Rutgers vs Seton Hall
Round two of the NJ College Championship game takes place Saturday and what a game it should be. It's Sr. night and very emotional for many as the Seton Hall Seniors say so long and thanks for the memories. This game will be another growing pain game for Rutgers but I will bet they come to play and compete. This is not an easy game for Seton Hall at all. But I do feel Seton Hall will win the game but it sure will not be easy.
I expect a number of recruits will be present at the game. It looks great when the rock is rocking so a win by Seton Hall in a sold out (with curtain up) crowd will impress any recruit in attendance.
NEC Honors Tom Green
Interesting that The Northeast Conference honored Tom Green last night at FDU. For some strange reason I thought it was FDU honoring the man who at one time made them a well respected program and not the laughing stock they now are. But I found out from a friend, who wants his name withheld because it could be rough on him if the people at FDU knew we are friends lol, that it was the NEC doing the honoring. Is this not strange? The conference honors you but the school does not have you in their Hall of Fame?
I watched a movie the other day that my Son worked on. The movie is Morning Glory which is about an early morning news show. A nice young lady applies for a job and the person interviewing her says "why should I hire you?" He than says why he should not and included in his evaluation of her credentials "and you attended FDU in Teaneck, better known as "Fairly Ridiculous." I guess that sums it all up and the ridiculous tag is not the wonderful students, but the administration who allow bad treatment of loyal employees, while not recognizing opportunities through sports to attract funding and additional students. Well congratulations Coach Tom Green, your award and honor is well deserved!
By the way FDU lost the game against LIU in front of 512 people. They did manage to score 81 points though. Must have been like a Rucker Tournament game since you can score 81 and lose by double degits. Unbelievable! I wonder if Tom Green stayed to watch the entire game? I wonder if he gave the team a pep talk before the game? Yea right lololol.
Bergen Jamboree
Spent a wonderful day out with my Son and Grandson prior to heading to Ramapo University to see the Bergen Jamboree Boys Championship game between Don Bosco Prep and Teaneck HS. Both teams are highly rated state wise and both have very good tradition. No matter what the team records are it is always a war when they play. Yesterday was no different!
I arrived at the game at least 2 hours early only to see TV trucks, outside vans advertising when the game would be televised, and hundreds of fans who like me arrived early to take in the atmosphere and guarantee a seat. By the way the game did sell out as did the semi finals a week ago. This is by far the greatest county tournament in New Jersey in regards to fan support and attendance in addition to tough final games. As the starting time of 7 PM approached fans continued pouring into the beautiful Bill Bradley Center with all chair back seats. Maybe FDU needs to go by and see how it should be done? After buying a bag of slightly over cooked popcorn which was sold by The Ramapo University Men's Basketball Team and Staff, (Div 3 basketball wow!) I headed to my very comfortable seat, which was surrounded by hundreds of Teaneck fans, many in thier 70s who wore the blue colors of Teaneck HS.
On the other side of this beautiful facility sat The Don Bosco fans who wore the Maroon colors of their team. Scattered all in between were outstanding fans who cheered and appreciated a very good game. Interesting that as I watched in comes a number of college coaches, something that is unusual for Bergen Jamboree finals. Even Pitts Jamie Dixon, Fordham's Tom Piccora, and coaches from a number of other D1 Programs. And I honestly believe none of the coaches were disappointed they had attended the game.
The Game
As my Grandson Logan, who Doctors predict will be at least 6 ft 10, begged to leave and go to "Home Sweet Home" (I could not believe he said that lol) my Son and I got right into the game. The final had Teaneck winning but this to me was not a great performance and Teaneck has to get into the lab (gym) to get the formula right. This might be controversial but I honestly could see some kids competing with others based on recent exposure. I saw Joel Hernandez, who is a nationally rated top Jr. have a decent offensive game but every time he received the ball he looked to shoot and in the meantime hurt his team more than he helped them. In fact when he received the ball I became nervous because he certainly was not playing team ball for some strange reason. I than saw Chris Jones, the star player, decide to let others handle the task at hand. As my Son said to me, when you are Big East or ACC caliber you want the ball and demand it in games such as last nights. Not to confuse him with Kyle Anderson but he should watch Kyle play the game. Unfortunately watching this one game made me question not the ability of this player, I questioned his desire. Clearly he is a Big East and ACC talent skills wise. But mentally is he more suited for the MAAC, CAA, or a strong NE Conference school? Just saying and believe me I know one game does not make a season. But to not be the star you are and allow another player to make this game about him which caused this to be closer than it should have been is totally unacceptable.
Teaneck does have a number of D1 recruitable players on the team including the two mentioned along with Neville Fincher the 6 ft 8 tough inside guy, and little Dynamite, Shaakir Lindsey who at 5 ft 7 is often worth the price of admission. So 4 D1 level players playing against a team without one, well maybe they have one, and winning like they did is beyond believe except this was Don Bosco. Playing Don Bosco is never an easy task especially if the game is at Don Bosco. Maybe Don Bosco played well because the game was being held about 3 miles from their home court. But again Don Bosco is no slouch of a team and those kids compete, compete, and compete again and again and again! You have to give them credit because they were not one bit intimidated by Teaneck's size, record, or talent! The game was on and the final score was far from indicative of the actual games closeness.
Back to Teaneck's win. According to many in attendance Shaakir Lindsey, better known as Little Dynamite, has been the Teaneck MVP in the 2012 Bergen Jamboree. Often the forgotten one when college coaches talk about Teanecks big 3, he might just be much better than any of us realized. Right now he is getting better and better and he is skilled, tough , and strong as a bull, with no fear of anything or anyone. Again I would love to see him match up with Aquille Carr who will be headed to Seton Hall in 2013. What a game that would be! The other often forgotten Teaneck player is Neville Fincher. He actually showed outstanding footwork last night and the ability to score and be a factor. Prediction: Not sure when based on his reclassification etc. but this kid will wind up at a place like Kansas, Mississippi State, Memphis, NC Stae, in the near future. I am stunned at how far he has come. Jerome Smart has done an OUTSTANDING job with Neville, Shaakir, Joel (he has to play better team ball), and Chris (he has to not be afraid to be the star he is). Now to get through the states to play Plainfield in East Orange. It should be a great game!
Have a great weekend. I can be reached at LFBall@aol.com
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