Prep Profiles 2022-23 Season: St. Thomas More School

Thursday, October 27th, 2022

It is that time of year again, when we start to preview the top prep programs in New England. 

This year, we are going to begin with the local teams who will take part in the National Prep Showcase, held November 18th-20th at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, Connecticut. 

The next school we will be previewing is St. Thomas More School 

 

3 Things You Need to Know About This Year’s Team

 

They brought in one of New England’s biggest stock-risers. 

2024 forward Tyler Betsey is getting ready to play his first season for the Chancellors. He blew up this summer, hitting 43 three-pointers at a 39.8% clip on the Nike EYBL circuit. This helped his NY Rens squad make the E16 championship along with him earning the number 68 national ranking on 247Sports. 

 

Ohio Native Louie Semona is the guy in the frontcourt. 

Another transfer brought in who will make an immediate impact is Louie Semona. The post-grad hailing from Cincinnati has a smooth long-range stroke and also impacts the game with his defensive rebounding ability. He has also had a strong fall open gym season. This has resulted in Semona getting three recent Division One scholarship offers. 

 

The Second Team has guys too. 

Coach Taylor Mulvey is back leading the second team. This is not your typical second team as it has boasted alums such as Xavier freshman guard Desmond Claude and recent Miami big man commit Michael Nwoko. Incoming post-grad John Celli and 6’10 Evan Keith will be leading a group of 10+ college players. 

 

3 Questions Heading into the Season

 

Who will emerge as Betsey’s running mate? 

With there being such a target put on Betsey, it will be important for someone else to take pressure off him. Outside of Semona, some other candidates include Justin Menard, Shamiere Green, and Abdur De Leon. Menard is a pass first guard with soft pull-up shooting touch. Green is a wing who thrives in an up and down pace with his terrific leaping ability. De Leon will bring this squad a shooter on the wing who can hit shots in a number of different ways. 

 

Can they buy in?

St. Thomas More is the house that Coach Jere Quinn has built. Part of why he is known for being one of New England’s best prep school coaches is how his teams consistently play hard and unselfish. With the amount of newcomers brought into the program, it will be something to keep an eye on in regards to how quickly they play up to Coach Quinn’s standards. We would bet on it happening sooner rather than later when looking back at Quinn’s past teams. 

 

How deep will the bench be in late February/Early March?

Coach Quinn has been known to play a deep bench. This is part of what makes it regularly difficult to scheme for games against STM. While it is a good problem to be able to do this, it will be interesting if enough players will earn a rotation spot. The Chancellor’s are eyeing deep runs in NEPSAC AAA and the National Prep Championship, it will make those goals much more likely with a deep bench.

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