City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)
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Megan Rullo’s had plenty of time to reflect over the last two months and it led to an important realization.

The rising junior at Cardinal O’Hara has unfortunately had all that time to reflect after tearing the ACL in her right knee in early May playing with her Comets 16U team. What could have been a devastating setback ended up pushing Rullo in a direction she had basically known she’d be going for most of her life.

Drexel stuck by Rullo at her lowest, and she wanted to make sure that’s where she’d experience her best.

Rullo announced her commitment to the Dragons on Friday, continuing a family lineage that started with her parents and was extended by her older sister Molly, a rising senior at O’Hara who committed to Drexel in November.

“Drexel was my first offer last spring and they’ve constantly stayed in touch,” Rullo said Friday afternoon. “I appreciated their encouragement during my recovery process. When you have a big injury like mine, you’re forced to slow down and reflect on things and set goals.

“I was really able to think about if Drexel was a good fit for me and I think it is.”

Megan, who is now two months post-op from her knee surgery, is keeping busy with therapy appointments three times per week at the moment and told CoBL her recovery is going well so far. 

It was always a matter of if, not when, Drexel extended an offer to the younger of Jim and Maureen Rullo’s daughters. When both your parents played for the university, as Jim and Maureen did, and your older sister chose the same path, it was an inevitability.

Drexel did just that, Megan announcing the offer last July and it was anything but a token gesture.

“When I got hurt, my recruitment got put on pause,” Rullo said. “Drexel never stopped reaching out to me and that meant a lot. I always knew I wanted to go somewhere that I was wanted and I knew a lot of players from O’Hara and the Comets organization had really liked it at Drexel.”

Drexel went 19-15 last season, the Dragons catching fire as the No. 7 seed in the CAA tournament to win a conference crown and a bid to the NCAA Tournament as a 16-seed, losing to No. 1 seed Texas in the first round. While the roster is going to change plenty between now and the time she gets on campus, she knows her sister is going to be there.

As her self-reflecting led her to Drexel, Megan made sure to get Molly’s input. Not surprisingly, he older sister was very much on board with the idea.

“I went to her first and asked ‘what are your thoughts on this?’” Megan said. “She said ‘go for it, I love playing with you.’ She was so supportive and excited.

“We go to each other for a lot of things so it only felt right to go to her first.”

This past season, Megan and Molly were both starters as Cardinal O’Hara won its third PIAA title in the last four years. With senior starters Joanie Quinn, Carly Coleman and Greta Miller graduated, Megan would have taken on even more of a role alongside her sister for the coming campaign prior to her injury.

They won’t get to share a last season together on the court at O’Hara but Megan noted a silver lining of her decision was that her and Molly’s time as teammates isn’t ending after this year.

Rullo’s 2024-25 season now looks a lot different, but one of the first things Lions coach Chrissie Doogan made sure to do was assure the rising junior they still needed her. Rullo started to shift into assistant coach mode this summer with her Comets team, which had its own ordeals with numerous injuries.

“When I got hurt, Chrissie told me I’m still a big part of this team and I’m going to be considered as a coach,” Rullo said. “You see so much from the bench, more than you do while you’re playing and the underclassmen that are going to need help building their confidence, I’m going to have to be there for them.”

Megan, a 5-foot-9 guard, made most of her mark offensively for the Lions as a passer and spot-up shooter. She’s a solid defender as well but mainly, in a trait she shares with her sister, it’s the effort Rullo brings that stands out.

That was something the Drexel coaches picked up on as well and right in line with some of the other former O’Hara standouts that have played for the Dragons.

“With their type of motion offense, cutting without the ball, setting screens and getting shots for your teammates, that’s something I see in myself as a player,” Rullo said. “I’m looking to set up my teammates for shots and focus on the defensive end more than the scoring part.

“Their coaching style is very in-line with my play and that’s a big reason why I chose them.”

Growing up in a Drexel family, Rullo has naturally been to plenty of games at the Daskalakis Athletic Center. Rullo estimated she’s probably been to at least 120 Drexel games, if not more, including some memorable wins. 

That’s not going to stop anytime soon and in due time, she’ll be on the court trying to help add some more to the program’s history.

“It’s a really good legacy and I’m excited to be a part of it,” Rullo said. “I’ve taken a lot of time to reflect, focus on my goals and my rehab. I really thought about Drexel, I knew it was a good fit for me.

“I’ve always wanted to go there and it just checked all my boxes.”