Bishop Boswell to Tennessee! How the Myers Park standout found a home on the hardwood
Bishop Boswell has been playing in basketball leagues since he was 4 years old.
The Myers Park senior is often watching NBA games, then finds himself heading outside to the driveway with his mother trying to replicate the moves he’s watched. Boswell said his fondest memories of basketball are playing games like “knockout” and “king of the court” with his friends at the YMCA.
Experiences like those made him decide to ultimately pursue basketball over football. Boswell, who’d transferred to South Mecklenburg for his sophomore year and played wide receiver for the Sabres, returned to the school at which he started and led the Mustangs to their first state championship in school history last winter.
His school years always involved intensive football seasons in the fall flowing into nearly year-round AAU basketball. But the day-to-day grind that basketball brings has Boswell — who announced his commitment to Tennessee Thursday on 247Sports’ YouTube page — knowing the hardwood is where he wants to be the most.
“That’s definitely where you really fall in love with it,” Boswell said, tossing a basketball up and down in the Myers Park gymnasium. “Outside the stress and the hooping for college attention and all that stuff, it’s just pure basketball. You’re just having a good time with your friends.”
His other finalists were Wake Forest, Georgia, Missouri and Xavier. He appreciated the interests those schools were taking in him, and each choice brought different advantages to the table. But ultimately, he liked the Volunteers the most.
Boswell is a 6-foot-4 combo guard best known for his ability to drive to the basket. Since he stopped playing football after his 2021 season at South Mecklenburg, he feels he’s developed more skill handling the ball and reading the game as a point guard.
His head coach, Scott Taylor, has noticed him starting to consistently make catch-and-shoot 3-pointers, getting better at identifying ball screens to step behind them and then knock down the shots. Taylor also notices him becoming a better rebounder, which helps him play both on and off the ball in transition.
Myers Park, which opened in 1951, hadn’t appeared in a state title game since 1966 before last year’s 74-60 win against Richmond Senior gave the school its first NCHSAA 4A title. An up-and-coming program, it was on the heels of three Elite 8 appearances in its previous five seasons. The Mustangs haven’t had a losing campagin since 2016-17 but, until last season, just couldn’t get over the hump.
Taylor really noticed Boswell’s strengths on the hardwood when he was at South Mecklenburg. Myers Park narrowly defeated the Sabres in a 72-67 win on Jan. 11, 2022, a game in which Boswell led all scorers with 33 points. The next time the teams played, on Feb. 8 of that year, the Mustangs suffered a 65-62 loss in which a 26-point performance from Boswell stole the show again.
“He was hard to guard. For two years, we’d had a hard time playing against him,” Taylor said. “I learned how competitive he was being on the other side, coaching against him.”
Boswell may not play football anymore, but Taylor thought it was obvious which sport he’d come from when he immediately returned to Myers Park. He remembers Boswell ending up on the floor a lot making diving efforts and never being shy about initiating and taking contact.
“He was willing to put his body on the line, which we appreciated, but peeling somebody up off the hardwood is a little bit different from the grass,” Taylor said. “He’s carried over some of that football mentality into practices and games for us.”
As his senior season begins over the next few weeks, Boswell will continue playing alongside fellow Division I recruits. The Mustangs’ strong roster also includes Sir Mohammed, a Notre Dame commit who’s the son of former Kentucky standout and longtime NBA player Nazr Mohammed, and 6-foot-8 junior A.J. White, whom 247 Sports currently ranks as the top junior in North Carolina.
Boswell, who plays AAU for the CP3 Basketball Academy, has suited up for a number of winning teams, but none better than this Mustangs squad. Still, as much as he’s enjoyed success on the court, he says nothing beats cracking jokes and laughing with his teammates in the hotel rooms, airports and long car rides.
He’ll always love football, too, but there’s something he appreciates a little bit more about the nonstop schedule that basketball provides. He thinks he has something special with basketball, and he’ll be taking his talents and passion to a Division I program.
PHOTOS: Bishop Boswell, Myers Park
This story was originally published September 28, 2023 at 7:00 AM.
