Roselle Catholic’s CJ Wilcher ready for next step at Xavier

The high school basketball season being cut short due to the Coronavirus hurt a lot of players. One player in particular was CJ Wilcher of Roselle Catholic. Wilcher is ranked as one of the top seniors in the country on ESPN Top 100. When asked about what his reaction was to the season being cancelled he said “I’m not even gonna lie I started to tear up.” He and the Roselle Catholic Lions were just getting started in the playoffs after coming off of wins against The Patrick School (who had beat them previously three times this season) and Gill St. Bernard.

This season CJ averaged 18 PPG to lead the Roselle Catholic Lions to a 22-7 record. Roselle Catholic was one of the top teams in New Jersey this season.  The team was led by CJ and Cliff Omoruyi, another ESPN Top 100 player who will be playing at Rutgers next fall.  When asked about Cliff, CJ stated “He made life a lot easier defensively, if anybody on the team got beat you know you have Cliff behind us.”

The thing that hurt CJ the most about the season being cancelled was that he would not have one last opportunity to win another State Title and Tournament of Champions (T.O.C.). He had previously won a TOC in his freshman year at The Patrick School but said “I have a TOC but I didn’t feel like that was my TOC. It didn’t feel like I just went out and won it.” That team featured Kentucky big man Nick Richards, who entered the NBA draft earlier this month.

Another thing that hurt CJ was that he would not be playing with his younger brother Simeon anymore. Simeon, who is a freshman, has already an extensive list of D-I offers from schools like Oregon, UCLA, Auburn and Xavier. CJ said “Everybody does not get the chance to play with their brother so to end off my high school career playing with my brother meant a lot to me.”

Prior to the season, CJ committed to Xavier University where he will play for Coach Travis Steele next season. He talked about what separated Xavier from the other schools that were recruiting him and why he eventually chose Xavier.”They were consistent in what they were telling me. I talked to every single coach on the coaching staff on a consistent basis. That’s what separated them from everybody else.” He also added, “Their whole program is about development and getting players better.”