City of Basketball Love

By Corky Blake
+ Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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The Mid-Atlantic Independent School Team Camp was held Friday through Sunday with top local prep programs — including from the Inter-Ac, Friends’ Schools League, plus Perkiomen School, Hill School, Cristo Rey — and beyond heading to play in front of college coaches at Executive Education Charter in Allentown during the June live period.

CoBL had writers jumping around to the four courts of play throughout the weekend, getting eyes on as many games as we could. Here’s the fourth notebook from the event focused on individual players and their recruitments:

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2025 MAISTC Week 1 Coverage
Standouts: June 22 (Sun.)
Notebooks: Recruiting Pt. 1 | Recruiting Pt. 2 | Recruiting (Pt. 3) | Recruiting (Pt. 4)

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Kasey Fleming (2026 | Penn Charter)

This wasn’t the offseason Fleming expected to have, but he’s rolling well with the changes. 

Fleming started his high school years at La Salle, transferring to the George School and repeating his sophomore year two years back. He was all set to finish out there, until head coach Ben Luber took an assistant coaching job at Penn, and many of the Cougars’ top players all graduated or transferred out. 

So it’s Penn Charter that will benefit from Fleming’s on-court presence for the 2025-26 season, the 6-3 guard getting into the school a few weeks back and making his debut under head coach Brandon Williams this weekend.

“It was definitely really hard,” he said, “but Ben was walking me through every step, so he didn’t just leave and go quietly. It was definitely a struggle not knowing where I was going to end up.

“Coach Brandon made the process really easy for me, he was super-helpful, so I mean, just with the help of coaches and my family, that helped me relax a lot more and get to where I am.”

It doesn’t seem like it’s taken Fleming long to get comfortable on a young-but-talented Penn Charter squad. Luber was watching on Sunday along with a number of other Division I coaches as Fleming put on a show, scoring 27 points for the Quakers in an 80-68 win over Lawrenceville Prep (N.J.. He hit four 3-pointers, got to the rim, and made tough plays all game long as well as adding four rebounds, two assists and two steals. 

Fleming’s been a productive wing for a while, averaging 17.0 ppg and 4.6 rpg while making 41.3% of his 3-pointers as a junior at George. He joins a Penn Charter squad in desperate need of a veteran presence after the quartet of Kai Shinholster (Minnesota), Jake West (Northwestern), Matt Gilhool (LSU) and TJ Bryson (Widener) formed the bulk of the program’s production the last two years. 

The only starter back from last year is highly-touted 2028 guard Carter Smith, who scored 19 points with eight rebounds, four assists and two steals against Lawrenceville Prep (N.J.). Two more 2028s, forward Daniel Gilhool and point guard Luke West — yes, both younger siblings — will see a lot of minutes, along with versatile 2027 wing Graham Hamilton, while senior role player Dominic Comitale also started on Sunday. 

Fleming’s by far the most experienced varsity player, and though he’s new to the school and program, is going to have to be a tone-setter from the get-go. Based on this weekend, that won’t be an issue. 

“The good thing about this group is I just have to be vocal, these kids are super-skilled,” he said. “Tust being a vocal leader and being able to have them trust me and me trust them, it’s pretty cool to come in and I feel like we were just flowing right away.”

Fleming’s hoping his play this weekend lands him his first Division I scholarship. Luber and Penn head coach Fran McCaffery have been in touch, as have Robert Morris, Cornell, Lafayette, Navy, North Carolina A&T and more. 

“I just want to get to the next level,” he said. “I feel like I work super-hard and I sacrifice a lot. My goal is to play D-I, that’s what I want to do. Trying to get an opportunity to play at the next level.” — Josh Verlin

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Manny Butts (2026 | Haverford School)

Manny Butts missed the summer of 2024, working through the arduous process of recovering from ACL surgery.

Saturday in the Mid-Atlantic Independent School Team Camp, the 6-7, Class of 2026 Haverford School forward was busy showing that he is not just back on the court, but as a better player.

Butts exploded for three powerful second-half dunks as part of a 25-point effort during Haverford’s 81-65 victory over West Nottingham (Md.).

“It feels great being back out here with my guys, being back with Silas (Graham), I’ve been playing with him since eighth grade,” Butts said. “It feels good just to watch everybody develop and for my coaches and teammates to trust me getting out there and being a better player than I was prior to the injury.”

Butts went 11-for-18 from the floor. On the first possession of the second half, he made a strong backcourt cut that allowed him to arrive at the basket with momentum for an emphatic, right-handed dunk. Midway through the half, he slammed the ball two more times, out of a spin from a post move and with a quick elevation off a feed from Graham.

The variety of moves Butts displayed throughout the game were both strong and decisive, offering no hint of the process he had been through to return to the court.

“It’s not easy at all,” Butts said. “It takes a toll on you mentally a lot, but when you have a great environment around you that loves and supports you at all times, it helps you get through.”

Butts was a consistent presence in the low post, setting up on the right side in the first half and the left side in the second half. Once he received the ball, he effectively used his upper body to clear space and take the ball strong to the basket.

“I always try to keep it simple,” said Butts, who had 13 points when Haverford beat Virginia Episcopal School 63-55 earlier in the day. “My coaches always preach to me about getting to the middle, exploding and trusting my first move. Working with them in my workouts over the summer and in my whole time at Haverford has helped me keep my post game very fundamental and keep it simple.”

Butts headed into the live period with Division II schools Holy Family and East Stroudsburg leading the way in his recruiting process. He has interest in the Patriot League and heard briefly from the University of Delaware recently.

As the summer continues, Butts said he is trying to add to his offensive game away from the basket.

“My perimeter game, getting drives to the basket and working on my mid-range jumper,” he said of the points of emphasis. — Tom Robinson

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Caleb Jameson (2026 | Hill School)

Jameson’s hit a lot of 3-pointers in his life. 

The 6-foot-5 wing has been a quality outside shooter going back to when he was at Delaware County Christian, transferring to the Hill and reclassifying last summer to give his body further chance to develop before college. What he did on Sunday, however, even opened his own eyes. 

In a win over Malvern Prep, Jameson let fly on 14 3-pointers and connected on 10 of them, dropping 30 points to lead all scorers, doing so with a good amount of college coaches right on the baseline. 

“I don’t know if I’ve ever had 10 [in a game],” he said afterwards. “That was unreal.”

The Hill bench went bananas as he connected on four straight in the second half, including two deep ones in transition for his seventh and eighth made triples of the day. By the time he connected on nine and 10, they were more just in disbelief. 

“Once I hit the two deep ones in transition, that was when I was kind of, ‘oh my goodness,’ this is getting out of hand,’” Jameson recalled. “It’s awesome. I feel like I’ve been working hard, all through these past couple years and to kind of finally have a game like that and show that hard work, it feels really rewarding.”

Coming into the weekend, Jameson said his recruitment had been at the high-academic Division III level: “Tufts, Carnegie Mellon, RPI, UChicago, Swarthmore, schools like that.” Penn called him Monday, as did Johns Hopkins. 

A year ago, Jameson was making a big step up in competition from the Bicentennial Athletic League into the Mid-Atlantic Prep League. This offseason, notably more muscular and confident, he’s helping acclimate the Hill’s current group of newcomers and post-graduates to head coach Seth Eilberg and the prep school level of basketball. 

“I think kind of as we got into the playoffs, I started to gain more confidence in myself and how I feit in with the team and that could be seen through my play,” he said. “It was continued growth throughout the season.”

Now that he’s proven himself as a knockdown shooter, Jameson said the work is in to expand his game. 

“I’m just trying to continue ball pressure on defense, just my activity on defense, taking some more risks instead of trying to be always fundamental,” he said. “And then also my mid-range game, playing off two feet whether that’s getting all the way to the rack, making the right play, just being more aggressive overall.” — Josh Verlin

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Marvin Reed (2027 | Malvern Prep)

Like every other rising junior with Division I aspirations, Marvin Reed awoke on June 15 hoping to hear from several coaches at the next level. Then he had to wait through the morning, and into the afternoon. 

Eventually, his wait was rewarded, Drexel calling late in the afternoon with his first scholarship offer. 

“I was really hoping,” the Friars’ rising junior said. “I kept checking my phone, kept checking, and Cornell texted me, that gave me some hope, and a couple hours later coach [Will] Chavis called me with [head] coach [Zach] Spiker and they offered me. It was around 5 o’clock, I had to wait the whole day. I was a little worried, but everything went well after that.”

The timing was good for Reed, heading into the June live periods unsure of who he’d hear from, though he’s ultra-confident in his talent. 

A 5-10 guard, with a quick first step and quality mid-range jumper, Reed is suddenly one of the leaders for a young Malvern Prep team, which graduated a number of seniors from last year’s 16-win team. He and fellow 2027 Nick Harken were the team’s most talented pair a year ago, with burgeoning young forward Logan Chwastyk not far behind. Now he and Harken are going to be upperclassmen and third-year contributors with heavier burdens on their shoulders on a team that doesn’t start any 2026s.

“Definitely [have] a bigger role this year, having the ball in my hands, taking care of the ball, taking more shots,” he said. “I’m stepping up for that challenge this year, for sure.”

Reed played well in a couple watches on Sunday, scoring 19 points with three assists and three steals in a loss to College Achieve (N.J.) and contributing 14 points, five assists and three rebounds in a loss to Hill School. 

He gave credit to expanding his game to the presence of Chwastyk, as not every high school point guard gets to play with a high-level 6-10 post player, which gives the Friars the ability to do some things others in the area can’t. That’s a valuable asset for a young point guard, with most Division I programs having a post of Chwastyk’s size.

“Helpesme a lot,” Reed said. “Throwing to him, cutting through, that gets me open. When he scores it, they’re doubling on him so that gets me open for a shot, so staying shot-reading and finding Logan is a big part of my game and he’s definitely helping me get more shots.” — Josh Verlin

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Isaiah Carroll (2026 | Blair Academy, N.J.)

Players from all over the country come to the Northeast for a postgraduate year. 

Such is the case for Carroll, who comes to Blairstown (N.J.) by way of Southern California, where he attended the prestigious Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles. He arrived in the area on Wednesday, getting his first taste of East Coast hoops this weekend in Allentown. 

“It’s kind of what I expected, people always talk about the physicality of the East versus the finesse of the West and to a certain degree I found that to be true,” he said. “The majority of the teams [...] it was like ‘we’re going to go at you and out-aggressive you,’ which is the style that’s known to be out here.

He’s not shying away from that challenge — in fact, it’s exactly what he wanted. A 6-foot-7, 185-pound wing, Carroll certainly has the frame of a Division I athlete, but he wanted to give his body another year to mature before getting to a college campus. 

“The reason kids like me and I’m sure hundreds of others around the country are taking this prep route is because the college game is older and more physical,” he said, “so I think coming out here can hopefully prepare me more for what’s to come.”

Carroll had Division I offers during his high school years, but opportunities that came were snatched up by other players before he had a chance to commit, while others that presented themselves late didn’t seem like the right fit. Carroll got connected with Blair coach Joe Mantegna, was quickly impressed by the coach’s history and program’s long list of high-level collegiate and NBA alumni, including one of his favorite current college players in Kentucky’s Otega Oweh. 

He’s got a picture-perfect body for a 3-and-D wing, with long arms and a lithe, muscular frame, but Carroll wasn’t always a basketball-first athlete. Though his father, Jon Carroll — a Philadelphia native who previously worked at Germantown Academy — was the school’s swim coach, Isaiah Carroll was at first focused on being a professional baseball player, until a proposed positional switch in seventh grade caused him to turn his attention more towards basketball, just in time for the COVID pandemic. That gave him only four years in high school to get caught up to kids who’d been playing daily their whole lives.

“Part of the reason I think a prep year is good for me is I’m a little behind on a lot of these other guys that were in my class in terms of skill,” he said. “Where I think I have a really good IQ, I feel like I can fit into any system…in terms of the individual skill work, these guys who have been doing all this stuff all this year, that’s the part I’m still catching up on.”

Carroll scored 10 points on Sunday in a win over Friends’ Select, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers in the contest. Though he hadn’t yet directly heard from coaches afterwards, he said that his coach had relayed positive impressions from several Ivy League and Patriot League type, with others saying they were coming to watch him in one of the June weekends.  — Josh Verlin