St Albans Launches a College Basketball Prep Program
The path for talented high school basketball players to land a spot on a college roster, more times than not, involves taking an additional year of development as a post grad in a prep school program. This accomplishes a number of things for the prospects. One, it gives them additional year of physical and basketball development. It exposes them to a game style that is like the college game, which can often be very different than their high school level of play (Not the least of which is competing with and against a bigger, stronger and older level of player). It also often dramatically increases their exposure to college scouts.
A perhaps unintended consequence of the relaxation of college transfer rules, and impact of the rise of the “transfer portal” on college coaches is that the they have shifted a lot of their scouting and recruiting to older transfer players. This is making it even harder for high school prospects to get on the radar with college coaches. This has further elevated the number of players needing to take a prep school gap year to grow their games, their bodies and their exposure to college scouts.
The big issue with prep schools, however, is that they can be very expensive, as in over $70,000 for a year. St Albans is a new Queens based program that’s trying to address that high cost issue. One big advantage in their quest to that is being based in a large metropolitan area means they can cut out the room and board costs that a boarding school must incur by focusing on student athletes that can commute in from their family homes. They also use online education programs to eliminate that related overhead in supplementing the student-athletes academic base. Consequently, they are offering a significantly more affordable path for talented NYC student-athletes to pursue their dreams to play college ball.
The basketball program is staffed by an experienced and committed coaching staff. Kaamil Dillard is a head coach with a proven resume. His assistant coach and player development lead is the very capable Isaac “Slim” Sanders. Their college placement guru is the high energy and high impact Coach Arnell “Mega” Milton.
Their team will play a 30+ game schedule and compete in the Empire 8 Prep League.
The team’s 2025-26 game schedule and results will be found here.
Below we profile the St Albans Prep inaugural 2025-26 season’s players.
Chancellor Tillman (2026) 6’2 guard - 2024-25 All Queens 4A Second Team. Tillman can shoot and attack the basket. He is athletic and a strong defender.
Daniel Prince (2026) 6’7 small forward - A wiry wing with a smooth game and excellent jumper. He uses his long arms to cause chaos on defense.
Daniel Chauvin III (2026) 5’10 point guard - Chavin is a tough and gritty lead guard who is lethal from 3. He plays with flare and can get anywhere on the court with his tight handle.
Deshawn Watkins (2026) 6’2 guard - Watkins is a combo guard who can score and spread the floor. He is good off both the catch-n-shoot and the one-dribble pull up. He uses his body to get both layups and rebounds. He is a solid defender and keeps improving his game.
Diafarou “Jafar” Diakhaby (2026) 6’1 guard - 2024-25 Empire 8 Honorable Mention
Elvis Asare Jr. (2027) 6’4 small forward - 2024-25 Championship MVP at Truman High, Bronx, NY. NYC PSAL 3A 1st Team.
Jacob Nazario (2027) 6’3 guard -
Moussa Diaby (2026) 6’7 small forward -
Noel Acosta (2026) 6’3 swing -
Suleman Abdulrahman (2027) swing -