City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) &
Daniel Hughes (@hooplove215)
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Here’s a notebook from West Chester’s team camp featuring several teams that played on Saturday:

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Blumenthal makes Avon Grove debut in familiar territory

For Roy Blumenthal, being on the sidelines of a basketball court at West Chester University is not unfamiliar territory.

The 61-year-old, a 1983 WCU graduate, spent two-and-a-half decades as a Rams assistant men’s basketball coach -- first under Dick DeLaney (1990-2008) and then for Damien Blair (2008-2015), retiring after more than 30 seasons as a high school and college basketball coach after the 2014-15 season.

But he agreed to coach Bishop Shanahan’s freshman team last year, and that caused a realization.

“What it did was, I found out I still had a lot of music left, I still had yearning to get on the sideline and coach,” Blumenthal said.

And so Blumenthal made his return to WCU as the new head coach at Avon Grove High School, guiding a group of high-school who he agreed to officially lead only a week ago.

He inherits a Red Devils program that has largely been an afterthought on the DIstrict 1 scene over the last 15 years, with only one winning season during that team. Last season, Avon Grove went 7-20, which represented a step up from a two-win season the year before.

But during the interview process, Blumenthal learned that the most necessary ingredient for success already existed at the school.

“The kids asked me questions like: are we going to lift? Are we going to shoot? They have a shooting machine and never used it. Are we going to have workouts? So it let me know that they wanted it, but for one reason or another it hasn’t happened,” he said. “So I said it’s time for me to get back.”

Blumenthal called Saturday’s team camp action the “first brick” in a house that his team will need to slowly construct. And like all nice houses, it might take a while.

“We’re not looking to win the Ches-Mont right now, we’re looking to win the first quarter,” he said. “When that first game and the first part of the season comes, I want to win the first quarter. And then I want to win the second quarter, and we’ll keep building from there.”

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String Theory Charter makes varsity camp debut

When the West Chester team camp schedule camp out last week, there was one name on there that was unfamiliar to all on the local hoops scene.

String Theory Charter -- officially known as the Philadelphia Performing Arts: A String Theory Charter School -- is one of the largest charter schools in the city, its building at 16th and Arch hosting more than 1,200 students in grades 5-11 this past year. Next year will be the school’s first with a senior class since its founding in 2013.

Two years ago, the school decided to launch a boys’ basketball team, which requires play for two years at the junior varsity level before it could officially join the Public League.

This fall, the Knights will join the varsity ranks of the Public League’s “D” Division and the PIAA’s AAAA classification. And they’re gearing up with a busy offseason, including their first-ever team camp at West Chester.

Things certainly could have gone much worse, as String Theory went 2-1 on the day.

“It’s been fun to put ourselves in tournaments like this to make a name for ourselves and try to get our school out there,” head coach Eric Funaro said. “I tried to challenge the players last year before the season, if you want to start a program, then we’re going to have to make a name for ourselves by the way they play on the floor. We’re really being competitive with it the last couple of months.”

Funaro, who played basketball and baseball at GAMP until his graduation in ‘07 and later became an assistant coach at his alma mater, was brought on board for his first head coaching job in 2014.

The String Theory roster is heavily reliant on its rising junior class, who were all freshmen when Funaro started the program two years ago. The team is likely to rely heavily on Anthony Brown, who Funaro singled out not just for his ability on the court but as a key leader in setting the tone for the program’s early years.

“When I was in high school, I didn’t have the skill level but I was a leader on the floor,” Funaro said. “So I’m trying to get him to be a little more vocal and to not only lead by example and lead by voice, to make sure in practices we’re taking it seriously and in games we’re focused and before games we’re focused and he’s really been doing a better job of that. I can see the development in him just as I can see it in the team.”

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Kulackovskis looks to get bigger, faster, stronger

Moving to a different country usually means having to adapt to a new culture.

For Matiss Kulackovskis, that new culture was on the court at Archbishop Ryan.

“When I first came here it was different, like really different,” Kulackovskis said.

The 6-foot-7 combo forward from Latvia came to the United States last year. Like many who are new to the Catholic League, he found the physical style of play to be daunting at first.

“[The physicality] is the biggest change.” Kulackovskis said. “A lot of players here [are] really big, really strong, really fast.”

Many of Kulackovskis’ skills, such as his  3-point shot, his length, and his ability to get up and down the court were on display in the West Chester Team Camp Tournament this weekend.

But the rising senior is determined to expand his game even further to being more of a presence on the court next year for the Raiders.

“I’m trying to get some weight on, some muscle on,” Kulackovskis said, “and of course trying to get faster, quicker off the dribble, all that stuff.”

Latvia, where Kulackovskis grew up, is a Baltic nation in Eastern Europe which has produced high-level basketball players in the past. The most recent example is New York Knicks center Kristaps Porzingis, who surpassed expectations in his first NBA season last year.

Archbishop Ryan surpassed expectations of their own in the Catholic League. Under first year head coach Joe Zeglinski, the Raiders went 16-9 and made it to the Catholic League Playoff semifinals, where they lost to Neuman-Goretti.

Kulackovskis contributed to the Raiders’ success as well, averaging 9.8 points per game and making a big play late in Ryan’s regular-season comeback win over Archbishop Wood when he blocked a 3-point shot from Wood’s Tyree Pickron.

Most of all, Kulackovskis showed promise, and his head coach noticed.

“You can see he has the potential,” Zeglinski said.

The difference between basketball in Latvia and the United States is big, but Kulackovskis is working hard to meet the gap.

“Of course the skill level is a lot bigger than Latvia, so I practice everyday,” he said.

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Conestoga toughs out some wins

With a few key upperclassmen missing for various reasons -- the ACTs were Saturday morning, as were several other spring club sports -- Conestoga was already slightly shorthanded. Then, two minutes into the first game, rising senior Charlie Martin suffered a dislocated finger while going for a rebound and was out for the rest of the afternoon.

So though the first win of a 2-1 day wasn’t pretty, 29-25 over St. Paul’s (Md.), head coach Mike Troy was nothing but encouraging to his team afterwards.

“Our goals for this camp are one, talk defensively; two, we’ve got to be tough, stop penetration and on the boards; and three, we’ve got to be unselfish on offense. For kids coming into these games that haven’t really played that intensity, to be that composed on offense, I thought was terrific, and we just found the open guy.”

With another rising senior, Scott Shapiro, leading the way as one of the few varsity returners that Troy had available on Saturday, the Pioneers relied heavily on two younger guards who were JV players last year. Rising junior Colin McFillin and sophomore Shane Scott both ran the offense at times for Troy, and both made things happen when they were on the the ball.

The play of Shapiro, McFillin and Scott will be crucial this year if Conestoga is to yet again compete for a spot at the top of the Central League and shot at the league title.

“We knew we graduated a lot, and for the younger guys, we needed them to play tough, competitive basketball and that’s exactly what they did,” Troy said. “We’ve got young kids here and this is a measuring stick for them.”

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Quick Notes

-- The team camp was actually in a tournament format, with eight teams returning from Saturday’s action to play in a bracket on Sunday. Cheltenham High School made its way to the championship thanks to wins over Archbishop Wood in the semifinals and Archbishop Ryan in the title game. The Panthers, who graduated a large group of seniors that made up the majority of last year’s rotation, were led by rising senior Trevonn Pitts, a surprise breakout player for Cheltenham last year after not playing basketball his first two years of high school.

-- Coaches were buzzing about Strath Haven’s 2017 big man John Harrar, and it’s easy to see why. The 6-foot-9 post was perhaps the most physical presence at the entire event, fighting off opposing player after opposing player for rebounds on both ends of the court. His play on the UAA circuit with Philly Pride has Division I schools Rider, Bucknell, Lehigh and Colgate checking in, while Harrar said that host WCU was also recruiting him as well. This summer, Harrar said he’s working on his “vertical, jump-shot and quickness” as he continues in search of his first scholarship offer.

-- Academy Park made it to second day of competition on the back of rising sophomore Khyree Temple, who looks primed to become of the more dangerous all-around threats in Division I. The 6-6 wing forward is a terrific athlete who’s a terror in the open court, with an improving handle and ability to create off the bounce. Still learning how to be effective in the half-court offense, Temple makes his presence felt on the offensive glass, where few could stop him from getting second and third-chance buckets.