PROVIDENCE -- Simeon Wilcher grew up in Plainfield, N.J. learning the game of basketball from his dad and his siblings, including his older brother C.J.
“Yeah, he was my foundation to everything,” Simeon Wilcher, a 6-foot-4 sophomore guard at St. John’s, said of C.J. here Friday. “When I was younger he started playing before me. I watched him and how hard he went at it and watched how hard he worked. He kind of made me fall in love with the game, too.”
Now the Wilcher brothers are living out a dream as both are set to play in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday.
Simeon and No. 2 St. John’s will face John Calipari and No. 10 Arkansas at 2:40 here, while C.J. and No. 4 Texas A&M will meet No. 5 Michigan in Denver at 5:15 E.T.
“I think it’s special to be a part of two different Top 5-seed teams as siblings because you don’t see that that often,” C.J., who averaged 4.3 points this season as a graduate student for the Aggies, said by text from Denver.
The Wilcher parents have split up duties, with Sergio Wilcher with C.J., and Kimberly Wilcher supporting Simeon and St. John’s.
The brothers haven’t been able to speak directly since the tournament began, but C.J. did watch Simeon score 13 points in St. John’s 83-53 win over No. 15 Omaha Thursday night. And Simeon is looking for some tips on Arkansas from his brother, who played them in SEC action.
“I haven’t talked to him yet due to the time difference, and they played [Thursday] so I want to give him a chance to chill,” said Simeon, who is averaging 8.2 points under Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino. “He’s out there with my dad. I talked to my dad a little bit, but I’m going to talk to him later just to see anything, any tips on how they went about playing them during this season.”
Simeon is familiar with two Arkansas guards with local connections, former Camden High guard D.J. Wagner and former Archbishop Stepinac (N.Y.) guard Boogie Fland, who returned Thursday after missing about two months after thumb surgery.
“I feel like it’s a full-circle moment,” Simeon said of facing Wagner. “A lot of respect for D.J., big up for him. He’s been having a great season. That’s great to see. Shout out to him, but we definitely had some really good games against each other.”
Wilcher and Roselle Catholic beat Wagner and Camden en route to the final New Jersey Tournament of Champions title in 2022.
“Unfortunately it’s not around anymore due to the state not really feeling like other teams could compete with teams that could recruit and stuff, which is understandable,” Simeon said of the TOC, which Roselle. Catholic won four times. “Our junior year we were able to play in the last one they ever had at Rutgers. It was a great game. It was an overtime game. Overtime game, great game, great environment.”
Former Roselle Catholic and current College Achieve coach Dave Boff can’t wait to see Saturday’s St. John’s-Arkansas game.
“Really excited to watch Sim and DJ compete at the highest level,” he said. “Their battles in high school are historically great, including the final TOC where Simeon led us to a win in one of the greatest games in New Jersey history.”
Simeon and C.J. Wilcher, who overlapped for one year at Roselle Catholic, are actually two of seven former Lions in the NCAA Tournament.
“I’m sure everyone in New Jersey is locked in on that game, but New Jersey is represented well throughout the bracket,” Boff said.
As for the Wilcher brothers, they will both play Saturday with spots in the Sweet 16 on the line.
“It’s just amazing,” Simeon said. “It’s something that we both dreamed about doing since we were younger and I can’t even tell you how my parents feel because it’s hard for them to break it into words, too.”
The only way they could meet would be in the national semifinals at the Final Four in San Antonio.
And C.J. says don’t rule it out.
“I honestly think we have a chance to play each other in the later rounds,” he said.
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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter and Basketball Insider for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.
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