NORWALK, Calif. – Seldom does Philadelphia produce a schoolboy teammate combination capable of delivering a kaleidoscope of looks. It comes from all angles, manufacturing a new arrangement.
There’s Quade Green, the wonderful, do-everything point guard … warrior, facilitator and leader.
Then it’s Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree, the 6-foot-8, power forward (he plays center in high school) with a limitless ceiling … agile, bouncy and Herculean.
The could be dubbed the “Knockout Kids” but Philadelphia basketball guru Littel Vaughn simply calls the rising seniors from talent incubator Neumann-Goretti High School, “the best one-two punch in the city since Bo Kimble and Hank Gathers.”
They simply the best Philadelphia combination since Smokin’ Joe Fraizer’s right and the devastating left hands.
Vaughn, who is the CEO and Editor of Checkball magazine, is the resident expert from West Philadelphia. Heaping praise on Green and Cosby-Roundtree could be excessive, but might not be far-fetched next March. That’s when the Saints go for a seventh state championship in eight seasons.
It would cement their legacy.
“You don’t see high major teammates, one a point guard and the other a big man, stay together in high school for four years and dominate. If they go to the same college, that would be special. They play specialized positions and represent the inside and outside part of the game. Quade is a ‘pit bull’ who understands the game and Dhamir the hardest working player I’ve been around in a long time and gets better and better every day,” Vaughn acknowledged.
However one of the most court savvy pair ever to grace the hardwood in the mid 1980s, Bo Kimble and Hank Gathers (Dobbin Tech), were a duo that stuck together, first landing at Southern California out of high school before transferring across town in Los Angeles to make it big at Loyola Marymount. Some may say Neumann-Goretti’s Rick Jackson and Scoop Jardine (both who would attend Syracuse) belong in that rarified air.
But this latter-day pair has been teammates for the last three years in south Philadelphia. With one season remaining in their prep careers, they are focused on big prizes and it showed last weekend at the famed Pangos All-American Camp at Cerritos College’s Falcon Gymnasium. Both players were named to the camp’s Cream of the Crop Top 30 All-Star Game.
“I love the competition here; it only makes you work harder and it’s not too often we get to play out here [in California],” said Green, who will compete this weekend for one of 12 spots on the USA U18 team at the trials in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Unlike Cosby-Roundtree, the 6-foot Green is undecided on college. In fact, he’s not even close to paring down his list of 15 or more that includes Arizona, Texas, Temple, Villanova, Kentucky and Michigan, but is targeting August to name his five official visits before declaring his choice.
In April, Cosby-Roundtree verballed to Villanova over Xavier, Seton Hall, Providence, Miami and Syracuse. Cosby-Roundtree liked Villanova’s “family atmosphere.”
Cosby-Roundtree added: “This camp is great exposure for everyone invited. There’s a lot of talent here.”
When the Nike EBYL circuit continues next month at the Peach Jam in North Augusta, Ga., Cosby-Roundtree, who has averaged a double-double for the last two years at Neumann-Goretti, will suit up for Team Final but he hopes his defensive presence, high motor and athleticism will be enough to gain a last-minute invite to the NBA Players’ Association Top 100 Camp (June 14-18) in Charlottesville, Va.
Yet, there’s unfinished business back home. Though the Saints did win the Class AAA title with 27-4, they did not capture the Philadelphia Catholic League Tournament or the District 12 AAA City crowns. That uneasy feeling must be replaced insists Green.
“We want to win everything as seniors and that means the league regular season and tournament, city and state. Plus we’re going to the City of Palms Classic [before Christmas in Florida] and have other big games. We are focused and playing at events like this in the summer only gets us better,” he said.
