After spending the past three seasons running past opponents in the Potomac Valley Athletic Conference (PVAC), Sandy Spring Friends (Md.) head boys’ basketball coach Azhar Shamsudeen wanted his team to face different challenges.

After embarking on an independent schedule this season, the Wildebeests have found plenty.

Coming into the week, Sandy Spring has posted a 4-9 mark against its elevated competition, but the losses have provided some valuable lessons.

“For me as a coach, I love it,” Shamsudeen said after a tough six-point loss to Bishop Loughlin (NY) last week. “As a competitor, you want to go out there night after night and play the best talent on the East Coast and challenge yourself as a program. But I thought the biggest thing for me - and the reason I got into coaching - is to help kids at the next level. And nothing against the PVAC, but some of those games weren’t really helping us get ready for that level - especially some of my guys. At least now, we’re starting to show them what it takes to play at a college level - D-I, D-II, D-III - night after night. How physical it is, how fast it is, how much you have to work - and it's really helping guys that we have in the program prepare for that.”

Saying Sandy Spring has dominated the PVAC in recent years is no exaggeration. The Wildebeests went a perfect 45-0 against league foes over the last three seasons, winning three straight regular-season and tournament championships.

The program sent multiple players on to the college in that span, including Mo Toure (Ursinus), Ousmane Sow (Penn State-York), Aidan Camper (Salisbury), Jake Tringone (Lander), Donovan Blackman (Alfred) and Jaison Nkala (Warren Wilson).

In hopes of elevating the program and players further, Sandy Spring made the decision to have two teams this year: Shamsudeen’s independent squad, and a separate roster coached by Luis Lopez that still plays a PVAC schedule.

Shamduseen said the creation of a separate team had been in the works for a few years. He said he reached out about joining some area leagues - he declined to name them - but said many wanted Sandy Spring’s other sports as well.

“If you take all the sports, we might be able to compete from a boys basketball perspective,” Shamsudeen said, “but then you've got to think about girls basketball, baseball, or whatever it may be. So we had to keep that in mind. So with this quick turnaround, this was the fastest solution we found. I'm not that big of a fan of it, because fighting for a conference championship is something you want your kids to do. So we’re still searching and hopefully we’ll find a league that’s a good fit.”

Shamsudeen has taken advantage of his schedule flexibility, setting up games with a wide range of public and private schools in the DMV and beyond. This season Sandy Spring has faced Evergreen Christian (Va.), Lackey (Md.), Friendship Tech (DC), Flint Hill (Va.), Gilman (Md.), Lanham Christian (Md.), St. Paul’s (Md.), Frederick (Md.), Malvern Prep (Pa.), Brooklyn Collegiate (NY) and Bishop Loughlin (NY). Their remaining slate includes Good Counsel (Md.) - which was postponed due to snow on Tuesday - Landon (Md.), St. Mark’s (DE), Friendship Collegiate (DC), St. Mary’s-Ryken (Md.), St. Mary’s-Annapolis (Md.), Mt. Zion Prep (Md.), St. Alban’s (DC), and St. Vincent Pallotti (Md.)

That scheduling freedom can present its own challenges, however. Shamsudeen said his teams have typically played around 35 games per year between the regular season, PVAC playoffs and the Maryland Private Schools Tournarnament, and he was able to set up 33 this season. Those games can disappear at any moment though, as is the case with this week’s Good Counsel matchup, which may not be rescheduled as the Falcons head into the meat of their Washington Catholic Athletic Conference season.

“It’s been very different,” Sandy Spring 2025 guard Darrion Sardo said of this year’s schedule. “From 20 conference games to every night we’re seeing a team with a college player. It’s just different for us and we’re still getting used to it.”

Sardo has been a standout in an expanded offensive role for Sandy Spring this season, averaging 15.2 points per game while shooting 40 percent from 3-point range. He’s on pace to surpass his school record mark of 101 made 3-pointers from last year. Sardo has taken visits to several Division III schools and said he’s down to five contenders and will make a decision soon.

“I just have to score in more ways and help lead the team in whatever we need during the game - whether it's offense or defense, just motivating the guys, whatever it is,” Sardo said of his role. “People are starting to look to me more because I’ve been here for four years with Coach Azhar. So, just relaying the message that Coach Azhar wants to our team, and leading the team in a way that can help us win games.”

6-foot-10 2026 center Sifeng Huan has also held his own, averaging team-highs in points (15.3) and rebounds (9) per game. 2025 guard Jacob Cox, 2026 guard Shane Wellman and 2026 guard Nigel Hickson have also been key contributors. 

“It’s just going to help us become better players individually,” Sardo said. “And as the year goes on we’re going to become better as a team and we’re going to go on a run soon here and show everybody what we can do, for sure.”

Watching his team build that confidence has been a bonus for Shamsudeen.

“They love it,” he said. “What's kind of been frustrating is we're 4-9, I think, but every game’s been [close] like this [against Bishop Loughlin]. Every game - against really good teams - has been down four, up four. We’ve had, like, three buzzer-beaters against us. So we just haven’t had the bounces go [our way] but the kids are playing hard and we’re representing the school really well, so it’s been great. This is not going away, so when we come back next year, whether we’re in a league or independent again, a lot of the returners will understand the value of how much you have to be prepared night after night after night.”