Boys Basketball Notebook: Checking in on the first two weeks of an unusual season

The basketball season is, in most corners of Delaware County, under way. It’s usually a helter-skelter run through the winter months, between Christmas tournaments, snow days (ahem) and then the regimented order of weekly league schedules.

The COVID-19 pandemic simplifies that scheme. Lost was the hectic holiday calendar. Gone are, for the most part, nonleague games. Instead, with games mostly confined to the league, the equation is relatively simple.

The Central League and some of the Del Val schools have been playing for the last two weeks. The Catholic League’s start was just last week, while the Inter-Acs begin this week, weather permitting. The oddity of the high school season, its length and the demand of three-game weeks, always leads to some perplexing results. From the early sample, it looks like COVID-19 schedule disruptions will only accentuate that.

A quick progress report on a few notable teams:

Strath Haven, elevated to Class 6A this year, is one of the quickest out of the gate with a 3-1 start. The only loss was to Lower Merion, which sits at 4-0 and with the hulking Demetrius Lilley patrolling the lane won’t be losing much in the regular season. The growing pains of a couple of years ago led to last year’s Class 5A states berth and 17 wins in Chris Conlan’s first year, and they continue to pay off. The duo of Matt Shuler and Luke Edwards is one of the league’s most potent 1-2 punches.

Among the scalps the Panthers have taken is Garnet Valley, which is off to a productive 4-2 start. The second setback was a rare home loss, to Conestoga. Carl Schaller has played a more deferential role in the early season, trying to get the young players around him acquainted with the system. Sophomore Max Koehler is one that has blossomed under Schaller’s wing.

“With Max, who was a freshman last year, he’s going to be a really good player,” Schaller said after the Jan. 19 win over Haverford. “He’s a really good player now. So I trust him with the ball, and whether it’s me with the ball or him with the ball, we can run any offense we want.”

That other Central League story that demands attention is Springfield. Kevin McCormick’s team is off to a 4-2 start, with wins over Penncrest and Haverford and a rout of Ridley. The losses are by two points to Marple Newtown in the opener and in overtime to Radnor (its only win in three outings).

On its own merits, that’s great for Springfield. But for a program with one win in the last two seasons combined, it’s a massive acheivement, and well deserved for players that stuck it out through tough times. The Cougars still don’t have a dominant, go-to-scorer. But a passel of perimeter options gets the job done, led by Cole Rhodes, Terrence Cobb and Michael Hoey.

The development of 6-6 Brendan McShane as an offensive facilitator in the high post has been vital in spreading the ball around.

“The offense has just grown,” Hoey said after the Radnor loss. “The last few years have been rough. But when you start losing a lot, you start getting hungry, and then everyone wants to get buckets. And our defense leads it.”

Finally, you’ve got to give Clyde Jones a ton of credit for the resurgence at Chichester. The Eagles headed into what was supposed to be a Tuesday matchup with Chester at 4-0, including a pair of wins over Penn Wood. They won those games with Josh Hankins, who led the team with 17.8 points per game as the only double-figures scorer last year, not having to shoulder the burden alone. That across-the-board growth indicates the changes may be sustainable.

It hasn’t been all roses in the Central League. Haverford (2-3) remains stuck in neutral, though the Fords had a tough schedule and did beat Conestoga last time out. But the Fords, as last year’s run to a league title showed, are better equipped than most to shrug off slow starts. Penncrest lost its first four games (three by single digits) but handled Radnor in its last outing to get on the winning side of the ledger.

A note that District 1 playoff schedules remain to be determined. The seeding meeting is tentatively scheduled for March 3.

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It’s become a lamentable fact of high school sports – basketball in particular – that every season’s start includes an appraisal of who is where. Despite the PIAA’s efforts to curb player movement between schools … yeah, it’s not happening, thanks for asking.

Some of that, of course, owes to the conditions of the moment, of a global pandemic and the resultant financial downturn. Against that backdrop, basketball isn’t the most important thing, as we’ve all found out time and again.

In any event, a quick rundown of some of the main player movements…

The constant churn at Cardinal O’Hara continues, upending a promising returning core of underclassmen. Solo Bambara, who started his high school career at St. Joseph’s Prep, is now at Neumann-Goretti. The 6-6 wing averaged 7.5 points per game last year.

Jameel Burton, a Chester native, is back at the High. Mainly a defender last year, Burton averaged 2.6 points per game for the Lions. He’s got 26 points in his first two games as a Clipper, playing alongside his cousin, Fareed Burton.

Anthony Purnell, who was third on the Lions in scoring at 12.0 points per game, is now at Kiski School.

Speaking of the Catholic League: John Camden, who had a limited impact in his year and a half at Archbishop Carroll after transferring in from Westtown, is now at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire. The Memphis commit averaged 16.0 points per game last year.

In his place, the Patriots have welcomed Tyler Seward, who spent the last three years at The Haverford School. Seward averaged 10.3 points per game last year in a diminished role for the Fords.

Even the Central League is not immune, with Garnet Valley losing second-leading scorer Neel Beniwal to Phelps School, where he reclassified to 2022.