Although home to some great athletes (Jim Brown, Carl Yastrzemski, Julius Erving, etc), Long Island has never been known as the home of nationally recognized powerhouses in any sport besides lacrosse.
This trend of national mediocrity has definitively ended. The Long Island Lutheran (commonly known as LuHi) basketball program is a legit authority–and they are right around the corner from BHS. Not only are the girls ranked #1 in the country, but the boys basketball team has also firmly established itself as one of the most elite young basketball teams in the United States.
After a very impressive 23-2 season which culminated in a New York State championship and a #3 finish on MaxPreps’ High School ranking last year, LuHi has come back this year looking even sharper. Already ranked the #1 school nationwide to start the year, LuHi certainly has the roster to back up such a prestigious spot in the country’s leaderboards. The biggest name in their lineup is VJ Edgecombe. The 6’5, 180 lb. Bahamian shooting guard was last year’s New York State Player of the Year and is the #5 player in the class of 2024. He is currently the highest ranked player who is uncommitted, but analysts predict that Edgecombe will enroll at Duke University next year to team up with #1 overall ‘24 commit Cooper Flagg, a center from Maine.
Edgecombe shares the back court with LuHi’s top scorer this year Kayden Mingo, a 6’1 junior with a handful of D1 offers. Finally, perhaps the biggest name on the Crusaders is Kiyan Anthony. Kiyan is the son of longtime Knicks superstar Carmelo Anthony who frequently attends his son’s games. But do not be mistaken, the younger Anthony is a baller himself too. Kiyan has almost 20 D1 offers to date as a junior, and the 6’5 wing is listed as the best 2025 prospect in the state of New York by 247Sports. In fact, LuHi players maintain 5 of the 7 top spots on that list, including starting bigman and Florida State commit Alier Maluk who holds the #2 spot.
Such depth in the junior class will not only help the team out this year, but will also help them continue their success into next year and years to come as well. Only time will tell if this LuHi team is legit enough to stay atop the leaderboards as the nation’s #1 school or—even further down the road—if any of their products will become NBA players.
