The 2022-23 season ended on drastically different notes for Archbishop Carroll’s boys and girls basketball teams.
The girls ended their season by claiming the Pennsylvania 6A championship title with a Cinderella-like win over Twin Valley. The boys, on the other hand, fell at the hands of perennial Philadelphia Catholic League powerhouse Neumann-Goretti in the second round of the Catholic League playoffs and lost out on a state playoff bid.
Nonetheless, both teams have something in common coming into the 2023-24 season: some serious changes up and down the lineups.
For the girls, star forward and team most valuable player Taylor Wilson departed for Army West Point, leaving the reigns to her younger sister, Brooke Wilson, as the team’s top option in 2023. Other senior departures include Megan Sheridan, who went to the University of Pittsburgh to play lacrosse, and Courtland Schumacher, who went to Fairfield University to play field hockey.
On the boys’ side, the biggest losses came with the graduations of Blake Deegan (Lock Haven University), Dean Coleman-Newsome (Chipola College), and Seamus Rogers (Susquehanna). Transfers also left some holes for the Pats, with rising juniors Brendan Horan (Perkiomen School), Albert Zone (La Salle), and Jake West (Penn Charter) seeking greener pastures.
These moves have left Carroll’s clubs as two of the youngest, yet most promising, in the Catholic League. The returning 6A state champion girls’ side will be led by Brooke Wilson, a senior, along with sophomore sensation Alexis Eberz and Harriton transfer Felicity McFillin, a senior who announced her commitment to Air Force prior to the season. Juniors Oliva Nardi, Bridget Archbold, and Brooke Olender will all look to make leaps this coming season as well.
“Playing for Carroll and having Carroll on your shirt, I think most people — no matter how we did the previous season — expect us to be a powerhouse,” Wilson said to City of Basketball Love’s Andrew Robinson. “We’re very fortunate for it. I always say we have the best coaches in the area and it’s a privilege to wear Carroll on our uniform.”
Perhaps even more enticing is the boys’ team, which, after seeing four out of five starters from last season seemingly evaporate before their eyes, replenished and restocked their rotation with a troop of promising young players. The freshman duo of Darrell Davis and Munir Greig looks to be the headline of the Patriots’ offseason, however. Greig, who is ranked fourth in the Class of 2027 by multiple top player scouting platforms, holds an offer from Villanova. His menacing 6’5, 170 lbs. frame will likely see him starting at the five for Carroll this season. As for Davis, the aggressive point guard has taken huge steps in the offseason and will have the responsibility of taking charge of the offense as the club’s starting point guard.
The only returning starter is sophomore guard Ian Williams. As a freshman, Williams led the team in assists and three-point percentage, providing a spark for a pretty slow-moving Patriot offense. Sophomores Luca Foster, Nate Rusike, Drew Corrao, and Nasir Ralls also return from last season’s rotation. Foster, who boasts offers from St. Joe’s, Temple, and Penn State, will make the leap to the starting lineup to begin the year.
“With a lot of seniors graduating, there is much more teaching happening at practice,” said head coach Francis Bowe. “Every day, practice, and game, we will get better. There is a lot of excitement and talent on this team, but we need to temper expectations early and understand it’s all about the end goals in February and March.”
As the season tips off, both Patriot basketball teams have similar goals in mind — goals that are feasible for both sides. For the ladies, with an experienced captain at the helm, followed by a young corps of hungry underclassmen, the Lady Pats will be a challenge for any team looking to take their state championship crown away while they also attempt to dethrone Lansdale Catholic for the Catholic League crown.
For the boys, the Patriots are one of the favorites in the PCL this season, with a new, young, and fun bunch at the helm. The team will headline a wide-open Catholic League in 2024. As regular PCL powerhouses Roman Catholic and Neumann-Goretti took steps back in the offseason, Archbishop Wood and Archbishop Ryan sit right at the top with the Pats as Catholic League favorites heading into the year.