Friday, December 21, 2007

Lots of great basketball stuff going on. Great HS holiday tournaments, college games, and a time to wonder what if.

What if Lance Thomas had signed with Rutgers or SHU?

What if Brian Zoubek had stayed home to play college basketball?

What if Terell Biggs had chosen Rutgers?

I bring this up on the heels of last nights game at Madison Square Garden. It was the atmosphere I remember from years ago. It was the old Garden on 50th street and 8th avenue. It was St. Johns vs Georgetown and the player we hated at the time, Patrick Ewing. It was also the Rutgers Team with Phil Sellers pulling up to the garden on two NJ buses with Tom Young, and Art Perry, leading them into the building that was filled to the rafters. I still remember the RU Rah Rah chant. It was a special time.

My question is will NYC area basketball ever get back to what it was> I always say if St. Johns, Rutgers, and SHU are strong along with Villanova, and UConn, every local kid minus a few would be interested in going to school in this area. Last night we saw two teams from outside the NY Metro area sell the Garden out. Most recruits who were there want that atmosphere. Most will have Pitt and Duke on a list if they are recruited by those schools.

Back to the three players mentioned. lance will be so successful in life. NBA bound? Not so sure but I do think he could get an NBA office job and rise through the ranks if nothing else with that Duke degree. Kid is a winner but on that level he is just a role player. Wonder if he wishes he had chosen RU?

Brian Zoubek? This kid was a great HS player who never even considered local schools. He would great at Bucknell. I hope it works out for him but as we all know, Duke is HS All American Headquarters.

Terrell Biggs was at one time the number 1 rated 8th grader in America by Hoop Scoop. I still remember his wonderful Grandfather taking him around. What a wonderful and personable man he was. Think Terrell will stick it out and complete his career as a role player at Pitt? Or will he take his game to a place like Iona College?

Speaking of performers: Dejuan Blair is a spitting image of Elton Branch. They even look like they could be related. That kid is special. I wonder what his rating was from the so called experts?

Saw Miami won again last night. Attendance was around 2000 plus. Are you kidding me? Whats with that program? Where is everyone? Maybe they need Justin Timberlake to perform at half-time. I still cannot figure out why kids go there. It must be the weather, beaches, girls, and parties given by Luke.

LIU beats St. Peter. Does that mean LIU could beat Rutgers? I doubt it! In fact, I would bet if Rutgers played St. Peters 6 more times Rutgers would win 6 out of 6. They would also beat LIU 6 out of 6 times. Sometimes you just have games you should win go in a different direction.

Speaking about losing doi anyone see that South Carolina Upstate beat SMU? South Carolina Upstate? What is that? Do they have a gym and campus? Is it like the University of Phoenix? Maybe the game was played on-line.

Look out for a few entries on local travel team programs and how they got started, etc. I will start with The Long Island Panthers and Gary Charles, the best dressed guy in travel team coaching.