City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Brandon Russell knows his situation is a bit different from the norm.

Even in the era of the transfer portal, most Division I recruits talk about helping their future program out for four years, intending on staying at their first choice and having a successful career. Reality is often different, but that’s another story.

Russell, however, isn’t thinking about four years. He’s starting with one, and going from there.

The Archbishop Ryan senior committed to Saint Francis (Pa.) earlier this week, joining a program that’s entering its final year of Division I hoops. Russell knows it’s a one-year deal, the transfer portal awaiting him 12 months from now, but as his only Division I offer, it was a chance he wasn’t going to pass up.

“One year to prove myself,” he said. “They said they’re going to help me get in the portal with some schools, and they said I’m a D-I player so they said I’m going to stay at that level. It’s a really good opportunity.”

It was a whiplash of a few weeks for St. Francis, which is located in Loretto, a small town about 25 minutes west of Altoona and about an hour’s drive from State College in the central part of the state. 

On March 11, the Red Flash men won the Northeast Conference championship for the first time since 1991. Two weeks later, just days after a loss in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament, the school announced it was dropping its athletics programs down to the Division III level for the 2026-27 season, making this upcoming year a swan song for the program.

“Honestly, I was scared, because that was the one school that wanted me and talked to me the most,” Russell said. “I was like, I don’t know what I’m going to do now, because it threw off everything. I was thinking, ‘Do I need a fifth year, do I play AAU, or do I look at some of the PSACs?’”

Saint Francis coach Rob Krimmel first offered the 6-foot-5, 210-pound wing guard last July after watching him in the high school and grassroots live periods. Russell took his first visit up to Loretto in October, then played out his senior year at Ryan while keeping an eye on St. Francis; he made it to two games in person and watched several others online. 

Krimmel, who had been at SFU since 2000 and its head coach since 2012, retired shortly after the Division III announcement. His former assistant, Luke McConnell, has taken over the program.

McConnell comes from one of Western Pennsylvania’s most well-known basketball families, including cousin T.J. McConnell, the former Sixers guard now in his 10th NBA season and sixth with the Pacers. Luke’s father, Tom McConnell, was Saint Francis’ head coach from 1992-99, and aunt Suzie McConnell-Seri is in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame for her time as a player at Penn State and head coach with the Minnesota Lynx.

Almost immediately after the announcement, McConnell helped settle Russell down somewhat.

“(McConnell) called me the next day, said he still wants me to come, still think I can be a big part of winning next year and have the best year possible, try to make it back and win a conference tournament again,” Russell said. “Same thing, even though different circumstances.

It took some thinking, but Russell realized that the Red Flash were still his best option. Due to the situation, Russell feels confident he’ll get his share of minutes, able to play through mistakes more than the typical freshman might. 

“He’s going to have some growing pains I’m sure as a freshman but you can’t really ask for a better situation,” Ryan coach Joe Zeglinski said. “We were in flux for a little bit and I think this is the best option for Brandon to play early, especially how college basketball is with the portal, and I think he’s going to be able to showcase his talent next year and get to a good spot.”

Russell spent the last two years at Archbishop Ryan, coming over from New Jersey to play a big role for the Raiders as a junior and senior. His junior year, he was more of a complimentary piece to Thomas Sorber (Georgetown) and Darren Williams (Florida Gulf Coast), averaging 3.5 ppg in about 15 minutes off the bench; this year, he was the team’s leading scorer at 15.0 ppg, adding 5.2 rpg, 3.7 apg and 2.2 spg as the leader for a young Raiders squad.

The team was more successful his junior year, no doubt, but learning to lead through a mediocre season (11-13 overall, 5-8 PCL) as the team’s only full-time starting senior and one of just two seniors in the rotation was no doubt important for Russell. 

“I learned how to be a leader, how to pick people up, it’s about my actions on the court,” he said. “Even though I’m missing shots, I’ve still got to pick up others to make shots. I learned as a person how to grow and how to help my team; it’s not just about me, that’s a big thing.”

“I was really proud of him,” Zeglinski said. “He was our leader and we were resilient throughout. He was patient with the college stuff, he never showed that to his teammates, to the coaches, and he was really focused on the present and doing what’s best for our team.”’

Though some members of the Red Flash have hit the transfer portal, Russell said he met with a half-dozen players still on the roster when he went on his official visit Monday and Tuesday, arriving home Wednesday morning and playing in the Donofrio Classic on Wednesday night. 

He’s confident the team will be good enough to compete in the NEC; the last team to drop from D-I to D-III, Hartford, went 5-23 in its last season of D-I hoops in 2022-23 and hasn’t found success yet at the D-III level. 

Most importantly, Russell wants to prove himself as a Division I talent, and hopes that this time next year, he’ll have more options at the highest level of college hoops.

“I want to show them all the things I can do,” he said. “Some of the coaches said I can’t shoot it well enough, I want to go out there and shoot it well enough, do the other things they said I couldn’t do. I want to prove myself.”