Getting Caught Up in the Madness

I didn't update my blog as much as I'd have liked to over our Spring Break and last week but it was because basketball consumed most of my time. Seriously, this was my break schedule more or less and it's why I love the month of March. On Sunday, March 6, I went to see LIU-Brooklyn's 69-67 win over Central Connecticut State in the Semifinals of the NEC Tournament. The following day, I drove up to Bridgeport, Connecticut to watch the MAAC Championship game between the heavily favored Iona Gaels and St. Peter's Peacocks. St. Peter's played a great game the day before where they led top seeded Fairfield 40-15 at halftime. The spread going into the Iona game was 8. Even though they were underdogs, I still had a feeling Peter's had a decent chance to win and knew that Iona while a good team wasn't good enough to be favored by early double digits. I turned out to be right as St. Peter's seemed in control for much of the game. It was great to have a chance to see a Jersey team make the dance in person as they won 62-57. I got goosebumps at the end of the game watching guys like Nick Leon, Wesley Jenkins, Ryan Bacon, Jeron Belin and more celebrating at the end of the game. That was what March is all about. These kids have worked all season or in these 4 particular case 4 years to get where they were and they finally made it to the top of their league. This was a team 5-25 in their Freshman year with only 3 conference wins. So it was really a site to see and something I'll never forget.

The rest of the week I spent watching ball, mainly the Big East Tournament on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday, I went down to Atlantic City for the second half of the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament and would stay down there for the Semis on Saturday. The bracket upon arrival was already messed up as #9 seed Dayton upset #1 seed Xavier and #12 seed St. Joseph's (who didn't have a conference win till Febbrary) defeated #4 seed Duquesne in overtime. That night I saw Temple as expected easily take care of business vs. in-city rival LaSalle 96-76 followed by a painfuly low scoring game between Richmond and Rhode Island in which Richmond won 55-45. Defensive performances like this however, have provided the spark needed for the Sweet 16 run they're currently on. By the way, 55-45 didn't seem too bad after I saw the 36-33 final between Penn State and Wisconsin that happened earlier that night. The following day I saw Dayton beat St. Joe's by 3 in a game that was not as close as the final score. It looked like Dayton might finally make up for their underacheiving seasons in the past 2 years in Chris Wright's senior season but they fell short to Richmond the following day, who I saw beat Temple on that Saturday, marking the first time that I have seen Temple lose in Atlantic City as they were 3 time champs. I was definitely a Richmond fan that day but they have since messed up my bracket and frankly, can't stand their hybrid Princeton offense where they struggle to score more than 60 points per game. I think Kansas should be able to take care of that. Lastly on Sunday, I drove down to Monmouth to take a bus to Loretto, Pennsylvania, roughly a 5 hour ride to see the NEC Women's Championship between Monmouth and St. Francis. Monmouth was competitive for the first 25 minutes of the game. They fell behind double digtis at hafltime but cut it to 4 early in the 2nd half from there, St. Francis wiped the Floor with them and wound up winning by 20. It was an enjoyable day though and the women have a bright future. I can easily see us winning next year and potentially repeating as well 2 years from now.

Now onto the discussion of the tournament itself. There have been a few surprises thus far in the tournament with the biggest probably being #11 seed VCU's consecutive 18 point wins over 6th seeded Georgetown and 3rd seeded Purdue after having to beat fellow 11 seed USC just to get into the field of 64. Richmond as a 12 upset perenially overseeded, overrated Vanderbilt who in 3 of the last 4 NCAA Tournaments, have lost to 13th seeded Siena by 21, another 13 seed Murray State at the buzzer and this year. Florida State also has to be considered a surprise as a 10 seed beating inconsistent but talented Texas A&M then destroying 2nd seed Notre Dame by 14 in a game that wasn't even that close. Florida State's top scorer only averages about 10 points per game, but like Richmond, they have a great defense that have helped them get this far. VCU and Florida State actually are playing each other to see who will make the Elite Eight and I think most people are shocked both have made it this far. Besides that the usual suspects, Duke, Ohio State, Kentucky, North Carolina, Connecticut, Arizona, Kansas, Florida, and Wisconsin are some of the other remaining teams. A couple of the other surprises are Marquette making the Sweet 16 as a 11 seed following wins over Xavier and Syracuse. San Diego State finally picked up their first tournament victory and soon followed that with a much harder earned victory over 7th seeded Temple. I don't know if they're much of a surprise anymore but Butler upset top seeded Pittsburgh in a controversial finish down the stretch with 2 fouls being called in the final 2.5 seconds. And BYU continues to prove doubters wrong with their breeze through the tournament so far with 2 solid wins over Wofford and Gonzaga. Many people had BYU losing to the Gonzaga/St Johns winner but the Cougars still look like they ahve a lot of fight in them and it is foolish to count out a team with a great player like Jimmer Fredette on it.

Onto the previews for tomorrow and Friday

#1 Ohio State vs. #4 Kentucky
Ohio State may very well be the best team in this field. They have tons of experince with their guards like David Light, William Buford and Jon Diebler, have probably the best freshman in America this year with Jared Sullinger. They have great perimeter shooting and are good in the post too, with some solid players on the bench. They do not have a lot of depth which is one of their bigger flaws, so one of their starters can not afford to get into foul trouble. Kentucky as what has seemingly become a trademark of John Calipari teams in recent years are predomianntly freshman guards who while good, are not the quality that his players such as John Wall were last year. Guys like Brandon Knight and Doron Lamb are more athletic than those players alst year, but not as prolific scorers. I think Ohio State is too battle tested with their seniors and Sullinger is the best player on the floor Friday night. But Kentucky has enoguh talent to hang around. I'll take Ohio State by 6.

#2 North Carolina vs. #11 Marquette
Let me just start by saying and this is a big if but if Carolina's players like Harrison Barnes stick around more than just this year, they will win the NCAA Touranment within the next 2 years. I like this Tar Heel team a lot. They are a good combination of guards like Dexter Strickland and Kendall Marshall, but where they really thrive is with their forwards like Tyler Zeller who is a very tall player but also runs great and sometime leads all 10 guys down the court for easy dunks. Harrison Barnes who was a preseason all american first team pick and John Henson. I like Kendall Marshall because he is the kind of player that makes your team better but is also ready to step up and take some big shots. He is the kind of player that can't be unnerved and you love to see that in a freshman. The other day he had 14 assists like it was nothing. They are a solid defensive team too and do a good job blocking and rebounding. Marquette besides the D-Wade years are a team that generally doesn't do anything great. They usually have good guard play as shown with guys like Darius Johnson-Odom and Dwight Buycks this year, but never do a great job on the defensive side. They are usually shorter compared to many of their opponents and let their opponents score seemingly at will. If they do not get a good shooting day here, they will probably lose this game. As it is, I like Carolina by close to double digits. They are too talented and a little too deep for a team like Marquette to handle and Carolina has to know and play like they're getting a gift here too by not having to play a more talented team like Syracuse but rather an 11 seed.

#1 Duke vs. #5 Arizona
This very well could be the game of the Sweet 16. Duke is coming off a close one vs. the Michigan Wolverines while Arizona is coming off a controversial 1 point win over 4th seeded Texas. Duke has the key piece back to improve their chances of a run to the championship in point guard Kyrie Irving. Duke has a little more experience with guard Nolan Smith and forward Kyle Singler returning from last year's championship team. Their new guys such as Seth Curry (Stephen's younger brother) and Irving make a tremendous impact on this team as well. The Plumlee Brothers down low add a lot of size for defense and rebounding as well. Arizona has kind of fallen off the college basketball national radar as last year was the first time in 25 years that they did not make the tournament. They have one of the best young coaches in the nation with Sean Miller, who used to be a head coach at Xavier, and led them to Sweet 16 (and further) appearances as both head and assistant coach. In 2004, Xavier lost to Duke in the Elite Eight with Miller as assistant coach. The Wildcats have a lot of depth in the backcourt with MoMo Jones, Kyle Fogg, and Kevin Parrom all averaging 9.5, 8.1 and 7.8 ppg respectively, while dishing out a couple assists a game a piece. This could very well be sophomore forward Derrick Williams coming out party. He is from La Mirada, California and is expected to have 40 family members or so at the game. He averages 19 points and 8 rebounds a game and is a good inside and outside player. He hits threes at a 58 percent clip. They have a bit of depth there too which I think could make a bit of a difference tonight. This should be a hell of a game and I've had Arizona beating Duke in my backet all along and think they still will win, in a classic by a point, 79-78. I expect Arizona's players to do just a good enough job with rebounding and defense for them to come out of Anaheim(which could make a difference too since Tucson is a lot closer than Durham) with a W.

#2 San Diego State vs. #3 Connecticut
The San Diego State Aztecs have been waiting for this moment all season. They don't play anyone. They're not impressive. They can't make a deep run in this tournament. They will have a chance tonight against Jim Calhoun's Huskies. San Diego State is as balanced of a team as there is in the country and a few of their players have had big games this season, whether it was star Kawhi Leonard, D.J. Gay, Billy White, Chase Tapley or Malcolm Thomas. They are a deeper team than Connecticut and a more veteran team than Connecticut and I expect that to pay off here. They have played against the best player in the nation in Jimmer Fredette so will likely be prepared to face a similar player in Kemba Walker. Another big difference here is the fact that not only has UCONN played 7 games in 12 days, but they also now must play a game 3,000 miles away in their opposing team's backyard off a very unimpressive victory vs. Temple. I think UCONN's magic runs out tonight. If Kemba is not firing on all cylinders, I can see SD State even making a statement tonight and beating them by more than they should. As long as San Diego State can do a good job of rebounding against 6'9 Alex Oriakhi and 7'0 Charles Okwandu, I like their chances here. The experience, balance and depth should pay off here as well as a great opportunity to prove all the doubters wrong. The game in Anaheim doesn't hurt either.

#1 Kansas vs. #12 Richmond
Kansas I believe is on a mission this year to avenge their shocking second round exit to Northern Iowa last year. I think this team will win the tournament, but add to the fact that their bracket is the one that exploded this year with the 2,3,4 and 5 seeds all being eliminated. There is NO EXCUSE for them not to at least make the final four and considering the final four team they'd play is either Butler,Wisconsin,BYU or Florida who they're better then, they should at the very least make the championship. There is no way around it, KU is a much better all-around team. They are more athletic, have more height, better shooters, better guards and post players. They are also a deeper team. Where Richmond may have an advantage is their deliberate, smart offensive play which is a hybrid of Pete Carrill's Princeton offense. Coach Mooney played at Princeton and he has instilled what he learned in this Spiders team. The problem with that though is that this team struggles to score. Like I mentioned earlier, I saw them win a 55-45 game. They in all likelihood are not going to be able to play that kind of game against the Jayhawks, which likely spells trouble for them since they will not beat KU in a fast paced and high scoring game. They key is how well Richmond starts. If they start like Cornell did vs. Kentucky last year they could be in trouble quickly. But if they keep it like 10-8 8 minutes into the game or something, this could get interesting. Overall the Jayhawks are a much better team with the Morris Brothers, Tyshawn Taylor and crew and should have no problem in beating this Cinderella. This is a team that I don't think will be denied this year and there run won't again be ruined by a mid major. Kansas by 15-20.

#10 Florida State vs. #11 VCU
Bet you had this one. I don't think anyone I know had both these teams getting past the first game let alone both in the 2nd round. Florida State beat Texas A&M and Notre Dame to get here. VCU beat USC in the play-in game and then dismantled both Georgetown and Purdue by 18 points each. VCU was one of the last teams in which obviously is a similarity to another Colonial Athletic Association team 5 years ago that made the final four in George Mason. Everyone doubted their qualifications coming into the tournament but they showed they deserved to be there which is exactly what this Rams team has done thus far this year. Florida State has held their opponents to 50 and 57 so far. This is going to be a defensive game in all likelihood and will be a fun one because neither expected to be here and the winner is making a shocking run to the Elite Eight. Both teams will play their hearts out and leave it on the floor. It will be a grind it out game. Florida State is a team in the truest sense of the word. Its team's top scorer averages around 10 a game. They rely on team play and defense to get wins and it works. Personally I believe VCU's steam is due to run out against better talent and regardless the winner is in for a very rough game against Kansas. Tough to go against a power conference school this far in and VCU prior to last week was somewhat inconsistent. I'll take Florida State but not to cover the 5 pt spread or so.

#8 Butler vs. #4 Wisconsin
This should be an old school matchup with defense being the theme. I have so much respect for what Brad Stevens has done at Butler. A lot of people doubt they could duplicate what they did last year and yet they are well on their way to doing it. I think they are a little overseeded at 8 because in my opinion, had they lost the Horizon League Championship to Wisconsin-Milwaukee (which would've been their 3rd loss to them this season) they wouldn't have gotten in. But nonetheless they retain a lot of the core that made the championship game last season and no one's play on Butler has been as smart as Matt Howard. The kid's playing like he's a senior and wants to end it on a good note. In game 1 against Old Dominion, a team many thought they would lose to, he caught an airball and laid it in at the buzzer for a 2 point win. And over the weekend in what might be the game of this year's tournament, in a tied game with 0.1 of a second left Howard had the ball and flipped it in the air hoping to get a foul call and did and wound up making 1 to defeat top seeded Pittsburgh. Shelvin Mack is a great shooter as well and a big reason Butler is back in the Sweet 16. Wisconsin as well is playing like a team that feels they have to prove their critics wrong. They were a laughing stock after losing to Penn State in the Big 10 Tournament 36-33. Many people were picking them to lose to Belmont, Utah State or Kansas State but they have made it here due to their tough defense and solid inside game. Butler has more of an inside game this year than they ahd last year while Wisconsin is more of a perimeter team than they usually are. Jon Leuer and Keaton Nankivil are forwards for the Badgers with an inside game but are solid jumpshooters as well. The game could very well come in the hands of point guard Jordan Taylor's play who played poorly against the Kansas State Wildcats. I'll take Wisconsin in a slow paced close one, 58-54.

#3 BYU vs. #2 Florida
I expect Jimmer Fredette to have a great game, potentially in the 40s or even 50s and silence critics who say he can't play against power conference opponents. I feel he will get just enough help tonight for them to advance against an overrated and relatively unproven Florida Gators team. They don't do anything particularly great and to me are overseeded as a 2. BYU exposes them tonight with a 8 point win.

Anyways, time for the games. Should be a fun night.

Groups I, III and Non-Public A Quarterfinal Predictions/Conference Tourney Predictions

Through the first 3 days of the state tournament, here's how I'm doing so far.

31-1 in Group I games
41-7 in Group II games
25-7 in Group III games
39-9 in Group IV games
9-1 in Non-Public A games
8-2 in Non-Public B games
153-27 overall

Last night, almost everything went to plan. There were 2 major upsets though with my upset pick East Orange coming out on top in overtime against Columbia. South Group IV favorite Cherry Hill East also lost. Onto my picks for tonight...

North I, Group I
1)Wood-Ridge-22.5 over 9) Palisades Park
4)Wallington-4 over 12) Leonia
3)Cresskill-8.5 over 11) Midland Park
15)Ridgefield+3.5 over 7) Park Ridge

North II, Group I
8)Hoboken-8.5 over 1) Dayton
4)Newark Vocational-7.5 over 12) Whippany Park
3)University-11.5 over 6) North 13th Street Tech
2)New Providence-11 over 10) Bloomfield Tech

Central, Group I
9)Point Pleasant Beach-18.5 over 1) Bound Brook
4)Asbury Park-1.5 over 5) Florence
3)New Egypt-19 over 11) Metuchen
7)Burlington City-7.5 over 2) Piscataway Tech

South, Group I
1)Pitman-19 over 9) Haddon Township
5)Paulsboro-19 over 4) Gloucester City
3)Lindenwold+0.5 over 6) Salem
2)Penns Grove-9 over 7) Woodbury

North I, Group III
16)Wayne Hills-1 over 8) Passaic Valley
12)Wayne Valley-4 over 13) Demarest
3)Pascack Valley-5.5 over 11) Sparta
2)Teaneck-18 over 7) Ramapo

North II, Group III
9)Plainfield-17 over 1) Somerville
4)Rahway-4.5 over 5) West Morris
11)ColoniaPK over 3) Mendham
2)Newark East Side-12.5 over 7) Scotch Plains

Central, Group III
1)Colts Neck-9.5 over 9) Princeton
5)Hamilton+3.5 over 13) Northern Burlington
3)Burlington Twp.-10.5 over 11) Monmouth Regional
2)Neptune-16.5 over 7) Freehold Boro

South, Group III
1)Kingsway-12.5 over 9) Highland Regional
5)Central Regional+2 over 4) Ocean City
3)Lacey-5 over 6) Deptford
7)Pemberton-6 over 2) Manchester Township

Non-Public North A
1)Seton Hall Prep-4.5 over 8) Paramus Catholic
13)Union Catholic-5.5 over 5) Queen of Peace
7)Roselle Catholic-8 over 2) Don Bosco Prep
3)St. Peter's-11 over 6) Delbarton

Non-Public South A
8)Bishop Eustace+1 over 1) St. Augustine
4)St. Joe's Metuchen+5.5 over 5) CBA
6)Camden Catholic+3.5 over 3) Holy Spirit
2)Paul VI-15 over 7) Red Bank Catholic

Game of the Day:
5)CBA at 4) St. Joe's Metuchen
Honorable Mentions:5)Florence at 4) Asbury Park
6)Salem at 3) Lindenwold
11)Colonia at 3) Mendham
8)Bishop Eustace at 1) St. Augustine
6)Camden Catholic at 3) Holy Spirit

Upset of the Day:
Don't really consider it an upset but it would be according to Born Power Index...
4) St. Joe's Metuchen over 5) CBA.

Now onto the college hardwood...

2-0 Atlantic Sun Quarterfinals
3-1 Big South Quarterfinals
4-0 Horizon League First Round
0-2 Ohio Valley First Round
4-0 Patriot League Quarterfinals
13-3 overall

America East Play-in Game
9)Binghamton over 8) UMBC

Big South Semifinals
7)High Point over 3) UNC-Asheville
1)Coastla Carolina over 4) VMI

Missouri Valley Opening Round
9)Illinois State over 8) Southern Illinois
7)Drake over 10) Bradley

Northeast Conference Quarterfinals
1)Long Island over 8) St. Francis (PA)
5)St. Francis (NY) over 4) Central Connecticut State
3)Robert Morris over 6) Wagner
2)Quinnipiac over 7) Mount St. Mary's

Ohio Valley Quarterfinals
4)Tennessee Tech over 8) UT-Martin
3)Austin Peay over 7) SE Missouri State

Groups II and IV Predictions Second Round/Conference Tourney Predictions

Sorry once again that I was unable to post yesterday. The internet at my house is currently down till Friday and the only computers I'm able to access is at school. To make matters worse, my house had no heat either for the last 2 days so we were staying in 50 degree weather. Anyway, I'll catch everything up to this point and hopefully everything will be smooth sailing from here.

Group I Predictions
North I-7-1
North II-8-0
Central-8-0
South 8-0
31-1 Overall

Group II Predictions
North I-8-0
North II-7-1
Central-8-0
South-7-1
30-2 Overall

Group III Predictions
North I-5-3
North II-7-1
Central-7-1
South 6-2
25-7 Overall

Group IV Predictions
North I-7-1
North II-6-2
Central-? Can't find result for Jackson/Howell Game (either 6-2/7-1)
South-8-0
27-5/28-4

Non-Public North A Predictions
5-1

Non-Public South A Predictions
4-0

Non-Public South B Predictions
1-0

123-16/124-15 Overall

Yesterday also started the College Basketball Conference Tournament Season in the Big South and Horizon Leagues. There was a huge upset as #7 seed High Point took down #2 seed Liberty. Coastal Carolina at 27-4 certainly looks like even more of a lock now to go into the NCAA tourney for their first time in nearly 20 years.

3-1 Big South Quarterfinals
4-0 Horizon League First Round

7-1 Overall

Now onto today's picks in Group II, Group IV and Non-Public B as well as my picks for tonight's conference tournament games.

North I, Group II
1)Pascack Hills-5.5 over 8) Englewood
4)Elmwood Park+1 over 5) Hopatcong
6)Manchester Regional-12 over 3) Mountain Lakes
2)Pequannock-12 over 10) Lenape Valley

North II, Group II
1)Newark Central-18.5 over 8) Cliffside Park
13)West Essex+0.5 over 5) Rutherford
3)Ridgefield Park-7.5 over 11) Hanover Park
10)Newark Tech+2.5 over 2) Madison

Central, Group II
1)Raritan-11.5 over 8) Matawan
5)Shabazz-7 over 4) Governor Livingston
6)Carteret+3 over 3) Rumson
2)Ewing-15 over 7) Roselle

South, Group II
16)Bridgeton-2.5 over 9) Pt. Boro
4)Collingswood+4 over 5) Medford Tech
6)Haddonfield-9.5 over 3) Cinnaminson
2)Middle Twp.-20.5 over 7) Willingboro

North I, Group IV
9)Paterson Eastside-7.5 over 1) Livingston
4)Roxbury-4 over 12) Union City
11)Montclair-5 over 14) Ridgewood
10)Paterson Kennedy-6.5 over 2) Passaic Tech

North II, Group IV
8)East Orange+5.5 over 1) Columbia
4)Piscataway-6 over 12) Bridgewater-Raritan
14)Ridge-24 over 6) Dickinson
2)Linden-12.5 over 7) Union

Central, Group IV
9)Manalapan+2.5 over 1) Middletown North
Jackson/Howell over 13) Brick Memorial
3)North Brunswick+4.5 over 6) Trenton
2)East Brunswick-0.5 over 10) Rancocas Valley

South, Group IV
1)Williamstown-10.5 over 8) Atlantic City
4)Lenape-7.5 over 5) Winslow
6)Eastern-1.5 over 3) Oakcrest
2) Cherry Hill East-11.5 over 7) Shawnee

Non-Public B
8)Marist-16 over 9) St. Mary's Rutherford
5)Gill St. Bernards-52 over 12) Saddle River Day
13)Newark Academy-6.5 over 4) Dwight-Englewood
3)Montclair Kimberley-7 over 14) Oratory
11)St. Mary's Jersey City-5.5 over 6) Morristown-Beard
7)Hudson Catholic-27 over 10) Montclair Immaculate
2)St. Anthony-46.5 over 15) Morris Catholic
8)Moorestown Friends+0.5 over 9) Sacred Heart
7)Holy Cross-18.5 over 10) Wardlaw-Hartridge

Game of the Day:10) Rancocas Valley at 2) East Brunswick
Honorable Mentions:16) Bridgeton at 9) Pt. Boro
8) East Orange at 1) Columbia
7) Union at 2) Linden
9) Manalapan at 1) Middletown North
6) Trenton at 3) North Brunswick

Now onto the college hardwood...

Atlantic Sun Quarterfinals(continues tomorrow)
1)Belmont over 8) Kennesaw State
5)Mercer over 4) Lipscomb
3)Jacksonville over 6) North Florida
2)ETSU over 7) Campbell

Ohio Valley First Round
5)Tennessee State over 8) UT-Martin
6)Eastern Kentucky over 7) Southeast Missouri

Patriot League Quarterfinals
1)Bucknell over 8) Army
4)Lehigh over 5) Navy
6)Lafayette over 3) Holy Cross
2) American over 7) Colgate

Groups II and IV Predictions-First Round

Unfortunately, I fell behind in my previews so I'm just going to jump forward to the predictions. Not like the previews missed much. Obviously Non-Public A and B's front runners are predictably Seton Hall Prep and St. Ant's/Pat's. In Group IV, the favorite is Linden. Group III is seemingly a tossup with Neptune, Kingsway, Plainfield, Newark East Side all having shots. But anyway, today starts the state tournament and here are my predictions for each game. In parentheses is a -number which indicates how much the team is favored by on Born Power Index, the site I said gives high school spreads. I'll give a game of the day and upset I can see happening too. I'll update the standings after each day.

North I, Group II
1) Pascack Hills-20.5 over 16) New Milford
8) Englewood-22.5 over 9) North Warren
5) Hopatcong-18.5 over 12) Pompton Lakes
4) Elmwood Park -7.5 over 13) Westwood
3) Mountain Lakes-18 over 14) Newton
6) Manchester Regional-11.5 over 11) Ramsey
10) Lenape Valley-12 over 7) Wallkill Valley
2) Pequannock-11.5 over 15) River Dell

North II, Group II
1) Newark Central-27.5 over 16) Parsippany
8) Cliffside Park-8 over 9) Garfield
5) Rutherford-3.5 over 12) Lincoln
4) Orange-14 over 13) West Essex
3) Ridgefield Park-8 over 14) Caldwell
11) Hanover Park-7.5 over 6) Hacksettstown
10) Newark Tech-28.5 over 7) Bernards
2) Madison-16.5 over 15) Fort Lee

Central, Group II
1) Raritan-29.5 over 16) Johnson
8) Matawan-23.5 over 9) Middlesex
5) Shabazz-13 over 12) Delaware Valley
4) Governor Livingston-18 over 13) North Plainfield
3) Rumson-28 over 14) Spotswood
6) Carteret-16.5 over 11) Robbinsville
7) Roselle-5 over 10) Shore
2) Ewing-28.5 over 15) Hillside

South, Group II
1) Lakewood-14 over 16) Bridgeton
8) Haddon Heights+0.5 over 9) Pt. Pleasant Boro
5) Medford Tech-9.5 over 12) Pleasantville
4) Collingswood-11.5 over 13) Overbrook
3) Cinnaminson-15 over 14) Sterling
6) Haddonfield-31 over 11) Barnegat
7) Willingboro+2 over 10) Lower Cape May
2) Middle Twp.-36.5 over 15) Pennsauken Tech

North I, Group IV
1) Livingston-12 over 16) Morristown
9) Paterson Eastside-10.5 over 8) Bloomfield
5) Hacksensack-5 over 12) North Bergen
4) Roxbury-8 over 13) North Bergen
14) Ridgefield+2 over 3) Memorial
11) Montclair-5 over 6) Vernon
10) Paterson Kennedy-3 over 7) Morris Knolls
2) Passaich Tech-8 over 15) Passaic

North II, Group IV
1) Columbia-17.5 over 16) Watchung Hills
8) East Orange-13.5 over 9) Bayonne
5) Franklin+2.5 over 12) Bridgewater-Raritan
4) Piscataway-8.5 over 13) Westfield
14) Ridge-17 over 3) North Hunterdon
11) Woodbridge-6.5 over 6) Dickinson
7) Union-13 over 10) Perth Amboy
2) Linden-28.5 over 15) Hunterdon Central

Central, Group IV
1) Middletown North-6.5 over 16) Freehold Twp.
9) Manalapan-5.5 over 8) West Windsor North
12) Howell-6 over 5) Jackson
4) West Windsor South-6 over 13) Brick Memorial
3) North Brunswick+7 over 14) Pennsauken
6) Trenton+1 over 11) Montgomery
10) Rancocas Valley+1.5 over 7) Hillsborough
2) East Brunswick-13.5 over 15) South Brunswick

South, Group IV
1) Williamstown-12.5 over 16) Vineland
8) Atlantic City-2 over 9) Clearview
5) Winslow-8.5 over 12) Toms River South
4) Lenape-13 over 13) Triton
3) Oakcrest-5 over 14) Millville
6) Eastern-17.5 over 11) Southern
7) Shawnee-9.5 over 10) Absegami
2) Cherry Hill East-21.5 over 15) Egg Harbor

Game of the Day:10) Rancocas Valley at 7) Hillsborough
Honorable Mention:12) Bridgewater-Raritan at 5) Franklin

Upset of the Day: North Brunswick over Pennsauken

So there are my picks for today. Tomorrow I will be back picking the first round games for Groups I, III and Non-Public A.

Groups II and III Preview

Back again with a preview of Groups II and III today. I never gave my predictions for the GMC Semis yesterday, but I would've went 2-0 with St. Joe's and Piscataway advancing to the final tomorrow night at Rutgers. Anyway onto Group II...

The Favorites

North I, Group II-No one
North II, Group II-Newark Central
Central, Group II-Ewing, Raritan
South, Group II-Middle Twp, Haddonfield, Lakewood

Dark Horses

North I, Group II-Manchester Regional
North II, Group II-Newark Tech, Orange
Central, Group II-Rumson-Fair Haven
South, Group II-Cinnaminson, Lower Cape May

Long Shots

North I, Group II-Pascack Hills, Englewood, Hopatcong, Pequannock, Mountain Lakes, Elmwood Park
North II, Group II-Madison, Ridgefield Park, Rutherford, Cliffside Park
Central, Group II-Shabazz, Matawan, Governor Livingston, Carteret, Roselle
South, Group II-While there are a couple clear favorites in South Group II, the rest of the bracket perhaps might be the most contentious in the state. There are 8 teams ranked within 8 points of each other. Those long shots would be Lower Cape May, Willingboro, Pt Pleasant Boro, Bridgeton, Haddon Heights, Collingswood, Pleasantville, and Sterling

No Shot

North I, Group II-Wallkill Valley, North Warren, Lenape Valley, Ramsey, Pompton Lakes, Westwood, Newton, River Dell, New Milford
North II, Group II-Hackettstown, Bernards, Garfield, Hanover Park, Lincoln, West Essex, Caldwell, Fort Lee, Parsippany
Central, Group II-Middlesex, Shore, Robbinsville, Delaware Valley, North Plainfield, Spotswood, Hillside, Johnson
South, Group II-Medford Tech, Barnegat, Overbrook, Pennsauken Tech

Most of the favorites in Group II are very similar. They all ahve decent guards but the area where they most stand out is their height. Teams like Lakewood have multiple guys 6'4 or taller. Newark Central blew out most of their Essex County competition, but lost by 45 to a little above average team in Camden Catholic. They lost by 7 to Paramus Catholic, so they have experience playing good teams. They do have a loaded team though, with 5 guys having 177 or more points this season. Ramon Johnson, Patrick Cole and Daquan Jones are the stars of this team and ahve helped give Central a 22-5 record. They have a very very favorable sectional draw and shouldn't really receive much of a test from anyone. All three of them are seniors as well which will make them an even tougher out knowing there's no tomorrow. I would be shocked if they didn't represent North I/North II in the sectional final.

A team that has really come a long way in a short amount of time is Ewing. They have been one of the top seeds continuously over the last few years or so. Another interesting thing is the fact as far as I know, the coach is the only woman I've seen coach a boys high school basketball game, so she serves as a type of mother figure to the players, some of which come from broken homes and poorer families. They are another team who shouldn't get tested till Rumson in the sectional semis and who knows how much they'll have left in them after making an improbable run to the Shore Conference final as a 13 seed. Ewing is a very athletic talented team and matches up well against most teams they would see. Dontae' Jones and Darryl Griffin are their best players and are the main reasons they are 20-4. Jones is a 6-5 junior forward so I'm sure he's receiving division 1 looks and Griffin is a fast guard who is capable of having big games.

What could be the Shore Conference Champs a day from tonight is Raritan. Winning the Shore Conference is a hell of an accomplishment yet they still seem like they are flying under the radar and people are underestimating them. Looking at their draw however, I feel their chance for an upset is higher than Ewing's. The emotional run to the championship for Raritan has to had take a toll on them and I think they could be prime for an upset in the second or third round vs. Matawan or Shabazz. On paper, you have to like their chances to potentially win it all. But teams who win counties rarely go deep in states and I just think this team may fall on its face.

North I, Group II
North II, Group II
Central, Group II
South, Group II

Group I Preview

Before I preview the state basketball tournament in Group I, I just wanted to say I went 2-2 predicting games in the GMC Tournament the other day. Cardinal McCarrick wound up pulling the 6 over 3 upset as they defeated East Brunswick 64-62 as time expired on a layup on freshman Marques Townes. I actually uploaded the clip to YouTube so you can see it there. I did get the middle 2 games right at St. Joe's defeated Perth Amboy 72-62 and Bishop Ahr beat JFK 69-57. Piscataway won the last game over South Brunswick 52-43. So the semifinals are #1 Piscataway vs. #5 Bishop Ahr and #2 St. Joe's vs. #6 Cardinal McCarrick. Groups I and III do not start play until next Tuesday, but up until Sunday I'll preview with a group a day and since these are the smallest schools, we'll start from here. I'll categorize the teams in 4 different ways--the favorites, the dark horses, the long shots, no shot. Keep in mind this is for the entire group, next week I'll give my individual game predictions which will talk about the 4 sections a little more.


The Favorites

North I, Group I-None

North II, Group I-None

Central, Group I-Point Pleasant Beach, Asbury Park, New Egypt

South, Group I-Pitman, Paulsboro, Penns Grove


The Darkhorses

North I, Group I-None

North II, Group I-Hoboken, Newark University

Central, Group I-Florence, Burlington City

South, Group I-Salem, Woodbury, Lindenwold


Long Shots

North I, Group I-None

North II, Group I-Bloomfield Tech, New Providence, Dayton, Weequahic, Newark Vocational

Central, Group I-Bound Brook

South, Group I-None


No Shot

North I, Group I-I use a website which gives "high school spreads" for games and there are 18 teams in Group I higher than the top team here. This section has no chance for a group title. The teams are Wood-Ridge, Verona, Cresskill, Wallington, Saddle Brook, Bogota, Park Ridge, Emerson Boro, Palisades Park, Becton, Midland Park, Leonia, Sussex Tech, West Caldwell Tech, Ridgefield, and Hasbrouck Heights.

North II, Group I-Dunellen, North 13th Street Vo-Tech, Weehawken, North Arlington, Roselle Park, Whippany Park, Glen Ridge, Secaucus, Arts

Central, Group I-Piscataway Tech, South Hunterdon, East Brunswick Tech, Academy Charter, Metuchen, South River, Keyport, Perth Amboy Tech, Highland Park, Palmyra

South, Group I-Gloucester City, Audubon, Haddon Township, Camden Charter, Schalick, Wildwood, Clayton, Maple Shade, Glassboro, Gateway

Just letting everyone know I spent the last hour and a half typing or so previewing the 6 favorites and of course, it had trouble saving so when I left the page thinking it had automatically saved. It took me back to just this. I will be back tomorrow with more elaborate previews of the other Groups.

GMC Quarterfinals Preview

Over the next few weeks, my blogs will be primarily previews and predictions of the upcoming New Jersey high school basketball tournament, Conference Tournaments in the NCAA and finally the NCAA Basketball Tournament. I actually heard some pretty cool news the other day that I'm looking forward to and that is because the NCAA Tournament is now on 4 seperate stations, other channels besides CBS can air games and not have to worry about regularly scheduled programming, so what that means is now in the Round of 32, games instead of stopping around 9 or 10 on Saturday and 7 on Sunday, are now going to midnight. The second round is usually way too rushed to me and I've always hated the national early game followed by 3 in the second window then 4 in the final window on Sunday. Fortunately over the last couple years, that window hasn't had great games but a few come to my mind-the Purdue-Texas A&M game last year, Kentucky-UAB a few years back, etc. but if there was ever a day with a lot of great games, we wouldn't be able to see it because they can only show you one game at a time. There is no more of that fortunately, and you can view any game you want. Anyway, this is the new configuartion of Saturday/Sunday viewing times.



Saturday-12, 2:30, 5, 7:30 on CBS, 6 and 8 on TBS, 7 and 9:30 on TNT

sunday-12, 2:30 and 5 on CBS, 6 and 8 on TBS, 7 and 9:30 on TNT, 7:30 on TRUTV



I personally love the idea that as of 6PM Sunday, only 3 games will be completed or so and those will be games everyuone can watch since those are the only ones going on then. Then with the 5 and 6 PM ones you can go back and forth, as with the 7, 7:30 and 8, before finishing up watching the late night 9:30 game.



Obviously, as you can tell by now, I'm a big fan of basketball at all 3 levels-high school, college and professional. I still scorekeep relatively frequently for my high school, film, announce and scorekeep for Monmouth and watch college basketball frequently as well as the pros. About now each year is the county tournaments across the state and here I will preview Middlesex County's Elite Eight. The quarterfinals are Sunday and whoever's around should drop by. The games will be a lot of fun. Here's the schedule...



12:00-#3 East Brunswick vs. #6 Cardinal McCarrick

1:30-#2 St. Joe's vs. #7 Perth Amboy

4:00-#5 Bishop Ahr vs. #13 John F. Kennedy

5:30-#1 Piscataway vs. #9 South Brunswick



#3 East Brunswick vs. #6 Cardinal McCarrick-To people around the county, this is probably the best game on paper. Both teams have done phenomonal in conference--East Brunswick went 17-3 while Cardinal McCarrick went 13-5. Cardinal McCarrick, however, has stumbled to the finish line winning just 3 of their last 6, although those losses were to the 1 seed Piscataway, the 4 seed North Brunswick(who was upset last night), and a much improved Roselle Catholic team. East Brunswick, however, plays in the Red Division, which is overall stronger with 5 of the remaining 8 teams still alive residing in that division. McCarrick remains the only team left in the White Division. Bishop Ahr and JFK are the remaining teams in the Blue. I also believe this is one of the stronger teams for East Brunswick in recent memory. A deep run in this tournament will likely make them a top 20 team and as it is they are currently ranked 4th in the state in Group IV, which is always loaded with great teams. McCarrick has also had great teams recently and have become one of the powerhouses in Non-Public South B, but they are far from the team they were a couple years back when they had both Mike Burwell who's playing at South Florida right now and Vince Rosario, who's playing at Central Connecticut State. Both teams are similarly experienced, but I believe East Brunswick is just a deeper team this year and will find a way to pull it out, especially after Cardinal McCarrick just had a thrilling double overtime win against Colonia on Thursday night, I'm not sure if they have it in them to pull a close one out today. Going in if they'd have won in regulation against Colonia I probably would've picked them, but East Brunswick this year has a deep enough team and scoring from enough places to get the job done here in a big spot. I think a key player in this game will be East Brunswick's Rob Ukawuba who is only a sophomore but has come a long way this season and really has had great numbers in some games. He is one of the taller players on the team and gives East Brunswick the inside presence they need for a predominantly guard oriented perimeter shooting team. Cardinal McCarrick has relied on guys like Charlie Gorman and Ahmid Williams all season to lead the Eagles to victory and I expect it to eb the same way this game. Ahmid Williams has to play one of the games like I've seen him play at Monroe and I think McCarrick can win. The problem in this game though I see for them is that McCarrick is a traditionally higher scoring team while East Brunswick is a lower scoring team. I think East Brunswick will play a better defensive game and find a way to beat Cardinal McCarrick. Their lowest point total this season is 49, followed by scores in the mid 50's or higher. I think EB advances to the semis in a close one.

Prediction:East Brunswick 56, Cardinal McCarrick 51

#2 St Joe's vs. #7 Perth Amboy-As a St. Joe's alum and still their scorekeeper, this game scares me. Just 3 weeks ago, on our home court, we faced a chance to lose to this Perth Amboy Panthers team and ultimately prevailed in overtime. But just like the 38-35 win for the Patriots over the Giants to end the regular season back in 2007, it made Perth Amboy realize they can win against us. We are however, a stronger team than them, in pretty much every area but depth and experience. Our coach, Dave Turco, to me, is one of the best coaches in the state and his level of preparation and knowledge for a high school level is staggering. I don't know if he's done them this season, but over the past few years, he prepared elaborate scouting reports to his players talking about strengths, weaknesses, etc. I think Perth Amboy's coach, Edwin Santana, is a pretty solid coach too and because all of his team is Spanish he communicates with them that way, which I definitely believe is an advantage. This may be a game, however, Perth Amboy's seniors have been anticipating for a while. The last few years they haven't been very good but this year, they are over .500 again and have a decent seed in states though it is against the Union Farmers. So they may have been waiting for this day to come when they have a chance to pull off the upset in a big spot. They have 9 seniors while St. Joe's has just 4. However, 2 of the players, not seniors for St. Joe's are all GMC players Danny Brix and Quenton DeCosey. They combined for 43 points the other night in their 83-40 win vs. Metuchen and will continue to be integral components in the county and state tournament. I just don't think Perth Amboy has an answer for both Danny and Quenton. Quenton's as good as a player I've seen on the high school level taking it to the hoop and getting second and third rebound chances. The sky is really the limit for him as long as he keeps his head on straight and doesn't act selfish. He is a junior right now but he is getting some very high profile looks from Syracuse and Notre Dame I've heard. Danny also I think is definitely good enough to go division I as well and it is this combo that will make St. Joe's tough to beat this time of year. To me, they have 2 losses rather than 4 on the year. The East Brunswick game the first time was atrocious--awful officiating. How do you not put Quenton at the line one time when he averages a few free throws a game and seemingly is always near the basket? That game was also 2 days before Christmas so the focus might not have been there. The Colonia loss too I don't really count because it was made up on very short notice which we never play well in, and Colonia's a tough place to play at in general. Piscataway was probably one of the worst games I've ever seen St. Joe's play and we still almost won. The tide would have turned if the refs didn't make an egregious error and noticed the 6 men on the court which would've given St. Joe's the ball and 2 free throws on a technical to cut the lead to 3 from 5. And the Hun loss just the other day was a bad one. We looked good for the first 3 quarters but forgot to seal the deal and lost by 4. A big problem with Perth Amboy is their lack of big men. They have good guards like Kearny Canella and Jorge Jimenez, but outside of Wancel Arias and David Rogers, they are lacking in that spot. I just think St. Joe's defense will be too much to handle in this spot and even if Brix or DeCosey are off, expect guys like Kevin Waitikovich, Nick Straughn and Jimbo Long to pick up the load for us. We never start out well in the quarterfinals and I expect the same today, but ultimately we will eventually pick up the pieces at some point in this game, cruise to a relatively easy victory and make a statement to show we're more than ready to defend our county title from last year.

Prediction:St. Joe's 63, Perth Amboy 46

#5 Bishop Ahr vs. #13 John F. Kennedy-I find it particularly interesting here Kennedy is 12-6 and a 13 seed. Remember Piscataway is the 1 with a 13-6 record although the teams they've played are far better. Kennedy has 2 awful losses on paper, the 31-28 loss to Middlesex at home and the 23 point loss at Carteret after beating them by 9 earlier in the season. First time around this season, Bishop Ahr won by 20. The second time around, Bishop Ahr won by 3. The bottom line is prior to last game, the highest seed in the county that Kennedy beat was the 12 seed. In addition, Bishop Ahr is a parochial school and there's just no reason a parochial school should ever lose to a team with as many flaws as JFK. I'm expecting this somewhere between more scores probably a 10-15 point game, but would be shocked if Bishop Ahr didn't win. JFK's win over North Brunswick was totally unexpected and I think was more a fluke and them underestimating JFK and being over confident themselves than anything. Don't expect a reprise today.

Prediction:Bishop Ahr 67, John F. Kennedy 52

#1 Piscataway vs. #9 South Brunswick-This could wind up being game of the day and it is the last one on the schedule. You have top seeded Piscataway taking on one of their divisional opponents. South Brunswick really stumbled to the end losing 6 of 8 after starting the season 8-4. Piscataway has shown weakness at times too beating Perth Amboy just 33-20, losing at home to Perth Amboy by 12, losing to East Brunswick by 15 and a relatively medicore Immacualta team this year by 23. Piscataway and South Brunswick are usually odd teams because you can see games with great defense or with a lot of scoring. The two games this year were 46-37 and 38-35 both going in Piscataways favor. Piscataway by no means is a dominant team for a 1 seed and I personally be shocked if they won this tournament. I think whoever wins the game between us and East Brunswick wins the tournament. You could make an argument how the hell is a 13-6 team the 1 seed? East Brunswick went 17-3 in conference and was co leader atop the toughest division so they could've been the 1. South Brunswick perhaps regained a bit of confidence from the 46-41 win Thursday night against New Brunswick and I'm sure just based on the two games this year, they know they can beat the top seeded Chiefs. Neither of these 2 teams do anything well besides play tough gritty defense. These 2 are not spectacular on any means on the offensive side which is why I can see an upset here. If Tajae Sharpe or Danny Cole is off for the Chiefs today, I think guys like Kory Sanders and Nick Muha can lead South Brunswick to one of the biggest upsets of the tournament so far.

Prediction:South Brunswick 44, Piscataway 43

So based on my predictions, I have #9 South Brunswick vs. #5 Bishop Ahr and #3 East Brunswick vs. #2 St. Joe's. Those games are on Wednesday so I'll probably preview them sometime that morning. Over the next few days, I'll preview the state brackets. Here will be the schedule.

Tuesday-2/22-Group I
Wednesday-2/23-Group II/GMC Semis
Thursday-2/24-Group III
Friday-2/25-Group IV/GMC Championship
Saturday-2/26-Non-Public A
Sunday-2/27-Non-Public B

So that does it for my GMC Quarterfinals Preview and we can only hope we have a day like the Shore Conference had yesterday where all 4 games were settled by 3 or less and there was the huge upset of #8 Pt Pleasant Beach over #1 CBA as well. I'm looking forward to the games today and if you're around, you should definitely drop by.

The Rise and Rise of St. Mary's Basketball and How a Basketball Game Changed Lives

There's a phrase popularly said regarding the best high school team's in the nation, "They don't rebuild, they reload." There's a lot of colleges that do this too--like a Duke or a Michigan State. But sometimes the reloading is done in places you don't expect it to happen, yet it does time and time again. If you don't follow college basketball, most people throughout the United States are probably unfamiliar with the town of 16,755 people in California called Moraga. If you do follow the college game, however, you probably know that St. Mary's College is located there and that they're coming off a Sweet Sixteen season led by Omar Samhan, who led the West Coast Conference regular season in scoring with 21.5 ppg, rebounds with 11.1 per game, and block with 2.9 per game). He was named the WCC Defensive Player of the Year and was a First Team All-WCC selection. He had a phenomonal first 2 games in the NCAA Tournament averaging 30.5 points and 9.5 rebounds while shooting 75 percent 24-32 from the floor. He also became the school's most prolific scorer in a single season. He's currently playing in Lithuania with BC Zalgiris.

Before Samhan, St. Mary's had Patrick Mills. Mills who now plays point guard for the Portland Trail Blazers, signed with the Gaels in November of 2006. An important thing to note is Mills Australian heritage. He is one of the youngest players to suit up for Australia's national team and one of the first Indigenous Australians to play in the NBA. Mills became the 5th Australian player that coach Randy Bennett successfully recruited since arriving at Moraga in 2001. One of the other Australians to have played under Bennett at St. Mary's was fellow AIS old boy Daniel Kickert, the Gaels' all time leading scorer. Like Kickert, he became the first freshman to start for the Gaels since Kickert did so in the 2002-03 season. In the fourth game of the 2007-08 season, he entered the American consciousness when he scored 37 in an upset of nationally ranked Oregon on November 20th. They became nationlly ranked for the first time since 1989 after a 7-0 start and have not left the consciousness since. In their Christmas Tournament in Hawaii that year, the Gaels won and Mills was named tournament MVP. He won several accolades as a freshman and they went on to the NCAA Tournament where they lost in the first round to Miami (Florida). Mills had 24 in that game and was the only Gael to score in double figures.

Randy Bennett took over a team in 2001 that had gone 2-27 in the 2000-01 season. In his 10 or so seasons, he has a overall record of 203-107 and a conference record of 86-49. His most impressive season was last year going 28-6 and making it to the Sweet 16. In 04-05, he went 25-9, 07-08 went 25-7 and 08-09 went 28-7. He has been to the tournament 3 of St. Mary's 6 times. They've made it in 1959, 1989, 1997, 2005, 2008 and 2010. Prior to him coming to Moraga, the Gaels were 1-3 in the tournament and have since gone 2-3 with him. So Bennett has led an underappreciated turnaround and one that stays off the radar when you think about programs who have become great overnight. In this case, it is probably because of the fact that Gonzaga is in their conference and are consistently on the national radar.

I thought this team would not be very good without the double double threat Samhan. The rest of the team were pretty much slightly above average Australian players who were good ball handlers and three point shooters. This was one of those cases I was wrong. As I said, some teams don't rebuild, they reload. Turns out that St. Mary's has the ability to reload too and this season's potential Omar Samhan has a interesting backstory both personal and collegiate and is very fortunate to be both playing ball and alive.

A couple weeks ago, when I was watching St. Mary's epic win against Gonzaga in Spokane, a place where Gonzaga has gone 50-1 or so over the last few years, I noticed a familiar face. A couple years ago in a 4-13 matchup in the NCAA Tournament, the Connecticut Huskies played the San Diego Toreros and the Huskies were upset 70-69. One of the players on that team, Rob Jones, was a freshman at the time, yet played more like a senior on that day scoring 14 points and pulling down 6 rebounds in 29 minutes of play and was one of the key pieces to leading San Diego to an upset win that day. He wound up transferring out of San Diego after the 2008-09 season and went to Diablo Valley College in the 2009-10 school year where he did not compete in basketball. He completed his AA degree in Fall of that year before transferring to Saint Mary's for the spring semester. This season he has been playing very well, leading the team in scoring in 6 of those games--2 of those were BYU and at San Diego State, both of who are in the top 10. He has led the team in rebounding in 16 of the Gaels 24 games. He is second on the team in scoring with 14.3 ppg and leads the team in rebounding with 7.6 boards per game.

They only lost 4 players from last year, Samhan and Ben Allen were the 2 biggest losses by far. But they still keep Matthew Dellavedova and Mickey McConnell who are huge contributors to the team and more than enough to potentially get the Gaels a couple wins in this year's tournament. Add Jones and a couple freshman to the mix and they are still a very formidable team. I don't think Jones is as dominant an inside force as Samhan, but he clearly has talent and has made a difference for this Gaels team.

In his senior year of high school, Jones knew he was either going to San Diego or St. Mary's. Eventually, Rob's father was diagnosed with renal failure and would have to undergo dialysis for a failing kidney. Rob said 'I found out my dad was sick, and it was hard. I didn't really have a father figure down there at the time. It was a rough time for me, not being able to communicate with my dad as much as I wanted to with him being in the hospital". He informed the San Diego staff that he was going back to the Bay Area to be with his family. Rob's father is back in good health and Rob appears to be improving as a player. Rob said "my mom and dad are right up there behind the basket, my godmother comes to the games, my brothers come to the games all time time. It reminds me of high school and that family feel. It's good."

So while that's his collegiate story, the personal story is a harrowing one I'm sure for both him and his dad and it's a part of their life they don't acknowledge and try to leave behind even though unfortunately for them, it will always be part of their family's history. Rob's father, Jim is the adopted son of cult leader Jim Jones who was the founder and leader of the Peoples Temple. On November 18, 1978, more than 900 Temple members in Jonestown, Guyana committed suicide by being poisoned by cyanide. The results of this day was the greatest single loss of American civilian life in a non-natural disaster until the September 11th attacks. Jones reason to commit suicide was because he was paranoid and believed that intelligence organizations were conspiring against the Temple and that "men would parachute in here on us", "shoot some of our innocent babies" and "they'll torture our children, they'll torture some of our people here, they'll torture our seniors." Jones also believed the hostile forces would convert captured children to fascism. Because of that reasoning, Jones and several members argued that the group should commit 'revolutionary suicide" by drinking cyanide-laced grape flavored Flavor Aid along with a sedative. When members apparently cried, Jones said "Stop this hysterics. This is not the way for people who are Socialists or Communists to die. No way for us to die. We must die with some dignity". He also said "Don't be afraid to die", Death is "just stepping over into another plane" and that "death is a friend". At the end of the "death tape" that was made, he said "We didn't commit suicide, we committed an act of revolutionary suicide protesting the conditions of an inhumane world." Another event that stands out with the Jonestown suicides is that in November 1978, U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan led a fact-finding mission to Jonestown to investigate allegations of human rights abuses. His delgation included relatives of Temple members, Don Harris, an NBC network news reporter, an NBC cameraman and reporters for various newspapers. On November 17, Ryan's delegation reached Jonestown. The following day they left after Temple member Don Sly attacked Ryan with a knife. Congressman Ryan and his people succeeded in taking with them fifteen People's Temple members who had expressed a wish to leave. Upon leaving however, Ryan, three journalists and a defecting temple member were shot at and 9 others wounded. The murder of Congressman Ryan was the first and only murder of a Congressman in the line of duty in the history of the United States.

It's not everyday a person can say a basketball saved their life. In this case, Rob's dad can

and Rob would have never been born if not for the fact that Jim Jr. did not take part in the mass suicide because they were playing with the Peoples Temple basketball team against the Guyanese national team in Georgetown. After the mass suicide, Guyanese soldiers kept the Jones brothers under house arrest for five days, interrogating them about the deaths in Georgetown. Upon returning to the United States, Jim Jones Jr. was placed under police surveillance for several months while he lived with his older sister, Suzanne, who had previously turned against the Temple. Unfortunately, Jim lost his wife and unborn child at Jonestown and has returned to San Francisco where he has obviously remarried and has 2 other sons besides Rob.

I find Rob's personal and collegiate stories fascinating. To know that you're only alive because your dad had a basketball game the day the mass suicide happened has to make everyday a gift for both Rob and his dad. This is one of the best examples you can give for living life to the fullest, because you never know what can happen. It almost seemed to an extent the mass suicide was a spur of the moment thing. It almost seemed that the Peoples Temple knew that after the killing of Congressman Ryan as well as the others, they were pressed for time. Fortunately Jim Jr. had a good hand. For all the bad that came out of that incident, the fact that the remaining Jones' can still make a positive difference to their communities and to people around them are a great thing. Without Rob is St. Mary's a 20-4 team, leading the WCC and well on their way to making the NCAA Tournament for the 3rd time in 4 years? I doubt it. The fact that he has led rebounding in 16 of those 24 games and led scoring in 6 of them is a testament to that and how important he is for the Gaels. He seems to have found his comfort zone in Moraga and seems to be enjoying his time at St. Mary's and hopefully they'll continue to be a factor in the WCC race over the years. I expect him to have a great rest of the year and believe he is more than capable of at least putting up comparable numbers to that of Samhan last year. It is also a great thing to see how the Jones are still so often to come together as a family to watch Rob play games in Moraga and I think Rob did a great unselfish thing by being closer to his family so he could be near his dad during his sickness as well as so he could see his family more often. I look forward to seeing how Rob continues to develop and it'll be interesting to see where his journey goes from here.

You Can't Always Get What You Want...

Let me start by saying that I had a very enjoyable weekend. It started after my 1-2:15 class ended on Friday Afternoon. My high school's game against J.P. Stevens was postponed from Thursday evening due to the snow. So I headed up to that. J.P. Stevens only had 2 wins on the year so I expected it to be a quick game for our 14-2 team. We started out sluggish but quickly put things together to cruise to a 53-22 win. I'm sure over the next month or so I'll be a lot more intensive with my high school team as well as other high school teams throughout the state. After that, I headed back down to Monmouth to meet up with my friend so that we could go to trivia down the shore. We wound up having a great night and won a $40 dollar gift card to the place. In addition, because we were the team that got 3 answers right and were the first to bring up the answer we got 3 drinks on the house which was awesome.

The following day was going to be a busy one as Monmouth was having a doubleheader against the Long Island Blackbirds and I was working the game for MSG. The women wound up cruising to a huge victory and really shot the lights out and are playing pretty good ball right now while the men did what they do every game, seemingly keep it close before losing a heartbreaker at the end. So overall, it was a long day down at school and unfortunately we couldn't go 2-0.



You may be wondering why I titled this post after the great Rolling Stones song. Obviously the song is pretty well known but for those who aren't familiar, the refrain has a line which says "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need." I think this line really epitomizes the second half of my weekend--being Saturday evening and Sunday. As you can probably see by now, I am a college hoops junkie. I don't mind seeing any team play even if it's the most irellevant conference thats being displayed. My dad refers to me as an 'event guy' meaning I'll see anything regardless of the sport. That is probably for the most part true but you couldn't pay me to see equestrian or some other olympic sports. Usually when it comes to college basketball, I'll look at the schedule for the upcoming week for the days I'm free and pick out a couple worth checking out(3/4 games I was thinking about going to this weekend happened to be team's whose gyms I had not yet been to.)



I'll recap the results of these 4 games

Brown @ Penn-Penn overcame a second half deficit of 10 points to wind up defeating Brown by 2 in overtime.



#2 Pittsburgh @ Rutgers-Almost had a monmoumental upset in Rutgers basketball history as they went down to the wire against a Panthers team ranked 2nd in the nation. Rutgers 3 was off at the end of the game to give Pittsburgh the 3 point win.



#3 Duke @ St. John's-St. John's led pretty much wire to wire over a phenomonal 3rd ranked Duke team and won by 15.



Manhattan @ Marist-Another great game, Manhattan hit a 55 foot shot at the buzzer to win 60-59.



So in those 4 games, there was an overtime game, a near upset, an upset and a buzzer beater which actually made headlines today on Yahoo.com. Think about that for a minute, a Manhattan-Marist game made headlines. Two teams who are combined 8-37 and I missed that. I've seen 7 of the 10 MAAC schools play in their home gym and that would've definitely been the best game so far of the MAAC games I've been to and I missed it. It's frustrating when you look at the games you were thinking of going to and they wind up being good games. For the most part in the times that that has happened they haven't been good games but I got burned this weekend. I've been fortunate to see some great games this year. Only a couple have been bad and there was still something to take away from those games. An example would be Columbia-Maryland Eastern Shore which was a 108-74 blowout, but how often do you get to see an Ivy League school drop 110. Or Monmouth's 40 point loss to Nova, once again how often do you get to see your college take on a top 10 team like Villanova at home?



So you might ask what'd I do instead? Well I got a text from my dad after working at Monmouth asking if I wanted to go with my family to the Meadowlands Racetrack. Without missing a beat, I immediately said yes, even though the entire day I had planned on either going to the Brown-Penn or Pitt-Rutgers game that evening. I guess there's a multitude of reasons on why I did that...I had already seen Penn play a basketball game at the Palestra so it was not like I necessarily had to see them. Second, the Rutgers game was much later--it started at 8 and frankly, there's no challenge in seeing them. I'm 15 minutes away I could see them anytime...although they are the remaining NJ school I have yet to see. Or maybe it was just the fact that I enjoy spending time with my family and going to the racetrack. I also knew my dinner would already be paid for although truth be told, Geno's or Pat's in Philly is damn hard to turn down. My friend Dan and I also had planned on going somewhere to watch Strikeforce as well and I knew if I was coming back from Philly I'd probably be a lot later than coming home from the Meadowlands. Then yesterday, I was thinking of going to either the Manhattan-Marist game or Duke-St. John's game but sometimes with these further distances like a Marist which is a little more than 2 hours away, I have to be more secretive with my parents cause they think I'm freaking nuts trying to see all these games, a few of which at this point have been out of state and a couple hours away. It also didn't help matters that this game was a 12PM game so if I wanted to go I would have needed to leave pretty early. I was going back and forth on the Duke-St John's game which started at 1 and I guess the main reason I didn't go to that is truthfully I thought Duke would win relatively easily...oops and also was feeling a little lazier yesterday morning and wasn't really in a hurry.

So what'd I do instead? I wound up taking a drive up to the Scranton area to visit my friend at her college to watch the NHL All Star Game and hang out with her. She's been my friend since elementary school and I told her back in our freshman year that I'd love to visit sometime but never was able to get up there so I am glad I finally did, before she graduates. It was a lot of fun watching the ridiculous 11-10 All Star game, going to dinner and catching up with her.

I guess the ultimate point I want to make here is that basketball will always be there. I can see a game anytime I want for the rest of my life. Hell, the next 2 months of my blog will be heavily reserved for that...this is what my basketball schedule looks like over the next 2 months or so...

2/12-13-The Primetime Shootout in Trenton featuring some of the best teams in the nation



2/19-20-Me previewing the county quarterfinals



2/26-27-Me previewing the state tournament



3/5-6-Me previewing the later rounds of states/conference tournaments



3/12-3/31 Me previewing March Madness

And while I did want to get up to a couple games this weekend, especially since they all wound up being great games. A realization I had this weekend is that I could do that anytime. I mean I guess obviously this is always in the back of your mind as well but on the way back from the racetrack, my parents informed me that one of their friends for nearly 30 years passed away of a heart attack. He was 59 years old. I saw him probably a single digit number amount of times in my life. Whenever I saw him though, he seemed like a great and funny guy. It's weird how you can see someone only a few amount of times in your life before they're taken away from you which is why I guess a good way to treat someone is to treat them as if it's the last time you're ever going to see them. You never know when someone you know or love is going to be gone. Nothing in life is guaranteed outside of death and taxes which is why it's incredibly important to live each day to the fullest because you never know when your time is going to run out.

This relates to my weekend however because as I keep saying basketball is always going to be around. Unfortunately, going to the racetrack with my family isn't. None of us are going to live forever but if there is an opportunity to capture one more memory with my family and possibly win some money in progress, 9 times out of 10, I will take advantage of that opportunity. Even though I am a huge basketball fan, I am a bigger fan of my friends and family and at the end of the day, they matter most to me even if they think I'm crazy with half the shit I do, and believe me, a lot of it is crazy. The same thing goes for my friends too--any one of us could die at any time. Fortunately, I've been lucky with this so far through my life. No one in my graduating class from high school has passed away yet and none of my close friends either. Thank God. I don't know what I'd do without them. What was most important to me this weekend, was hanging with my friends and really following through on things I said to them in the past. A couple times in the past Dan and my plans have fell through for watching Mixed Martial Arts so I felt bad about that and I also had told my friend Nikki 3 years ago, that I would visit her some point at her college. So I'm glad I was able to do both.

So while I wanted to go to a couple of games this weekend but never got around to actually seeing them, what I really needed was to be around my friends and family...to socialize, to catch up, to have fun, to reminisce, to learn, to joke, to explore, to bs. That is what I really needed. Basketball can wait. Friends and family can't, and I wouldn't want it any other way. They mean the world to me.

Thoughts on the SDSU-BYU game

Well the first 30 minutes or so played out the way I expected them too. A close, hard fought, moderately high scoring game which was very back and forth. I expected this game go down to the wire, but instead, with the score tied at 44, BYU went on a 16-8 run to take a 60-52 lead with 4:12 to go. They went on to win 71-58. At the very least even though I predicted BYU to lose, I correctly predicted their point total on the dot with 71, so I take solace in that lol. To me, San Diego State played that game exactly how they had to. They allowed Jimmer Fredette to get his points while severely limiting the rest of the team. Outside of Fredette, BYU hit 11-32 baskets which is a little better than 33%. One of the players who I said had to sept up for BYU did last night in Brandon Davies, who went 6-8 from the field for a total of 14 points and 5 rebounds. You obviously knew Fredette was going to get points and he did. With his performance last night, I don't think anyone in the country doesn't know who he is anymore and last night's game is final confirmation come tourney time, no one will be sleeping on the Cougars.

The area in which this game was lost was on offense for the Aztecs. Like I said, defensively I thought they played the game pretty well but they just couldn't do anything on offense. First off the free throws could pose a concern later on in the season. They only shoot 67% from there and shot 9-15 (60%) last night. I was talking to my friend and he said they're not going deep in the NCAA Tournament unless they make their free throws and I don't know about that. As it is they will probably be pretty comfortable favorites in their first 2 round games and they have extra motivation that everyone is disrespecting them and they want to show that their great record was not a fluke. In addition, everyone said that about Memphis a couple years ago and while it did finally cost them the title, they still made the championship game. And I think this Aztec team while not as good as Memphis was offensively that year is much better defensively.

The other areas I thought they played poorly was connecting on second chance points. I've seen them play teams like Gonzaga, St. Mary's, UNLV, etc. this season and it was the first time I saw them getting rebounds but not converting layups. They held a 35-31 advantage on rebounding, although it felt like more. They went 17-42 from 2 point range which is 40.5%. They usually shoot roughly 10 percent higher than that for a game so last night they really struggled. In addition, they committed a lot of turnovers in the first half which helped BYU stay in it. D.J. Gay who coach Steve Fisher describes as "not the best player, but the most important" on the Aztecs team had his worst game of the season going 0-7 from the field and 0-5 from 3 point range for a paltry 2 points. I really doubt he plays that poorly again the second time around at the Aztec Bowl at Viejas Arena in late February for the rematch. And lastly, if the 0-5 is any indication, they just couldn't hit 3's. They shot 5-20 from the field while BYU shot 5-15. So the combination of missed free throws (SD State went 9-15, BYU 16-19), missed second chance points which I haven't seen all season from this Aztecs team and finally missed threes doomed this Aztecs team on this night.

San Diego State has a relatively easy schedule in the near future but will be faced with two good tests at Colorado State and at UNLV. I think this team will win out regular season and will make the conference championship game in the MWC Tournament. If it was BYU-SDSU Round III, I'm sure it'd be a hell of a game, especially on a neutral court and I think you'd have to still give the slight edge to San Diego State. Even though they're now a team with a loss, a lot of times, there's something to take out of finally losing a game. The pressure's off, the media goes away a bit and you can just focus on playing basketball and be the best team you can possibly be. I think this team will be ready come March and I hope to see another big game between these two. Maybe Jimmer will drop 50 then.

Intro/San Diego State-BYU Preview

Intro

Hello everyone and welcome to my new blog. As some of you may know, I have another blog at dansohler.blogspot.com, but wanted to start fresh for Professor Bradley's class, in which we have to run a ongoing blog. This to me is a perfect time to have a Sports Reporting class seeing as the sport I enjoy the most is basketball. That sport is obviously in high gear as the NBA and college season is near its halfway point and the state high school basketball seedings will be out soon as well. This blog will focus extensively on the sport of basketball. There's so many great stories out there and seemingly more in basketball than any other sport and as this blog and semester progresses, hope to bring some of these stories to light. My favorite sport is easily college basketball. I love how there's so many different teams--many of which are so close to us and they all have different styles and personalities to them. I love the buzzer beaters, the upsets, and the loser go home mentality. There is nothing in sports that tops the NCAA Tournament. It is important to note that I have a lifelong dream of seeing all 347 teams play games in their home arena. So far I have seen 27, in a little over 2 years, so I'd say I'm working at a good pace. I've been to games in 7 states so far (CT,DE,MA,MD,NJ,NY,PA). People might ask, why college basketball, as opposed to the NFL, NBA, MLB, etc. in which I wanted to see all the arenas and teams and there's three reasons for it:



1-It is probably the most challenging feat for a sports fan to accomplish and it's a challenge that I look forward to.



2-As an anthropology major as well, I feel the other major sports leagues all miss major locations which I feel helps define the regional identities while some others are college towns. For example, I tend to think places like Louisville add a lot to the Midwest's personality and what about college towns like Palo Alto, California or Ann Arbor, Michigan, how do the college teams there shape the area's identity?



3-I think some of the great stories of all time are rooted in college basketball. Within the last few years alone, a 11 seed has made the Final Four and a school with less than 2,000 students came within 2 points of defeating the future national champion in the Elite Eight. It is one of the few sports with a one and done playoff format and that certainly adds to the ppeal of the sport. It is a chance for little guys to upstage national powehouses which is why so many people get into March Madness as opposed to the MLB or NFL where it's generally the same teams year after year after year who are making the playoffs. Anything can happen and all it takes is one moment to make a play that these oung athletes will remember for the rest of their life. And as it goes with many tournament games of the past, a lot of the time these guys who step up and meake these game-winning shot are not future NBA players, but simply young college kids who work hard for four straight years and it eventually pays off for some of these guys. These guys aren't making big cities proud like professional athletes, but their college communities and their home towns (both of which can be very small sometimes).

This blog will cover some of those games I go to, as well as different thoughts and opinions around the basketball world in general ranging from high school all the way to the pros. Along the way, I'll give my predictions for state tournament as well as conference and NCAA tournament games as well as preview some of the marquee games going on throughout the regular season. This is usually the busiest time of the year sportswise for me and by the end of this semester I hope to show everyone why and why basketball is the best of the four major American sports.

San Diego State/BYU Preview

I'm sure I probably care about this game probably more than most East Coasters should but I'm in a very interesting college basketball pool where all 347 teams are in play. You create a roster of 11 teams using 100 fake dollars. I heard going into this season that San Diego State was a team capable of having a Butler like run from last year, so I jumped at the chance to take them, especially with having an 11 dollar value, which was a steal considering more unproven teams like Memhpis and Gonzaga were 12's. Duke was a 17 to put things in perspective. San Diego State lost a tough first round game last year to Tennessee, who always seems to show up come tourney time. They wound up advancing relatively deep into the tournament. San Diego State has a team you can't help but think will win come NCAA Tournament time. They start 3 seniors and 2 sophomores. However, one of their two sophomores is Kawhi Leonard. In his freshman year, he won Mountain West Conference Tournament MVP and first team selection. He is the only freshman in MWC history to earn first team all conference honors. He was one of only four freshman in Division I to lead his team in both scoring and rebounding. He finished last season averagin 12.7 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. So far this season Leonard is averaging 15.7 points per game. What I find interesting about this Aztecs team is through the 20 games they've played so far, they have had 6 leading scorers which shows the depth of this team and how there is not one guy they've relied on solely. Kawhi Leonard has been the overwhelming force on the boards capturing the team's high number in 14 of their 20 games. Their schedule has been relatively difficut playing at Big West Favorite Long Beach State, at perennial powerhouse Gonzaga, home against St. Mary's, Wichita State, at California, home against UC Santa Barbara and then of course teams like UNLV, BYU, New Mexico in conference play. But the thing is, through 2/3 of their schedule, they remain one of the 2 teams in the nation still undefeated, along with Ohio State. They have an us against the world mentality similar to that of Boise State and TCU in football and keep using the people who feel they shouldn't be ranked in the top 5 as motivation. I've seen this team play a few times and I like what I've seen. I like how they can win high scoring games as well as low scoring games. I like how they can rely on multiple people to score. I like how they're built like a more offensively sound version of Pittsburgh rather than a bunch of jump shooters like Butler or St. Mary's had last year. These kids are different physically than many other players you'll find at Mid-Major schools. They also have a decent coach in Steve Fisher who won a title back in 1989 at Michigan. They seem to be embracing all the attention they've been receiving from the media and have been put on national tv a lot more recently although good luck to people trying to find CBS College Sports, which is a reason why people still disrespect them. This game may be the Game of the Year in college basketball for at least its regular season. #4 San Diego State comes in with a 20-0 record while #9 BYU comes in with a 19-1 record. This may be the biggest game in Mountain West Conference history. They've only been around 12 years, but there may never have been this much at stake. For SDSU-A possible 1 seed, undefeated regular season, MWC Title. For BYU-if they finish strong at least a 2 seed, possible MWC Title, etc. For BYU, their play revolves around senior guard Jimmer Fredette who first made his presence known on the national stage last year in the 7-10 matchup vs. Florida where he scored 37 and hit two 3-pointers in double overtime to defeat the Gators, giving BYU their first tournament win in 17 years and he also tied a record for most points in an NCAA Tournament game for BYU. This year Fredette has been on fire for the Cougars. He leads the nation in scoring at 26 points per game while shooting 48 percent from the field. His high game this year was 47 against in state rival Utah. Besides Fredette, they have a freshman, sophomore, junior and senior starting and that is where I think things may get a little iffy for the Cougars. Are a freshman and sophomore ready for a huge game like this I think is really up in the air. The freshman is Kyle Collinsworth. Whether or not they win could be heavily based on his decision making. He's known as being a great passer but like I said before, will he be able to handle the bright lights on a national stage. Another 2 key players in this game will be the sophomore, Brandon Davies. San Diego State is undeniably a more athletic and taller team than BYU is. Brandon is their main post threat so he will have to play to all of 6 foot 9 ability if the Cougars wanna come out of this one on top. The same could be said for Noah Hartsock, who played a good game in the NCAA Tourney as well. He has matured a lot over the last year or so and was much better his sophomore campaign than his freshman one. He is a good all around players. He is capable of driving to the hoop, hitting mid range jumpers and threes, blocking shots and rebounding. Lastly, the main complement to Jimmer Fredette is senior guard Jackson Emery. If they want to win this game Emery is going to have to play well. If he doesn't have a good game, I think the Aztecs will be able to contain Fredette enough to come out of the game with a win. Emery is a great defensive player and is athletic. He isn't a prolific scorer but does contribute. He like Fredette is another good 3 point shooter and has gotten progressively better as the 3 years of playing time have gone by.

The three keys to this game are how Collinsworth and Davies play. Will they play beyond their years or will they show up like the freshman and sophomore players they are. I expect the Aztec players to be ready and expect the senior players to show up. Personally from what I've seen from Kawhi, I don't think there's a player on the Cougars team who will be able to defend him and I think the Aztecs team is a decent amount more athletic.

Let Fredette get his points. We know how good of a player Fredette his. Let him get his numbers and hone in the other guys who can potentially kill you like Hartsock and Emery. If you limit the rest of the team's points while allowing a lot to Fredette, you will likely come out on top. Although I don't see anyone stopping Fredette or Leonard, I think San Diego State is a more balanced team than BYU which could be cause for concern if Fredette is off...which I don't think he will be.

Best shot selection will win the game/Home Crowd. I haven't noted it yet, but these two teams are among the tops in the nation in terms of their shot selection and they account for nearly 50% from the field. Whoever takes better time and selection with their shots, will likely come out of this game victorious. The Provo crowd could also make an impact, but I have a feeling it won't impact SDSU that much as they've been in big spots before and expect both teams to play a great game.

Prediction- San Diego State 74, BYU 71. I have a feeling SDSU's experience will pay off here. They have found out that the sky is the limit for this team. As each game progresses they become more and more confident and have a never say die mentality. They are playing for a lot here and I expect guys like Tapley and Gay to step up. I expect Leonard and Fredette to have big games but I feel SDSU is a more athletic and well-rounded team and feel that SDSU has the defensive ability to limit Fredette to an extent and force the Cougars into enough poor decisions to get back to San Diego with a win and more importantly, a still unblemished record.