Coach Chambers already has four future Penn State basketball players committed to the program. I've admittedly done a poor job keeping tabs on their individual seasons, but with district and state playoffs just around the corner, now is as good a time as any to see how our future Lions are doing this year.
Akosa Maduegbunam - Winchendon School - Winchendon, MA
The former Charlestown High star and Boston native has spent his senior year at the Winchendon School, which plays in the NEPSAC (New England Prep School Athletic Council). If you are unfamiliar with the NEPSAC, the league easily produces the most D-1 basketball talent year-in and year-out. Unfortunately, this year's Winchendon roster couldn't match up with some of the other powerhouses on their schedule like Brewster Academy and Northfield Mount Hermon. Their season is wrapping up as they're currently just 8-21 on the year. You can find a select few game statistics on Winchedon's website, but nothing's complete so I have no numbers to offer on Akosa's season.
Lions247 caught up with him last month. There's also some film out there on him, thanks to The Basketball Diary. TBD filmed both of Winchendon's games in the National Prep Showcase back in November. Check out the full games on youtube against Wilbraham & Monson and New Hope Academy.
Brandon Taylor - Trenton Catholic Academy - Trenton, NJ
Brandon plays for a stacked TCA team that features at least four other D-1 prospects in addition to himself. Fellow seniors Chazz Patterson (Mount St. Mary's) and Charles Cooke (James Madison) are already signed, and 2013 PF AJ Sumbry and 2015 G Malachi Richardson will also receive D-1 scholarships in the future. TCA is 19-4 on the season and ranked #6 in the state of New Jersey. It's been impossible finding complete stats on TCA's season, as apparently that 19-4 record is missing the results of some games. He did score 29 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in his last game.
I admit that I do not know for sure the format of NJSIAA's state basketball championships. I did find TCA listed as the 3rd seed in the Non-Public Group B tournament (even though they still have regular season games remaining). They will compete in that tournament and if they win, they will face the winner of the Group A tournament. The overall Non-Public winner will then compete with other group champions across the state in what is called the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions. If you want to read about this mess, check out this super organized manual. What I do know is that Brandon Taylor was a sophomore on the 2010 Trenton Catholic team that won the Tournament of Champions. They didn't win it last year, but I know Taylor and his teammates are hungry to be state champions again.
Once again thanks to the Basketball Diary, you can check out some of TCA's games this season in great quality, including their win against St. Patrick's (also featuring PSU target Jared Nickens), their loss against The Hotchkiss School (also featuring PSU targets Austin Colbert, Kyle Washington, and Makai Mason), and their loss to #1 St. Anthony.
Geno Thorpe - Shaler High School - Pittsburgh, PA
Geno's squad is currently ranked #3 in AAAA with a 20-2 record. They recently received the top seed in the WPIAL playoffs, which start this week. The WPIAL (district 7) gets 5 seeds in the AAAA state tournament, so they must win their first two games to qualify for states. Shaler went 11-1 in Section 3, losing to rival North Allegheny way back in December. Their only other loss was against Churchill in a holiday tournament in Maryland.
Shaler has uploaded all of their stats to MaxPreps, so we can get a stat line on Geno's junior season. He is averaging 22.0 PPG, 2.3 APG, 3.0 RPG, and 2.4 SPG. He is also shooting 61% on his 2PA and 40% of his 3PA. Shaler played State College last month, and Ben Jones cut some of Thorpe's highlights from that game.
Brandon Austin - Imhotep Charter High School - Philadelphia, PA
Imhotep Charter has dominated the AA scene the last few years. They've made the state semi-finals the last four seasons and won the state championship twice, including last season. They've also won the Philly Public League title the last 3 years. However, last week they were shocked by Communications Tech 66-61 in the round of 16 of the PPL tourney. The loss knocked Imhotep out of their #1 AA ranking and put their state playoff hopes on the line. Austin's team now must win Thursday's game against Delaware Valley Charter to clinch District 12's 4th seed in the AA state tournament.
Imhotep is 16-8 on the year, but their schedule has been very tough (including games against AAAA Chester and Roman Catholic). Austin is scoring 11 PPG, which is 2nd on the team behind unsigned senior guard Khyree Wooten. You can check out Imhotep's game against South Shore from Brooklyn (also featuring PSU target Terrence Samuel) on youtube here.
***
Considering the PA state championships are at the Bryce Jordan Center the weekend of March 24th, BSD will continue to keep an eye on how Imhotep Charter and Shaler do on their road to state championships. There are also plenty of other in-state prospects PSU is after that will also be competing for the State Championship. One team to look out for is #1 AA Beaver Falls, who features the hottest name on PSU's recruiting trail, Sheldon Jeter.
It's nice to have the basketball program so involved in the state-wide recruiting scene. Maybe now we can take advantage of the free recruiting visit all state champions have been making since the championships moved to PSU.
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0 recs | 21 comments
Nice post Eric
Although I disagree with your man love for Nick Colella, nice post. Keep up the good work.
btress - February 22, 2012
Agree to disagree.
I don’t want to rehash this, but I have to take offense to the man love comment. Let the record show that is not the case. If he’s seeing the floor next year, we’ve been decimated by injuries, no one has improved, and DJ Newbill is tragically overhyped.
Thanks for the compliment.
Eric Gibson - February 22, 2012
y overhype
comment?
ktd5048 - February 22, 2012
I don't know what you're asking.
I said if Nick Colella is starting next year, it would be because of all the hypothetical reasons I mentioned.
Eric Gibson - February 22, 2012
You did write this
Why is he tragically overhyped?
AriesGD - February 22, 2012
It's a hypothetical.
If Newbill is tragically overhyped.
dwf5095 - February 22, 2012 via mobile
Ah yeah
My reading comprehension today has been off, too much crap to do and on my mind and blah blah blah.
Just ignore that.
AriesGD - February 22, 2012
No worries.
Happens to everyone.
dwf5095 - February 22, 2012
oh
i thought maybe u watched a practice and he sucked, had me worried, because im pretty excited about this 6-4 guard from philly playing along side timmy
ktd5048 - February 22, 2012
Excellent roundup.
Yeah, we need these guys here, and fast. Already an improvement over ED’s recruiting, though.
Chris Grovich - February 22, 2012
A little clarity on the NJSIAA tournament
Having grown up following that tournament hopefully I can shed a little light on it. New Jersey has 2 divisions for private schools, and 4 divisions for public schools all based on enrollment. Come State tournament time they divide them up sectionally, North, and South for private, North, Central and South for public. (It should be noted that the sectional designations are not as clear cut as one would think, it was nothing for my high school to have to take a 3 hour bus ride to play a South sectional game) The top 16 teams in each section make up the bracket, seeded by record; teams used to have to have at least a .500 record to make it, but now that is waived if necessary to fill a bracket.
Once there are sectional champions, they play for a State title, in the public division the central and south winners play a state semi-final first. Those 6 state champions make up the Tournament of Champions field.
For those of you still awake after suffering through that, what this means for young Mr. Taylor and his TCA teammates is that they are competing for a South Jersey and State non-public B (smaller schools). Their path to win either is made significantly harder by the NJSIAA’s decision to relign the divisions and move a few perrenial North Jersey Non-Public B powerhouses, namely Gill St. Bernard’s and St. Patrick’s, into South Jersey Non-Public B. If they were to win the South Jersey title, they would then presumably have to beat St. Anthony’s (of Bob Hurley fame) who is currently the #3 team in the nation and on a 56 game winning streak. Tall task, but good luck to them.
LegalLion - February 22, 2012
Thanks!
I certainly was confused trying to figure it out on my own. I was hoping someone could explain it.
Eric Gibson - February 22, 2012
No problem
It’s actually pretty simple, aside for the false geography. I find it much easier to follow than the PIAA tournament, which I still don’t totally understand.
LegalLion - February 22, 2012
I grew up in NJ and played sports in HS,
and I STILL don’t understand how everything was grouped. I grew up in Central NJ, I’m pretty sure I was Central NJ, Group III, Public Division B, Colonial Conference. Or some shit like that.
All I know is that my freshman year, for some reason, we were traveling 3 hours (much like you said) to go play Southern Regional HS for whatever reason. That school was easily twice the size of ours.
psuwxman - February 22, 2012
What are the chances of Sheldon Jeter committing?
mtibus - February 22, 2012
As good as anyone right now.
But he and his family are going to be patient through the whole process, meaning other schools are going to jump in (Seton Hall and Kansas Sate are this week) and it gives more time for Pitt to offer.
He just took an official to South Carolina, but I’d be shocked if that’s where he went. He’s still planning to visit PSU and Wisconsin.
Eric Gibson - February 22, 2012
I get the impression a Pitt offer would be a game changer
Is that pretty much the consensus or am I putting the cart ahead of the horse?
LegalLion - February 22, 2012
It won't lead to an automatic commitment right away.
Or so he says. But it’ll definitely change the game.
Eric Gibson - February 22, 2012
Brandon Taylor
My bro was at his last game where he dropped 29 pts, and reported that it looks like Taylor seems to have an “attitude of laziness.” Hopefully Chambers will correct that.
CyphaPSU - February 22, 2012
I agree.
I’ve seen the some of the tape in the YT games I linked. He does a very noticeable amount of walking on the court and looks ‘lazy’. Some like to make the case that elite athletes in high school don’t have to try because they dominate, but I don’t think that flies with Taylor. They play the best of the best, and the lack of effort is still there.
I know it’ll never fly under Chambers, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about it.
Eric Gibson - February 22, 2012
does he look
like t-mac who always looked sleepy, or was his overall playing ability looking fatigued, the dude still dropped 29 points and 15 boards
ktd5048 - February 22, 2012
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