USVI talent switches to mainland schools

Summer was a basketball whirlwind for Kadeem Jones.

A trip to Singapore for the Youth Olympic Games and competing at the FIBA Americas Championship in San Antonio, Texas, definitely served as a wake-up call for the St. Croix prep basketball standout.

“When you grow up here, you quickly find out who can play and it’s not hard to find out who’s the best,” Jones said. “But when we went to these tournaments, it really opened our eyes to the talent all over the world. I know we have potential, and I also learned we have a long way to go.”

In order to take the next step, Jones and several other up-and-coming U.S. Virgin Islands basketball players have decided the territory may not be the best setting for their emerging basketball careers.

All four of the players who represented the USVI in the 3-on-3 basketball tournament in Singapore last month will be attending and playing basketball in Delaware and Pennsylvania this year.

Jones, a senior, along with junior Amadius Der-Weer, junior Rasheed Swanston and sophomore Javier Martinez were members of last year’s Central High School championship varsity squad, but none will return to the hardwood for the Caribs this winter.

Three of them flew straight from Singapore to their new schools and are preparing to take classes.

“We’re just trying to help these kids get into college,” said USVI Basketball Federation coach Jareem Dowling, who coached the players in Singapore and assisted them with the transfer process. “It’s hard to sell V.I. players to college coaches. Usually, all they got is one tape from a senior all-star game. That’s not enough.”

Two other area prep players — Charlotte Amalie High School junior Alex Brazil and junior Jose Santos Jr. of St. Croix Educational Complex — will be taking their game to stateside high schools as well.

High school players leaving the islands to sharpen their game in the States is nothing new while local coaches are used to filling a void here and there. But Central has been dismantled. Caribs coach Alvin Jarvis will now have to replace all five of last year’s starters and only one because of graduation.

“But I like to see the kids move on,” said Jarvis, who has coached at Central for the last 27 years. “I’ve seen this before and I’ll see it again. It’s a tough situation, but I’m happy for them.”

Jarvis didn’t take the exodus personally and appreciated the players’ parents speaking with him before he had to find out the hard way.

“You never know who’s going to be back until school starts anyway,” Jarvis said. “Now, I’m just looking forward to the next batch of talent coming up. We had a strong J.V. team last year.”

Martinez and Swanston knew before they left for the YOG in Singapore that they would be playing next year at either The Phelps School in Pennsylvania or Red Lion Christian Academy in Delaware. Both players will be on scholarship and will live on campus while Jones and Der-Weer are headed to Brandywine High, a public school in Delaware, and will stay with host families.

The four players share a strong bond and have played together since they were young. After they experienced the top-notch competition in Texas and in Singapore this summer, Jones and Der-Weer decided to make the jump as well.

“It was sort of last second for us but it’s the best thing for us right now,” said Jones, who was a two-year varsity point guard for the Caribs and was expected to leave for his new school this week. “Our coach helped us get this opportunity and we can’t afford not to take it.”

Dowling knows from personal experience.

He spent one year at Central in 1997 before he moved on to Howard High School of Technology in Wilmington, Del. Dowling spent three years there, graduated, made a quick stop at Cecil College before playing basketball at Maryland Eastern Shore University.

His main goal has always been to come back to the USVI and help other young players with similar transitions.

“I love, respect and worship the V.I.,” said Dowling, who also coached the USVI Junior Under-18 national team in Texas earlier in the summer. “But we don’t have the resources to help these guys improve fast enough. We took a beating in Singapore. Not so much on the court but just physically.”

The USVI 3-on-3 squad won its first two games, but as Dowling described it, “their bodies just broke down late in the tournament” and the team crawled to a 2-5 record, finishing near the back of the 25-team field.

No one absorbed the physical mismatch more than Martinez, who was a double-digit rebounder for Central last year but was limited in the paint against the other international players. Jarvis also described Swanston and Der-Weer as gifted post players with plenty of raw talent.

“I’ve had my eyes on these guys for the last three years and none of them have really improved over that time,” Dowling said. “Both mentally and physically. I love my islands too much to not want to help. These guys have to step it up and this is the right path for them.”

Dowling also helped Santos find a new school. He will play at McArthur High School in Hollywood, Fla., alongside CAHS import Shanel Caines. Caines, who will be a senior this year, was among one of the league leaders last season when he tallied 4.4 assists a game.

Brazil is supposed to play this year at Gwynn Park High School in Brandywine, Md., where the boys basketball program is coming off a Class 2A state championship appearance.

Last year, Dowling assisted three players from the British Virgin Islands in transferring to schools in the northeast and two more this year. Deon Edwin, younger brother of USVI national team member Jason Edwin, and Norvel Carey are both juniors at Red Lion Academy and each are currently ranked in that region’s preseason Top 15 players poll, voted on by coaches and sportswriters.

Dowling can only hope the Virgin Islanders will receive an overall focus on basketball fundamentals in the States, but he believes the all-important classroom transition will be a smooth one. Jones was an honors student last year at Central and he said he wants to study engineering in college.

“Of course I’m going to miss my parents and my friends, but I know we’ll be able to succeed in the classroom,” Jones said. “Playing basketball in college is what we’re working toward. Getting into college in the main thing. Then we want to come back to the V.I. and pass down what we learned.”

— Contact sports reporter Aaron Gray at 774-8772 ext. 352 or e-mail agray@dailynews.vi.

 

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