Crown Basketball wins Pitt Jam Fest
The Crown Basketball program centered in Long Island has always been a threat to win any HoopGroup event. They’ve been extremely competitive on the circuit and have won several tournaments along the way. During the collegiate season, the coaching staff got to see many of their former players having success at the next level even with a few shining in the NCAA tournament.
The reason we are talking about them today is their latest monster 1st place finish at the Pitt Jam Fest. They went 5-0 over the weekend collecting wins over legit teams such as the NJ Shoreshots, Middlesex Magic and eventually Team Loaded in the Championship. While they impressed everyone in the gym the Crown program definitely attracted some attention from college coaches with their strong play.
This team is deep, tough, together, and has legit D1 prospects. The team is constructed a bit differently than their traditional look with two strong interior post players. 6’8” F Joshua Decady (Kimball Union ’24) was a man amongst boys in Pittsburgh dunking everything and blocking a ton of shots. He took over the gym at times, his motor was better than everyone’s there and his rebounding instincts are off the charts.
Decady was at Molloy before making the move to prep which has really helped take his development to the next level. If his strong offseason continues, he could easily be a household name in the ‘24 class over the next few months. The other fantastic interior piece for Crown is 6’7” Chike Ndefo (Vermont Academy ’24) who’s name you may remember since his brother recently helped St. Peter’s on their magical tournament run. Ndefo is an Elmont native who is versatile on both ends of the floor, he’s a terrific rebounder, great shot blocker and loves to finish through contact.
He does a lot of little things to help you win, his motor is legit, he gets a ton of deflections and has excellent footwork. In our opinion his strong play definitely put him on a few more college radars. We also have to mention shooting whenever we talk about Crown because it’s definitely a crucial recipe for their success.
6’3” SG Leonidas Vlogianitis (Chesire Academy ’24) was an All-Long Island selection this past year for Garden City as well as being one of the top scorers in all of Nassau County. This offseason he announced the move to prep school and has been racking up points on the AAU circuit. He’s Crown’s top guard who can score from all three levels, competes on every play, and has a big-time basketball IQ. His ability to step up in the clutch plus find his teammates really takes this team to another level.
These three New Yorkers have definitely improved their stock and helped solidify them as D1 prospects. While coaches and some teams will continue to try their luck in the portal these three will be able to contribute immediately once they get to campus. We expect Decady to start entering the rankings conversation, Ndefo to triple his offers over the next few months and Vlogianitis to finally get his due.