City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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(Ed. Note: This story is part of CoBL’s “Prepping for Preps” series, which will take a look at many of the top high school programs in the region as part of our 2025-26 season preview coverage. The complete list of schools previewed thus far can be found here.)

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On the heels of the best season in Upper Dublin boys’ basketball history, the plan is simple: top it. 

“Last year, [our] expectation was to win the District championship, get to states, go far,” senior Noah Cohen said at a September offseason event at West Chester University. “This year is, ‘we’re winning our district championship and we’re going to win the state championship.’ So that’s our bar.”

The Cardinals came into 2024-25 with high expectations inside and out, and lived up to all of them. The favorites in District 1 5A lost their opening game at Lower Merion and then ripped off 28 straight wins, a run that didn’t end until a loss to Bonner-Prendergast in the second round of the PIAA Class 5A tournament. Along the way, Derek Brooks’ squad won its first District 1 crown since 1985, the year of the program’s only other two state tournament wins, though last year bettered their predecessor’s overall win total by two.

Gone are 6-foot-4 guard Ryan Mulroy (Cal. U PA) and 6-5 forward Idris Rines (Salem County CC), two all-Suburban One League selections, along with 6-5 forward James Castrunovo and 6-0 guard Reilly McLaughlin. Mulroy, one of the best players in all of District 1 last year, averaged 15.8 ppg and 5.0 rpg, winning SOL Liberty MVP honors; Rines transformed his body going into his senior year and became a versatile two-way threat who could bang inside and knock down 3’s equally well. 

Overall, it was a group that set the tone in practice and had the Cardinals believing they were the favorites in every game they stepped into, whether that was Coatesville, Downingtown West, Plymouth Whitemarsh, and all the others that went down to UD along the way. 

“I hope all the intangibles from it [carry over],” Brooks said. “The five returners that we have on the varsity level, I hope they set the tone every day of, ‘hey, we should come into this game prepared and expecting to win,’ and hopefully the other guys pick up on that and we can have another good season.”

Cohen, a 6-0 sharpshooter who missed most of last season with a broken arm, is one of three senior guards returning to the backcourt along with Kobe Bazemore, a flashy 5-10 point guard and multi-year starter, and Brandon Altman, a 5-9 point guard and defensive specialist. Another senior, 6-3 forward Bryce Kukla  — whose brother Seaton was a big piece for the Cardinals three years back — brings some toughness and physicality to the UD frontcourt. 

They’re all motivated by the way last season ended, the whole team going cold in a loss to Bonner-Prendergast in the second round of states.

“This year’s special sauce is going to be just heart,” Bazemore said. “We’ve got to want it more. We’re probably not the most talented team, not the most physical team, but we’re just going to want it. We want every 50/50 ball, we’re going to knock people out.”

If there’s one candidate to replace Mulroy as the team’s featured piece offensively, it’s junior wing Justin Ragsdale. The versatile left-handed wing/forward burst onto the scene last year, averaging 9.2 ppg and 4.3 rpg while hitting 42.3% of his 3-pointers, scoring 20 points in the District 1 5A championship game win over Holy Ghost Prep. 

Now 6-6 and a muscular 200 pounds, with continually-improving ball skills and basketball IQ, Ragsdale is primed for a big junior season, though he won’t by any means have to handle the offensive load by himself. 

“I wouldn’t want to put all that weight and pressure on him, because I do think we have a lot of talent, and we can play a very balanced style,” Brooks said. “Now, do I think he should have those goals for himself? Absolutely, and I think he can be that good. He believes in himself, he puts in a lot of work [...] I think he’s going to have a great year.”

“(My sophomore year) was a great season, never had a season like that before, especially my first year playing varsity,” Ragsdale said at a recruiting event this summer. “I thank all the seniors for pushing me and showing me and leading me. I just have to step up and take that leading role for the upcoming freshmen and the people who (haven’t) played varsity.”

Ragsdale’s classmate, junior wing Horace Jackson IV, is an athletic 6-4 combo guard with length who will move from the back end of the rotation into a much more featured role. Another junior, Jake Scherzer, is new to the school, coming in from SCH Academy, and he adds another talented piece to the backcourt who can handle the ball and get a bucket. 

After that top six, Brooks has a few multi-sport athletes who could help out in the rotation. Benji Ravitz, the school’s standout tight end, played on a Team Philadelphia squad with Cohen and Altman that won the domestic Maccabi Games in Pittsburgh this summer. Sophomore Luke Caron, a 6-3 forward, has been impressing his coach in offseason competition as well.

All-in-all, it’s an athletic, versatile group that’s still playing with a ton of confidence from last season. In off-season events, anybody Brooks has put on the court seems to be playing with a little extra tempo and physicality compared to years past, the name Upper Dublin carrying more weight locally than it has in decades.

Brooks hopes his 2025-26 edition will be a better overall shooting team than last year’s, but he knows that losing Rines and Castruonovo means this year’s group will also be lacking some height and bulk. To that end, both Bazemore and Cohen as well as their coach mentioned the importance of being in the weight room this whole offseason.

“Everybody’s in the weight room hard, practices are very physical,” Bazemore said. “We’ve just got to get it done this year.”