Boys Basketball: Delco Preseason Super 7

The preseason Super 7 is unquestionably the trickiest of the Super 7s, which is to say that it’s only slightly less correct than the others. Particularly this season, crafting a ranking of the top seven teams in Delco is especially thorny, for the best of reasons. The 2015-16 season was a banner year for Delco hoops. Five teams made the state tournament. Five of the six All-Delcos and 10 of the 12 players on the first two teams were in the class of 2016. That’s a lot of talent and a lot of accomplishments matriculating to college.

So with that massive turnover, I’m left taking stock of who remains. Which teams have a player to build around, much less two or three? If you see a common thread between the first six teams in this ranking, it’s that all have a player capable of single-handedly winning games. So let’s see where they stand to open the season.

1. Chester

The Clippers, who coincidentally won the Twitter poll on the matter, lost several major contributors, including All-Delco Khaleeq Campbell. But they’re still on top because Jamar Sudan and Jordan Camper are two of the most talented bigs in the district. Camper, at least in the high school realm, remains nothing but potential having never made much of an impact, in part due to injuries last year, but I expect that to change this year. Sudan has a vintage Chester leadership makeup, even if that’s a role usually reserved for backcourt denizens.

2. Archbishop Carroll

The Patriots have seen four Division I players leave in the last four years (not including transfers). Yet Paul Romanczuk manages to fill the gaps, from outside and within. I’m intrigued to see how former reserves like Keyon Butler, Khari Williams and Jesse McPherson evolve in the spotlight, and Division I talent Justin Anderson brings it all together. I doubt the Patriots are a Catholic League title contender as in years past, but that still leaves a pretty high level that they can attain.

3. Episcopal Academy

It’s shocking that a Churchmen squad that regularly rolled out four guards last year could just as regularly deploy four forwards this year. That’s a positive in the long-term for Nick Alikakos, the United States Naval Academy commit who projects as a 3 or 4 at the next level. Kyle Virbitsky plays larger than his 6-foot-5 frame indicates, and Matt Dade is an intriguing player, a forward with a guard’s skillset apparently. What happens when Conner Delaney isn’t on the court, though, is the limiting factor on the Churchmen’s season.

4. Penn Wood

I couldn’t quite figure out how the Patriots were as meh as they were last year with the talent assembled. There’s not a can’t-miss D1 guy among the bunch. But first-year coach Matt Lindeman inherits a stable of hard-nosed, solid basketball players that if melded into a cohesive playing style can give opponents fits. They unquestionably have the smallest drop-off from players one through seven in the rotation of anyone in the county. I look for Pernell Ghee to become a steady double-double threat and on-court leader. Kairi Jones can become an explosive scorer given the right surroundings (primarily, if he and Rashaad Anderson divvy up the backcourt duties prudently). If those two things happen, and Ahmad “Vincent” Smalls and others score as a year ago, you have a dangerous nucleus.

5. Penncrest

From the “height is no object” category, Tyler Norwood is definitely the best player returning to the nine Delco Central League teams. He’s on a team that lacks height, but that’s rarely stopped Mike Doyle teams in the past. The emergence of Justin Ross and Mike Mallon as secondary scorers could make the difference in whether the Lions make districts in 5A or make noise in districts.

6. Haverford School

The Fords’ valuation may be a bit low, but I need to see the Christian Ray-Kharon Randolph tandem in action first. On paper, the physicality of the Octorara transfer and the speed and ruthless release of Randolph should mesh well. Height is an issue with the Fords, more on the defensive end I’d suspect, but I can see the Fords establishing a dangerous offense with the set shooters they surround Ray and Randolph with.

7. Bonner & Prendergast

Oh how I labored over the seventh spot. There’s a big drop-off in the Central League this year, probably because of youth. And I’m picking a Friars team that won’t play a nonleague home game, so it may not post the most impressive record to start the season. But in Jack Concannon’s third year, I could see the Friars taking a significant step forward.

Honorable mention: Garnet Valley (starting with two proven scorers in Austin Laughlin and Brandon Starr is much more than many teams have); Ridley (Dhamir Fleming finished the season strong last year, and you can’t doubt the coaching ability of Mike Snyder); Springfield (last year was so difficult because of injuries across the board. Three seniors guards plus Kyle Long is a decent starting point for success); Cardinal O’Hara (I’m intrigued by the coaching ability of Jason Harrigan, and he’s got a stud scorer in Jaye’lyn Peebles to base the year-one rebuild on); Strath Haven (hard to miss John Harrar, but what else do the Panthers have?); Chichester (were Eric Montanez still in the fold, this would’ve been the seventh team at least. A junior-heavy crew might be one year away.)