UPDATED: New York City’s Catholic High Schools Athletic Association rolls out “Live” event with elite Class AA and A teams in action

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. – Oh, what a weekend on the hardwood.

New York City’s Catholic High Schools Athletic Association was alive last weekend (June 28-20) at Iona Prep. Teams from the Class AA and A divisions were in action with college coaches in attendance to see the best of the best in the Big Apple compete with their high school teams.

With the July summer circuit on the cusp of commencement, or the final month and most critical portion of the recruiting season, coaches witnessed the players interact with high school teammates of all skill sets. It’s normally a good measuring stick and a chance for underserved players to stand out.

Blue Star Media’s CHSAA birddog was present all three days in Westchester County adjacent to New York City flushing out the talent and provided notes and tidbits as of Saturday June 29 with Blue Media Elite 25 regulars and CHSAA AA reigning champions Archbishop Stepinac (White Plains) showing more dominance with a new, young lineup.

The Crusaders will be back in 2024-25! Coach Patrick Massaroni has built a monster program in less than a decade within one of the nation’s top leagues. Also received a post-event text from Massaroni who said, “life after Boogie [Fland] has commenced.”

Yes, it has and Fland, the McDonald’s All-American, is at Arkansas with recently hired coach John Calipari. Fland could be a typical Coach Cal “one-and-done” guards with the Razorbacks only if he’s ready. The SEC will prep him for the NBA and maybe the 2025 Draft.

Cal’s first-round backcourt selections:

John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, Brandon Knight, Marquis Teague, Archie Goodwin, Devin Booker,  Jamal Murray, De’Aaron Fox, Malik Monk, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Tyler Herro, Tyrese Maxey, Immanuel Quickley, TyTy Washington, Cason Wallace, Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham.

Who’s next? Boogie?

Danny Carbuccia, Stepinac’s top-rated senior (Class of 2025), did not play last weekend. Carbuccia was with the Dominican Republic World Team. Great opportunity!

Quick shout out to our birddog/insider. Thank you for your efforts. Top-shelf reporting and analysis from a real pro in the industry.

Okay, that’s about it. One more thing.

Looking Ahead

After three days, our insider offered his preseason prognostication for the league.

Stepinac is absolutely loaded (likely to start in the Blue Star Media Elite 25 preseason rankings) with Iona Prep and St. Raymond (Bronx) right behind in Archdiocese of New York AA. In Brooklyn-Queens AA, it’s St. Francis Prep and Nazareth Regional. Never count out coach Joe Arbitello’s Christ the King Royals (Middle Village). – Christopher Lawlor

Editor’s Note: The final edits to the story were added on Monday July 1.

Day 3

 Archbishop Stepinac big over Cardinal Hayes, 74-54

• Once again, Jermel Thomas did not play for Hayes
• 6-10 rising junior Adonis Ratliff for Stepinac continues to impress; 22 points, including two three-pointers. Had a stretch during which he seemingly made 6-7 shots in a row: a combination of threes, on the wing and at the free throw line (was 5-6 from the line for the game).  He did everything:  brought the ball up, blocked shots and defended underneath without fouling, hit nothing but net on a bunch of shots.  Seemed to get more comfortable as the weekend went on. Ratliff can do it all, his dad Theo played in the NBA, his feathery touch was evident from 10 feet. Ratliff’s twin brother, Darius, did not play. Adonis might be the most talented big in the CHSAA since Lamar Odom in the late 1990s at Christ the King.
• Jasiah Jervis had 17 for Stepinac.
• Five different players hit threes for Stepinac. Bombs away!
• Malik Fields had another nice game for Hayes, with 13 points, including three three-pointers
• Kaelin Destin had 12 for Hayes.
• Hayes just didn’t have the height or depth to hang with Stepinac. Few teams in the league will this season.

Nazareth Regional big over Archbishop Molloy

• Once again, Josh Powell was most of the Molloy offense, with at least 11 points from what was witnessed.
• Balanced scoring from Naz, with Kaiden Francis, Joseph Jennings and Joel Barnbay each with 9; Jennings had all of his points in the second half.
• Naz had the height advantage and controlled the tempo throughout. Will be a tough team to beat this season once league play begins in December.

 Day 2

Archbishop Stepinac over Archbishop Molloy, 74-34

• Molloy outclassed from the git go; they only have one reliable player, rising junior Josh Powell, a muscular small forward who has started since his frosh year.  Muscled his way to 15 points on the game. They play 22-minute running-clock halves.  In the second half of this game, only two Molloy players (Powell and another guy) scored through the first 17 minutes of the second half.   During the first 17 minutes of the second half, Molloy scored about 10 points.
• Step went with the same lineup as yesterday: four juniors and a sophomore.
• Jervis – one of the three stud rising juniors, had 24 points.  Adonis Ratliff, the one brother who has suited up, had 13, and has no problem shooting the three.  Josh Rivera, the soph, had 15.
• Carbuccia was not present again.
• Step just has so many weapons.  And all their guys can score every which way:  drives…floaters…three-pointers…slashing…pull-ups.   And they play great D, with great hands.  Great transition play.  And this is withoutStep was up by 20-30 points the entire second half but still riveted to the game because everyone knew there was a great play coming up from someone. Tremendous talent across the two live courts here.
• Josh Powell of Molloy recently from social media: Averaged 21.4 points last season, leading the CHSAA “AA” in scoring, the coaches came calling. “I heard from (Kansas assistant coach) Norm Roberts. Jim Larranaga of Miami, he said he was going to come watch me play at Team Camp (at Iona Prep) on June 28th . George Washington head coach Chris Caputo, I heard from him as well. Marist called me, and they had actually offered me earlier on. The head coach (John Dunne) and the assistant coach, coach (Drew) Metz, they both spoke with me. They’ve been on me for a while now. Kent State and Le Moyne also contacted me.” … Suffice it to say, Powell has plethora options.

St. Francis Prep vs. St. Peter’s (Staten Island)

• Watch the first three-quarters of the first half of this game without much action.
• Vere Anthony returns to run the show for St. Francis Prep Terriers.

Day 1

Nazareth Regional over Cardinal Hayes, 59-54

• Hayes (Bronx) was missing two or three of their big guns; during warm-ups, Hayes looked like a JV team, and played like one early in the game but then things came together and they played well the rest of the way. Hayes only played (and suited up) seven guys. Neither Treyvon Lewis nor Jermel Thomas was present; neither was Kaedin Destin.  Heard someone say that one of these guys may have transferred out.
• Their two guards played well:  junior Malik Fields and soph Chris Brown.  Brown in particular had a bunch of nifty moves underneath. Both guys listed at 6-3.   Rivals says Fields has offers from Texas A&M and Okie State. He transferred from Adlai Stevenson (Bronx) to Hayes before last season.
• I had Brown with 21 points and Fields with 12 (my point totals may be off a bit because if someone made a shot and was fouled, it counted as three points)
• Hayes had no height (at least today, among the guys who suited up)
• Nazareth (Brooklyn) has a 6-6 senior, Halon Rawlins, who I had down for 14 points.  Had some nice moves off the dribble but couldn’t finish.  Rivals says he has offers from Manhattan and Oklahoma State. A 6-8 junior, Kaiden Francis, had 14, too.

Archbishop Stepinac over Nazareth Regional, 74-51

• Keep in mind that this was Naz’s second game in an hour.  They hung with Step for most of the first half (down by 10 at the half) but then ran out of gas. At one point in the second half, it was almost a 30-point lead.
• Stepinac is just so loaded for this league, so deep.  And as one guy next to me pointed out, they can all handle the ball.
• And they can all shoot the three, including 6-10 junior Adonis Ratliff, who had three three-pointers in the first half and finished with 12 points by my count for the game.   His 6-10 brother did not suit up.  If the two brothers can get some more work in between now and the season, their lineup will be ridiculous (but still not very deep)
• Every Stepinac player seemed to have grown two inches since the end of the season, and everyone has gotten noticeably better.
• Carbuccia, their only senior, did not suit up.  So, they started four juniors and a sophomore.
  • Dylan Perry had 12 (by my count)
  • Josiah Jervis had 15
  • Koureissi had 13
  • Rivera, the soph, had 13
• The team had 7 threes by my count, from five different players
• They are a really good passing team (even without Carbuccia), they play smart, and they play D; a lot of fun to watch
• They only suited up 8, I think (Carbuccia was not present and the other Ratliff was in street clothes), so they’re going to need to get some more guys because Pat likes to go deep into his bench
• As mentioned, Naz (Brooklyn) had to be bushed for the Step game. Rawlins and Francis each had 9.  Rawlins probably shot 25% from the field in the two games.  Naz had a couple of good guards.