City of Basketball Love

Rich Flanagan (richflanagan33)
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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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Francis Bowe is no stranger to the current landscape of high school basketball.

The trickle-down effects of the NCAA transfer portal are forcing high school players to transfer to another program with more exposure to Division I coaching staffs and a greater chance of landing a scholarship at a school in a major conference.

Programs like Montverde Academy (Fla.), IMG Academy (Fla.), Link Academy (Mo.), Prolific Prep (Cal.) and many others like them are attracting players from all over the country with the allure of individual development playing alongside some of the best recruits in the nation in the pursuit of a high-level Division I scholarship. The formula has worked for most of the aforementioned programs but the loser in all of this is the program that has to pick up the pieces of a player -- or, in some cases, players -- choose to make the jump to a new program at the high school or prep level.

Bowe has regularly had Archbishop Carroll (10-14, 4-9 Philadelphia Catholic League) in the thick of the Philadelphia Catholic League competing for a postseason berth then turning that into a state tournament run, which most recently included a trip to the 2024 PIAA Class 4A Tournament Championship Game two years ago.

Fast forward two years and three starters are gone from that team that would be suiting up in a Patriots uniform this season if they hadn't departed the Radnor school. While some see it as a sign of the times, Bowe sees it as the glass being half full.

“This isn’t something new to us,” Bowe said. “We’ve had talent and it goes elsewhere and it has nothing to do with our talent development. Moses Hipps is still very close to the program as he moved to Drexel. I had three players go to these EYBL or Adidas programs. We look at it as ‘We did a heck of a job getting these guys prepared or keeping them as talented as they were.’ Luca Foster is at Link Academy. You tell me in eighth grade if that kid was Link Academy material?”

Hipps led the Patriots to the state semifinals in 2022 where they lost to Los Angeles Lakers wing Adou Thiero and Quaker Valley then transferred to McEachern (Ga.) and Compass Prep (Ariz.) the following year. Jake West, now playing at Northwestern, transferred to Penn Charter in 2023 then the following season Darrell Davis, a starter from that 2024 team, made the jump to Boys’ Latin (Md.) and finds himself at SPIRE Academy (Ohio) now.  Davis’s teammates in Foster and Munir Greig also made jumps this offseason as did a more recent addition, Christian Matos.

Foster, the 6-6 wing and Gonzaga commit who became the first Archbishop Carroll player to average 20 ppg in a season since VCU assistant coach Ryan Daly in 2015-16, is at Link Academy and Greig, the 6-6 wing and No. 37 ranked prospect in the class of 2027 who avg. 14.1 ppg a season ago, is at Coronado High School (Nev.). Matos transferred to Sunrise Christian Academy (Kan.) one year after making the jump from Methacton to Archbishop Carroll. Those three accounted for 66.6% of the Patriots’ scoring in 2024-25, a season that saw the team miss the Philadelphia Catholic League playoffs but reach the PIAA 4A Tournament.

A lot has changed since losing to Pitt sophomore Brandin Cummings, Arkansas freshman Meleek Thomas and Lincoln Park at the GIANT Center two years ago, and even with all that change, Bowe remembers that run very fondly.

“You think back and say, well we were pretty young, but that team was special,” Bowe said. “We were able to go against another kid from Lincoln Park who turned out to be pretty good in Meleek Thomas. Everyone was expecting him to come back for a splash senior season then he goes down to OTE.

"So, this is the now and it becomes where you develop some great talent or if you’re blessed with getting a really talented freshman, how long are they going to stay with you and can you make the most of it with these kids?”

Three players in the 2026 class Bowe has helped mold and develop are Ian Williams, Nasir Ralls and Drew Corrao, all three of whom were part of the rotation from that state finalist squad. Williams, the 6-foot senior, returns to the starting point guard spot after missing his entire junior season after having an injury with his kneecap that never fully healed during the year. He was a Third Team All-State selection as a sophomore after leading the Philadelphia Catholic League with 189 assists while leading an offensive attack that made 205 three-pointers.

Williams averaged 13.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 6.3 apg and 2.2 spg while shooting 50.7% from the floor that year, and while Bowe is bringing him along slowly, eventually the limitations will be gone.

“He’s back playing and practicing, and colleges have seen him,” Bowe said. “It’s about being very cautious and eventually he will be let out. You’re going to see him at 100 percent. He’s so smart and a heady basketball player.”

Amid the recent player movement, Ralls has been the linchpin that has kept the Patriots together. The 6-2 senior guard has started 45 games and made 102 three-pointers over the past two seasons. He is coming off a junior year that saw him average 11.3 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.8 apg and 1.6 spg. He has always been the dependable guard Bowe can look to when things have gone awry. Bowe refers to Ralls as the “loud general” for how he has steadied the ship in recent years with an ever-changing roster.

“He’s doing what he’s always done. He’s found himself in double digits in scoring," he said. "It’s been three years of different characters and roles for him.”

Corrao has battled injuries at various times throughout his high school career and last season may have been the worst as he broke his foot against Montverde Academy in the City of Palms Classic, forcing him to miss the remainder of the season. The 6-9 senior forward came back for the state tournament but played sparingly. He enters his senior season with offers from Marist, Manhattan, Penn, High Point and College of Charleston and was coming into his own as a sophomore with averages of 4.2 ppg, 3.9 rpg and 1.6 bpg with 15 starts. He led Archbishop Carroll with 45 blocks.

Bowe expects much of the offense to run through Corrao in the high post and at the top of the key.

“He will hit the three and play great defensively, particularly boxing out,” Bowe said. “He’s definitely over 200 lbs. He stretches the floor and is really confident with the ball in his hands. We look at him as a ‘point center.’ He works well with Ian and will make decisions at the top of the key.”

Yasir Turner burst onto the scene as a freshman and the 6-1 sophomore guard put on some weight this offseason, measuring at 170 lbs. He avg. 4.6 ppg, 3.4 apg and 1.1 spg with 15 makes from deep in 22 games in year one. “Now, he’s almost up to my height. He always had the skill and now with the body, it’s going to be exciting to see what he can do.,” according to Bowe.

Ceasar Richardson, the 6-2, 205-pound sophomore wing will provide a strong presence for the Patriots after performing well with the football program. He appeared in six games and should see more minutes this season. Bowe notes that “he’s going to provide us some toughness.”

The latest addition for the Patriots is 6-7, 220-pound junior forward Nick Lugendo, who arrives by way of Haverford High School. As Corrao roams the perimeter and high post, Lugendo will be mixing it up inside at both ends of the floor.

“He is what I would call athletic and coming into his body," Bowe said. "Nick had a crazy growth spurt and an amazing Philly Live. He transferred in and had zero varsity playing time. He has had an amazing summer and fall. He does some really nice things for us and we’re lucky to have him."

Archbishop Carroll will open the season against Nazareth (N.Y.) in the All-City Classic at Archbishop Ryan. The Patriots will also play Malvern Prep, Episcopal Academy and Parkland and also travel to the Bahamas to play in the Hoopfest in Paradise. The Philadelphia Catholic League slate opens on January 2 against Roman Catholic.

Much has happened in the two years since Archbishop Carroll reached its first state title game since 2015 when Derrick Jones Jr. (Los Angeles Clippers) starred under Paul Romanczuk. In that timespan, Bowe has continued to cultivate the next crop of Patriots players and worked tirelessly to keep the continuity going within the program. It’s a team that has a veteran presence for the first time in several years and that’s exciting for Bowe, considering the exodus of players during the offseason.

“Guys from that state title game team were babies then and now they’re seniors,” Bowe said. “They’ve stayed the course and chose to stay here, and they have lofty goals. We’ve had success. We’ve been in the state tournament and made the league playoffs in consecutive years. We’re older and this is going to be one of my more veteran groups. This is a team that’s similar to my first one after Paul left that had Luke House, Tairi Ketner and Anquan Hill. It will be nice to see what this team does with the additions that we had.”