From playing in the Malvern League to winning at Districts, the Radnor Basketball Boys have faced it all to break the 1961 record.

The boy’s basketball team made Radnor History after their exciting win against Unionville. Their 26th straight game win was for the District 1 title, which was previously won in 1961 with Coach Ellis Dwyer. I had the privilege to meet with two of the co-captains, Jackson Hicke and Danny Rosenblum, after their big win. Although the boys are out of States, we are all so proud of their amazing run and their successes this season! 

My brother’s pretty into basketball, and he loves his basketball shoes dearly. Are you guys into buying basketball shoes, and what type of shoes do you guys have?

Danny: I love basketball shoes. I normally wear KDs or Dames; I also have some Giannis shoes. 

Jackson: I’m a big fan too- not as much as him- but I usually wear Paul George’s. 

So going off of shoes, do you guys have a lucky piece of clothing? Certain superstitions or pregame rituals?

D: I normally listen to the same music before games, and I guess I wear the same underwear under my shorts.

J: Yeah, I do too. I wear the same underwear and wear the same socks. 

Do you guys have specific hype up songs that you listen to either in the locker room or on the bus? 

D: Yeah we have- I can’t find the name of it- it’s a Brazilian song.

J: It’s called “Se Voce Nao Quer Passa a Vesez.” We’ll have a speaker in the locker room before the games, and we’ll all listen together, so that’s fun.  

That’s so fun! I think it goes without saying that the Ruckus shows up for all of your games- do you get nervous having the entirety of Ruckus there?  

D: I think it honestly gets me more ready for the game. I like the energy in the gym when everyone is there, and it helps me lock in.

J: Yeah, I wouldn’t say nervous because you are kind of focused on the game and not really on who’s there, but like what Danny was saying with the noise and [the Ruckus] being there- it just helps a lot in general.

I feel like the fans in the Ruckus have taken that love farther, through nicknames, T-shirts, blowup faces of your head… Do you ever get annoyed? Or is that like part of the love for the game?  

D: I think it’s just [a] part that I love about the game. Just like the culture that the team has brought is pretty cool.

J: Yeah, I don’t get annoyed. I think it’s funny, and I just think it’s cool how into it everyone is.

Speaking about the shirts, was that consented and your idea? How did that originate? 

D: I think it was the Muellers, Cooper’s parents. They did it last year too, and I don’t think anyone was opposed to it after how funny it was last year. 

You guys have obviously been getting a lot of attention lately, from the Philadelphia Inquire to the news coming to your game to pictures from Margarita and Olivia. I even was scrolling through TikTok and saw an edit of you guys- do you like the attention? Does it get in the way? What is your reaction to all of it?  

J: I don’t think it gets in the way. I think it’s pretty cool, just exposure wise, like people know who we are. It doesn’t really affect what we do on the court, but it’s just cool to be recognized for it.

D: Yeah, I would agree, it doesn’t really affect how we play, but it’s just an addition.  

This question is more directed to Jackson, there’s a fan account for you. Do you know how that originated?

J: I think it started at the start of last year. I think it’s a couple of kids who run it. But honestly at this point, it’s basically turned into a Ruckus page. They post me a lot, but it kinda spreads out now. They will go to other student sections, so I think it’s funny. I didn’t like it at first. I thought it was kinda too much, but now it’s for the whole team. Even though the username should be changed, it’s fun.  

Another cool fact about you guys is that you’ve been playing with each other for a long time, so when did you start playing together? 

D: Since I remember playing basketball, I think it was elementary school? We started playing in elementary school: me, Jackson, and Cooper. We played in the Malvern League for awhile, and Charlie played a few games with us in middle school.

How has your relationship changed over the time together? 

D: [Basketball] just brought us a lot closer. We’ve all been trying to reach the same goal, and we’ve been working so hard together, putting in so many hours together. 

J: Yeah, we’ve just gotten closer over time, and we are with each other all the time. We enjoy it, so it works out.

What challenges has the team faced this year? 

J: It’s always tough getting a new player, like Gaffney. He’s been great this year, [and he’s] fitting in great, but it’s just an adjustment… and I just think being consistent with [playing], because game in, game out, we gotta play our best. 

How do you deal with the pressures of being undefeated?  

J: The pressures are gone because you win or go home- it’s States. At this point in the season you just gotta focus on one game at a time. At this point [in] the year, it’s kind of a race, and obviously we know and [other] teams know how good we are, but it’s win or go home. Every team has the same record at this point.

D: Even during the season, like Jackson said, we did a good job [of] focusing on the game ahead of us and not letting the pressure of our past record get to us, and the playoffs are kinda a start to the new season, so it doesn’t really matter. 

What do you think makes the team work?  

D:We all are pretty unselfish and look [out] for each other. We’ve been playing together [for awhile] and [were] taught to play basketball the right way, so it makes it pretty easy.  

J: Yeah for sure, just like what Danny said, it’s [the] unselfishness. We all just love to play with each other and everybody wants to win, so we’ll do whatever it takes and it shows. 

What was it like winning this game after losing last year at districts? 

J: It was really cool. Last year was such a tough loss. It hurt a lot, so to go back to Temple and dominate that game felt good, like a redemption from last year, so it was great.

D: It really hit me after the game, when we were standing and getting the medals. I remember last year that none of us even wanted the medals, but this year we were celebrating with the trophy, with the fans, so it was a completely different feeling.  

Looking at your District game and even the CL championship game, senior Allen Huang phrased this question perfectly: do you guys just love the fourth quarter? You guys definitely have a tendency to scare the fans at half time when it’s really close, and then come back and dominate towards the end. 

J:  At that point of the game, there’s a lot of pressure, but I feel like we [stay] calm just because we have been in that situation so many times throughout our life and it pays off.  

D: Yeah, I think even when those games are close, when I really worry about it, we take that half time break to really just settle in and see what’s going on in the game, and we know that our game will just dominate and we [will] play how we can.  

Historically, Radnor has been pretty bad at boys’ basketball, however you guys have changed this pattern, especially with this new win. What have you done differently that made you guys more successful? 

D: I mean I think from the beginning, at least for me, I have always wanted to keep playing basketball past high school, and I think a lot of us had the same goal from when we started playing basketball. So I think that [it’s the] culture of “just keep getting better” and then the coaches we’ve had. We’ve basically had the same coaches when [since] we [came] to high school.  

J: Yeah, we all strive to get to our full potential, and then we all decided to stay together instead of [going] to private schools, so it’s just a tight group .

Anything else you want to share, advice to your younger teammates, thank you’s etc? 

D:Thank you to the whole community, including the little kids that keep coming to the games. For the underclassmen, I would say just keep working together. Individual skills work is great, but you gotta keep playing with each other and building that chemistry.

J: I would agree with that. Thank you to the community, thank you to the coaches for this year, and for the underclassmen, take it day by day. It’s not going to happen overnight, but if you keep working, you’ll get there.