City of Basketball Love

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 2016-17 season preview coverage. The complete list of schools previewed so far can be found here.)

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Though the PIAA is still a week and change away from its official start of competition, the first high school basketball in the Keystone State is getting ready to tip off.

The Inter-Academic League and Friends’ Schools League, the two major independent school leagues in the Philadelphia area, allow their teams to start competition this week, with several inter-league games taking place over the remainder of the week.

Here’s a brief look at each of the leagues, and how we expect their races to break down over the course of the season:

Inter-Academic League
Favorites

This is an incredibly close league to call -- there’s certainly not one clear favorite, and five of the six teams in the league have a realistic shot to take home the title after the 10-game round robin is complete in February. The best place to start is with four-time defending champion Germantown Academy (24-6, 9-1), who's been on quite a roll under longtime head coach Jim Fenerty. And though the Patriots return seniors Evan-Eric Longino (15.8 ppg) and Kyle McCloskey (13.5 ppg) as four-year starters, they'll have to replace speedy point guard Devon Goodman (19.8 ppg), now a freshman at Penn.

The team that's finished runner-up to GA the last two years has been Episcopal Academy, and this might be the Churchmen’s best opportunity yet to win the league title for the first time since future NBA pros Wayne Ellington and Gerald Henderson led them to an undefeated league record in 2005-06. Navy commit Nick Alikakos, a tough 6-7 combo forward, is the defending Inter-Ac MVP (22.7 ppg); point guard Conner Delaney (11.1 ppg), wing Jermaine Rhoden and wing Jack O’Connell and guard Kyle Virbitsky round out a strong senior class for Craig Conlin.

Dark Horses

Finishing in third place last year with a 5-5 league record (16-13 overall), Malvern Prep has been close to breaking through in the league for a few years now. Under fourth-year head coach John Harmatuk, the Friars have developed a run-and-gun style and will be led by the likes of 6-foot guard Tommy Wolfe and 6-foot-3 wing Ray Baran, Harmatuk’s senior captains who will carry the scoring load as they hope to replace the 19.8 ppg efforts of graduated senior Will Powers. The Friars welcome a wealth of young, new faces like Billy Corcoran and Brady Devereux that saw some playing time last year, but will look to make their names known on the varsity stage.

Penn Charter and The Haverford School both finished with 4-6 league records a year ago, which was frankly better than expectations for either heading into the year. The Quakers, now in the second year of head coach Jim Phillips’ second tenure at the school (2000-2011 was his first), had won just one league game the year before and were relying on a mostly-unknown rotation; now, junior Mason Williams (13.2 ppg), senior point guard Adam Holland and second-time freshman guard Ryan Holmes are playing with a lot more confidence in each of their second years of varsity contribution. The Fords, also in the second year of a new coaching regime in former Archbishop Ryan boss Bernie Rogers, add Octorara transfer Christian Ray -- a re-classified 6-5 sophomore and Division I recruit -- to a still-young rotation led by junior Kharon Randolph (16.1 ppg) and sophomore Gavin Burke (7.8 ppg).

Players to Watch

Germantown Academy senior wing Evan-Eric Longino is a talented, big-bodied wing who plays with a lot of confidence. The 6-5 guard/forward has a bit of a strange left-handed jumper but it’s been getting more consistent over the years. His classmate, Kyle McCloskey, is committed to Villanova to play football. ...Episcopal’s Nick Alikakos is relentless within 15 feet of the rim, fighting for second and third-chance opportunities, and is constantly working through double-teams to still be ultra-productive. ...Penn Charter junior Mason Williams is a sneaky-athletic 6-4 wing with a smooth outside shot, and he’s becoming a more aggressive slasher as well. ...Haverford School sophomore Christian Ray already has offers from Drexel and Bowling Green, and the 6-5 wing scored 700 points in his two years at Octorara.

Predicted Order of Finish
1. Germantown Academy
2. Episcopal Academy
3. Haverford School
4. Penn Charter
5. Malvern Prep
6. Springside-Chestnut Hill

Friends’ Schools League
Favorites

In the Friends’ League this year, there’s Westtown, and there’s everybody else. Seth Berger has had the most talented roster in the FSL for the last few seasons, but this year it’s not even close. The Moose boast no fewer than two potential future NBA Draft selections in senior forward Mohamed Bamba (13.7 ppg) and junior wing Cameron Reddish, both consensus 5-star prospects with their choice of schools; Bamba is considering Duke and Kentucky, two schools that are also chasing Reddish. Then add in top-40 wing Brandon Randolph (17.5 ppg), an Arizona commit; 6-9 forward Anthony Ochefu, a Stony Brook commit; Jake Forrester, a hyper-athletic 6-8 junior forward with multiple D-I offers and stud freshman Noah Collier, and you have one of the top prep teams in the country.

Dark Horses

Ultimately, barring some spate of injuries the likes of which have never been seen, there’s nobody that really will challenge Westtown for the league championship; there’s more Division I talent on the Moose than the rest of the league combined, and it’s not even close. But there’s a bunch of teams to whom second place would be a very positive achievement, and a good amount of young talent in the league that should develop nicely this year.

The Shipley School, coming off a fourth-place finish (17-11, 6-4) a year ago, looks best primed to rise up into that spot. The Gators boast a pair of scholarship-level guards in junior Sam Sessoms (20.3 ppg) and senior Kiyon Hardy, but what really could set them apart is the addition of sophomore forward Ray Somerville, a Penncrest transfer, in the middle; Somerville has terrific size at 6-9 and around 220 pounds, and has lately started to take huge strides in his development. Friends’ Central, last year’s runners-up (28-6, 9-1), will have to rebuild some following the loss of D-I recruits DeAndre Hunter (23.5 ppg), now at Virginia, and Chuck Champion (14.2 ppg), now at Loyola (Md.). But Ryan Tozer added a talented transfer in 6-6 junior wing Justin Steers, who holds a pair of D-I offers, and has a promising underclassman group led by sophomore Bryce Spriggs that will see a lot of playing time this season.

Players to Watch

If you want your best chance to see a future NBA lottery pick -- and potential No. 1 overall selection in 2018 -- in action, check out Westtown’s Mohamed Bamba. The 6-11 center with the 7-something wingspan is a two-way terror, with offensive range to the 3-point arc and is perhaps the nation’s best prep rim protector; he’s also a terrific student with interest in the medical field if he weren’t so good at basketball. Oh, and Cam Reddish, a 6-7 point guard, plus sharpshooting Brandon Randolph, can go off on any night. ...Shipley junior guard Sam Sessoms, a 5-10 point guard, is incredibly crafty with the ball, utilizing a great shoulder-fake and change-of-pace ability to get to the rim; senior Kiyon Hardy (5-9) is a terrific outside shooter with a D-II offer in his pocket and others interested. ...Friends' Central wing Justin Steers is a terrific athlete with length at 6-6; how much he develops this year will have a long say into what level he'll be recruited at next summer. ...Germantown Friends senior Michael Buckmore is a versatile guard with good size (6-3) who averaged over 18 ppg a season ago; terrific high-academic Division III prospect with a lot of potential.

Predicted Top 5
1. Westtown School
2. Shipley School
3. Friends’ Central
4. George School
5. Germantown Friends