Cleveland State, will have to be ready. And the amount of size the staff brought in this offseason is a testament to their need to replace Williams, the 6-10 post and three-time CAA Defensive Player of the Year. This is a group that’s very much going to need to find its identity in the early going. 

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La Salle Explorers
Out: Khalil Brantley (Oklahoma State), Jhamir Brickus (Villanova), Anwar Gill (Howard), Rokas Jocius (Central Florida) 

In: Eric Acker (Soph./G), Mac Etienne (R-Jr./F), Deuce Jones (Fr./G), Demetrius Lilley (Jr./F), Corey McKeithan (Gr./G), Jahlil White (Gr./SF)

Stayed: Milos Kovacevic (Sr./F), Andres Marrero (R-Jr./G), Lucas Mercandino (Jr./SF), Jorge Sanchez-Ramos (R-Soph./G), Daeshon Shepherd (Sr./SF), Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi (Soph./SF), Ryan Zan (R-Soph./F)

Bottom Line
Fran Dunphy brings back a solid bit of his roster, including getting Shepherd (9.6 ppg, 5.7 rpg) to come out of the portal and back to La Salle for his senior year. But there’s no doubt that losing the starting backcourt of Brantley (15.1 ppg) and Brickus (14.8 ppg), who both had career years, will be a significant setback for the Explorers — especially with Brickus going across the city to ‘Nova for his last year of college hoops. On top of that, two more starters in Gill (9.5 ppg) and Jocius (7.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg) hit the portal, Jocius with two years of eligibility remaining. 

There’s talent and experience coming in: White, a Temple transfer, has 86 games (44 starts) under his belt, and McKeithan started all 32 games for Rider last year. Up front, Etienne at 6-10 was a former high-major recruit who’s played at UCLA and DePaul, and the 6-9 Lilley showed a lot of promise at Lower Merion, even if he couldn’t quite crack the rotation at Penn State. And keep an eye on Jones, a super-talented guard from a basketball family. 

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Penn Quakers
Out: Ed Holland III, Andrew Laczkowski, Tyler Perkins (Villanova), Clark Slajchert (Southern Cal) 

In: Bradyn Foster (Fr./F), AJ Levine (Fr./G), Alex Massung (Fr./G),  Michelangelo Oberti (Fr./C), Ethan Roberts (Jr./SF), Dylan Williams (Jr./G), Michael Zanoni (Jr./SF)

Stayed: Sam Brown (Soph./G), Augustus Gerhart (Soph./F), Reese McMullen (Sr./G), Niklas Polonowski (Soph./SF), George Smith (Sr./SG), Nick Spinoso (Sr./F), Cam Thrower (Jr./SG), Chris Ubochi (Jr./C), Johnnie Walter (Jr./PF)

Bottom Line
After a forgettable 11-win season, 9th-year head coach Steve Donahue has to replace two-thirds of his starting backcourt, with Perkins going to Villanova after a strong freshman year (13.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg) and Slajchert forced to use his final season of eligibility elsewhere due to Ivy League regulations. Leading the returners are Spinoso (10.8 ppg, 7.9 rpg) and the sharpshooting sophomore Brown (10.9 ppg, 43.3 3pt%), who suddenly becomes the most likely candidate to lead them in scoring.

After those two, the door’s wide open as Donahue and his staff will need more than two consistent producers. That’s where some of the newcomers could really shine: Roberts, a 6-5 wing, was the Patriot League Rookie of the Year two seasons ago at Army, but spent last year redshirting at Drake and still has three years of eligibility remaining; Zanoni, who comes from Mercer, makes it a rare two Division I transfers in the same offseason. There are pieces, no doubt. But is there a team that can get back to the Ivy top four? That’s still very much TBD. 

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Saint Joseph’s
Out: Cameron Brown, Charles Coleman, Christ Essandoko (Providence), Lynn Greer III (Temple), Kacper Klaczek (Albany), 

In: Justice Ajogbor (Gr./C), Mekai Johnson (Fr./G), Kevin Kearney (Fr./F), Khaafiq Myers (Fr./G), Derek Simpson (Jr./G), Steven Solano (Fr./C)

Stayed: Xzayvier Brown (Soph./G), Anthony Finkley (Soph./F), Rasheer Fleming (Jr./F), Dasear Haskins (R-Fr./G), Erik Reynolds II (Sr./G), Shawn Simmons II (Soph./SF)

Bottom Line
This is the biggest “prove-it” year yet for Billy Lange and staff. The former Sixers and ‘Nova assistant has rebuilt St. Joe’s from six wins in year one to 21-14 in year five, inside the KenPom top 100, into the A-10 semifinals. They took some hits in the offseason, losing Greer III (10.9 ppg, 3.7 apg) and Essandoko (8.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg) to the transfer portal and graduating Brown (11.0 ppg, 4.1 rpg), a productive five-year starter who will be remembered fondly by the Hawk faithful. But what makes this year so critical is it finds the Hawks at the precipice of a breakthrough while relying on a group of players with a variety of experience levels and backgrounds.

There’s high-level holdovers: Reynolds (17.3 ppg), who could establish himself as truly one of the greats in program history with an NCAA berth; Brown, who had an outstanding rookie season (12.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg), could find stardom on his own, as could Fleming (10.7 ppg, 7.4 rpg). Simpson, a Rutgers transfer, could jump right in and start, as could Ajogbor, a 6-10 post from Harvard; if those two plug right in as high-level starters and they get increased production from some combination of Haskins, Finkley and Simmons II, they could be really deep and dangerous, and poised to stay that way for a few years. 

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Temple Owls
Out: Sam Hofman, Hysier Miller (Virginia Tech), Emmanuel Okpomo (New Hampshire), Jordan Riley (East Carolina), Taj Thweatt, Jahlil White (La Salle)

In: Dillon Battie (Fr./F), Jameel Brown (Jr./G), Babatunde Durodola (Fr./F), Elijah Gray (Jr./F), Lynn Greer III (Jr./G), Mohamed Keita (Jr./C), Jamal Mashburn Jr. (Gr./G), Holden Pierre-Louis (Fr./F), Aiden Tobiason (Fr./SG)

Stayed: Quante Berry (R-Soph./G), Shane Dezonie (Sr./G), Matteo Picarelli (Gr./G), Steve Settle III (Gr./C), Zion Stanford (Soph./G)

Bottom Line
It’s hard to get a good read on Temple’s first season under Adam Fisher. On one hand, the Owls at one point lost 10 straight, dropping to 8-17 (1-11 AAC) on the season on Feb. 15. On the flip side, they won nine of their next 11 to make it all the way to the AAC championship game, one win shy of a most improbable NCAA Tournament berth. That moment got interrupted a bit by some key offseason departures — none more painful than Miller, the Neumann-Goretti product who had spoken about his desire to stay local and lead Temple back to prominence, off to the Hokies for his final season of college hoops.

That being said, Fisher and his staff brought in some real talent this offseason. Greer III (St. Joe’s), Mashburn (New Mexico State), Gray (Fordham) and Brown (Penn State) all have high-level Division I experience, Keita brings real size at 7-1 and there’s a good bit of hype around the 6-8 Battie, whose father Derrick played at Temple (1992-96) and uncle Tony played for the Sixers. Tobiason, a late-rising 6-5 guard, could be a real steal as well. There are pieces here; we’ll find out soon just how good of a coach Fisher is. if he can put them together quickly enough.

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Villanova Wildcats
Out: Chris Arcidiacono, Mark Armstrong, TJ Bamba (Oregon), Tyler Burton, Hakim Hart, Brendan Hausen (Kansas State), Justin Moore, Trey Patterson (Rice), Lance Ware (UT Arlington)

In: Enoch Boakye (Sr./C), Jhamir Brickus (Gr./G), Aleksandar Gavalyugov (Fr./G), Matthew Hodge (Fr./F), Josiah Moseley (Fr./SF), Kris Parker (Fr./G), Tyler Perkins (Soph./G), Wooga Poplar (Sr./G), Malcolm Thomas (Fr./SF)

Stayed: Eric Dixon (Gr./F), Jordan Dumont (R-Fr./F), Jordan Longino (Sr./G), Nnanna Njoku (R-Jr./F)

Bottom Line
There’s more uncertainty than there’s been on the Main Line in quite a long while. Outside of Dixon, who would finish in the top five in program history in scoring with another season like the one he just had (16.6 ppg, 6.5 rpg), head coach Kyle Neptune returns one player with no D-I experience (Dumont), one with less than 100 minutes of on-court experience in three years (Njoku) and a guard in Longino with a career 4.5 ppg average in 80 games (13 starts). That’s not a great start for a program that’s been hovering around .500 the last two seasons, the Jay Wright era quickly getting further away in the rearview mirror. 

Neptune did bring in a good heap of experience and talent through the transfer portal: Popular (Miami), Brickus (La Salle), Perkins (Penn) and Boakye (Fresno State) were all starters at their previous programs, and all but Boakye (7.5 ppg, 7.7 rpg) were double-digit scorers. The freshmen are talented, too, led by the 6-8 Hodge, a versatile wing forward whose game certainly looked college-ready coming out of St. Rose (N.J.). But ‘The Villanova Way’ has defined Lancaster + Ithan Ave. for the better part of two decades, and it’s up to the coaching staff and the few remaining players to see if this group is capable of carrying on the legacy.