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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It’s time for some hoops.

The 2024-25 college basketball season tips off today — Mon., Nov. 4. It’s the beginning of a five-month-and-change season which will see 350 upcoming seasons full of promise and hope intercepted by reality. Some programs will find success, others will fall short of their goals. In the Big 5, at least a couple programs will be disappointed with anything less than a March Madness appearance; for others, a season over .500 would be a positive finish.

Here are the biggest questions I have about the city’s Division I squads this upcoming season:

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Will Saint Joseph’s finally break through?

Over the last five years, Billy Lange took a program that had basically fallen apart in the wake of longtime head coach Phil Martelli’s dismissal and, after a few forgettable seasons, has his program on the verge of entering the national discussion once again, something that’s become tougher and tougher to do in the age of NIL and ever-growing Power 5 domination. With a mix of established veterans and intriguing youth, this could be a year to remember on City Ave.

Coming off a 21-win season, the Hawks have an all-star backcourt of senior Erik Reynolds II and sophomore Xzyavier Brown, some high-upside frontcourt pieces from Camden (N.J.) in forward Rasheer Fleming and wing Dasear Haskins, and a couple impact transfers in Derek Simpson (Rutgers) and Justice Ajogbor (Harvard). They should have depth, talent, size, athleticism, experience — all the successful factors. 

Another 20-win season and NIT appearance would feel like a letdown given this group’s potential. The second weekend of the Tournament is too high a bar to set in terms of making this season a success, but it’s a realistic possibility.

Can Villanova return to prominence? 

For the better part of two decades, Villanova was a force to be reckoned with under head coach Jay Wright. The Naismith Hall of Fame coach took the Wildcats to 16 NCAA tournaments in an 18-year span — and one of those years without a dance at the end was the 2020 tournament, canceled due to COVID. But Wright retired following a Final Four appearance in 2022, not interested in dealing with the new reality of college hoops, and his heir Kyle Neptune has thus far not been able to maintain the momentum.

Over the last two seasons, the Wildcats have gone a combined 35-33, including a 20-20 mark in Big East play, after having no more than five conference losses in any of the previous 10 years. Each of those seasons have resulted in an NIT first-round exit.

To try and get ‘Nova back to where it’s used to being, Neptune added what should be quality transfers in Wooga Poplar (Miami), Jig Brickus (La Salle), and Tyler Perkins (Penn), with a few grizzled vets to lead the way in Eric Dixon and Jordan Longino — but last year, it seemed like he had also built well via the portal, only for some of those additions to not pan out nearly as well as hoped. A third straight year around .500, and there’s sure to be questions about whether Neptune is the right person to be ‘Nova’s coach — Wright also went around .500 in his first three seasons, but he didn’t inherit a program in as strong a position as Neptune did. 

Are the sophomores ready for stardom?

All around the city, numerous second-year players are in position to take massive steps forward into the spotlight. The most obvious amongst those is Brown, the Roman Catholic alum who averaged 12.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg and 3.3 apg during his freshman year on Hawk Hill. Now ready to be a full-time starter, he won’t have to be St. Joe’s leading scorer with Reynolds II around for one more year, but the on-court moxie he’s displayed since his underclassman years of high school has translated right onto the college court, and he’s starting to get some NBA attention.

But he’s not the only one in his class that could make a major impact. Temple’s Zion Stanford averaged 6.6 ppg and 2.3 rpg and should be a much bigger piece for the Owls this year, the 6-6 wing from West Catholic able to play three or four different positions. Villanova has Perkins, who averaged 13.7 ppg and 5.3 rpg as a freshman at Penn, but now will wear blue and white for his sophomore season, expected to be Villanova’s sixth man. That leaves a big hole for Penn’s Sam Brown to step into, the Lower Merion product averaging 10.9 ppg and hitting 43.3% of his 3-pointers as a rookie a season ago. Finally, La Salle’s Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi, a 6-8 wing from Sweden, averaged 6.2 ppg and 3.2 rpg while hitting 35.7% of his 3-pointers, and is one of just a few holderovers on the Explorer roster.

Will the gambling scandal impact Temple further?

As Temple’s aims to build off a 16-20 win in Adam Fisher’s first season, the Owls have some good reasons for optimism, including the additions of Jamal Mashburn Jr. (New Mexico), Lynn Greer III (St. Joe’s) and Jameel Brown (Penn State), joining a team that made a surprise run to the American Athletic Conference championship game last year. Off the court, however, there’s a situation that could ultimately blow over — or could threaten to bring down the program. 

Back in March, U.S. Integrity — a company that acts as a watchdog into suspicious gambling activity — flagged one of the Temple’s games, a 100-72 loss to UAB. News was quiet on that front until this fall, when former Temple guard Hysier Miller — who transferred to Virginia Tech in the offseason — was “permanently released from the Virginia Tech men's basketball program due to circumstances prior to his enrollment at Virginia Tech.” So far, that seems to be the only potential domino to fall from the investigation, but in a process that doesn’t have much transparency, it’s unclear if there will be any more repercussions. 

Will Drexel be able to stay relevant? 

Slowly but surely, Zach Spiker has built Drexel’s program up in University City, the Dragons with winning records in four straight seasons, including its first 20-win season in a dozen years last year. This offseason was unkind — Amari Williams (Kentucky), Justin Moore (Loyola Chicago) and Lamar Oden Jr. (Charleston Southern) all transferred out alongside the graduations of Luke House and Mate Okros. On top of that, senior forward Garfield Turner suffered a season-ending leg injury in the preseason, robbing Spiker of one of his few seasoned veterans.

So it’s an almost entirely new roster that will take the floor for the Dragons this year — Kobe Magee and Yame Butler are going to have to suddenly become go-to scorers, with a group of junior college transfers, Division I transfers, and both redshirt and true freshmen who will have to fill in various roles along the way. Spiker has a lot of length and athleticism on the wings, but freshman Josh Reed (Archbishop Wood) is going to have to be ready for big minutes out of the gate to help set them up. Expect some bumps early on, but the test will be how ready they are for Coastal Athletic Association play come January.

Who leads the way for La Salle?

There are seven newcomers on the Explorers’ roster, as Fran Dunphy has largely rebuilt his rotation following an offseason of transfers and graduations. Most notably, the multi-year starting backcourt of Jhamir Brickus (Villanova) and Khalil Brantley (Oklahoma State) are wrapping up their college careers elsewhere, taking away a pair of dynamic combo guards who could both create for themselves and their teammates; Anwar Gill and Rokas Jocius also departed, leaving Dunphy with only about a starter and a half’s worth of experience returning. 

What that leaves the La Salle men most in need of coming into the year is someone to step up and be the team’s go-to offensive presence. It could be Vahlberg Fasasi, who’s got three-level scoring ability, or senior wing Daeshon Shepherd or redshirt junior Andres Marrero, the team’s two longest-tenured veterans — or transfer Corey McKeithan (Rider), or perhaps talented freshman Deuce Jones, with junior forward Demetrius Lilley (Penn State) vowing to be an offensive force as well. It’ll likely take a few games to figure out who gets the ball in late-game situations or when the shot clock is running down.