Mr. New York Basketball
This New York 2024 recruiting class is special and one of the best in a long time. We as a state currently have three 5-stars that sit comfortably in the top 10 and have each made their case for winning player of the year. While all three were fantastic this season and are even better kids off the court it was 6’3” PG Johnuel “Boogie Fland (Archbishop Stepinac HS, NY ’24) who was chosen as this year’s Mr. Basketball for New York.
The Crusaders program had 6'0” PG RJ Davis (Archbishop Stepinac HS, NY ’20) win the award in 2020 and now Fland becomes the second player from Stepinac to ever do it. Fland is currently ranked as the 10th best prospect according to Rivals150 and just recently signed with Arkansas, after previously being committed to Kentucky. He was able to capture this major achievement over 6’5” SG VJ Edgecombe LuHi ‘24 who’s ranked 4th and going to Baylor plus 6’6” SG Ian Jackson OSL ‘24 who’s 6th in the nation as well as an UNC commit. This class was historic and these two guys put up as good a fight as any two could that didn’t end up winning.
We wanted to make sure we gave those guys their due but this article is featuring the CHSAA’s top playmaker. He’s been a superstar since freshman year, he’s taken on every challenge, overcame all types of adversity and put together a legendary high school career in New York City. Fland put up video game numbers, which were League MVP, McDonalds All American, made every Crusader better, plus added another Championship.
His dedication to the city was seen every game as Fland took tons of pictures and even signed autographs when asked. He is a humble kid who comes from an A+ family who handled everything on their own. He has a great opportunity to shine at the next level. We have to also commend the fact that he handled business in the classroom. He’s a very young senior and also decided to stay with the same program for all four years, which has become rare. This just adds to the legend of the future Razorback, who we can’t wait to see get buckets in the SEC. Congratulations to Boogie, the Flands, the coaching staff and the entire Stepinac program on being a part of the prestigious honor.