Boys’ basketball in Broward County brimming with individual, team talent
If football in South Florida is king, then Broward County boys’ basketball is at least a prince or a duke.
Broward dominated Florida’s 2020-2021 high school basketball season, winning three of the six available state titles: Fort Lauderdale Calvary Christian in Class 3A, Fort Lauderdale Pine Crest (4A) and Pembroke Pines Charter (5A).
This season, Calvary Christian is ranked the 10th-best team in the nation by MaxPreps, and Broward is overflowing with college-bound basketball players.
“We have guys who don’t make first-, second- or third-team All-Broward and yet are still good enough to get mid-major scholarships,” North Broward Prep coach Casey Wohlleb said.
Calvary coach Cilk McSweeney, whose goal this season is to win the Geico national championship, has six Division I players on his roster alone, including twin brothers Taylor Hendricks, a 6-10 senior forward, and Tyler Hendricks, a 6-6 senior guard. Both of them signed with Central Florida.
Perhaps Calvary’s top player is 6-4 point guard Marvel Allen, who is ranked the 30th-best junior in the nation and has offers from LSU, Miami and many more.
The Eagles also have Gregg Glenn, a 6-7 senior forward who has signed with the Michigan Wolverines; Carl Cherenfant, a 6-4 junior shooting guard who has offers from LSU, Memphis and more; and Brenan Lorient, a 6-8 senior forward who has signed with Florida Atlantic University.
Pines Charter, which has made it to two consecutive state finals, is led by St. John’s signee Kolby King, a 6-2 senior guard who is fierce on both sides of the ball; and Geoff Sprouse, a 6-2 senior who could end up in the Ivy League due to his 4.64 GPA. Teammate Caelum Ethridge, a 6-6 senior shooting guard, signed with Catawba, a Division II school.
At North Broward Prep, 6-9, 230-pound senior forward Justin Abson signed with Appalachian State. Teammate Guilherme Tesch, a 6-7 junior combo guard with deep shooting range, is another player to watch.
Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas boasts Andrew Akuchie, a 6-9 senior forward who has signed with Rice.
Fort Lauderdale Westminster Academy, which helped send 6-10 forward Ben Middlebrooks to Clemson and 6-5 wing James Nichols to Stetson after last season, has more talent on the way.
Jaylen Carey, a 6-9 junior center, lost 30 pounds over the summer, down to 260, and is “playing like a mad man”, according to Westminster coach Ehren Wallhoff. He is the younger brother of former Duke star Vernon Carey Jr.
Westminster also is the home of Alexander Lloyd, a 6-3 freshman combo guard who has already drawn interest from Syracuse and North Carolina. “He’s special,” said Wallhoff, who compared him to Brandon Knight, a Broward native who was an NBA first-round pick in 2011. “He’s electric attacking the basket, and he’s an excellent three-point shooter. He’s almost impossible to guard 1-on-1.”
Hollywood McArthur’s top player is Johaun Miles, a 6-4 senior point guard with a scholarship offer from Albany State.
Coral Springs boasts Gregory Spate, a 6-6 junior combo guard who has Division I offers from Samford and Chicago State.
Fort Lauderdale Stranahan’s Houston Culpepper, a 6-4 senior wing who averaged 12.2 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.2 blocks last season, has a chance. He is the son of ex-NFL quarterback Daunte Culpepper.
Pine Crest is rebuilding this season, but that’s because the twins, Amen and Ausar Thompson, bypassed their final year of high school as well as any college basketball career so that they could sign a professional contract with Overtime Elite.
It is the second time in two years that Overtime Elite — an Atlanta-based sports league that promises its athletes a better pathway to the NBA — has signed Broward-connected high school basketball players.
Previously, the Bewley twins – Ryan and Matt – signed with OTE. The Bewley twins started their prep career at Oakland Park Northeast.
In addition, Wesley Cardet, who played for Northeast before transferring to Orlando-area West Oaks, recently signed with Samford.
Add it all up, and it’s an impressive group from just one county.
“It shows the level of talent in Broward,” Calvary’s McSweeney said, “and it goes beyond high schools. We have a lot of strong travel-ball teams, too.”