If you picked up Thursday's print edition of the paper, you probably saw my brief Somerset County Tournament preview. If not, here is a copy of my weekly notebook.
If you listened to my weekly Podcast with Jerry, then you heard my predictions for the game.
Here is the podcast.
But for those of you who don't have 35 cents to spare or sound on your computers, here are my thoughts and predictions on both games:
No. 1 Hillsborough vs. No. 4 Immaculata: When you make predictions, the team you pick against tends to think it is an indictment on them. That you are saying "This team is no good." That's usually not true, and it is especially not true here because both teams are very good. I think this game is a lot more even it first appears. The teams split their two regular-season meetings with each winning on the other's court. Now it's a neutral court at Montgomery. With Watchung Hills out of the tournament, I'm a little worried the Raiders may think they already have the tournament won. Senior Kelsey Kutch said everything to the contrary when I asked her, however. I like Immaculata in this game -- but I like Immaculata a little less than I did 24 hours ago after hearing about its loss to North Hunterdon on Thursday night. Maybe that's the spark/wake-up needed.
Immaculata 50, Hillsborough 49
No. 7 Montgomery vs. No. 3 Franklin: Neither of these teams have ever been to an SCT final. That has to change unless they somehow tie or Watchung Hills is allowed back into the tournament. All kidding aside, the story line here is very unique. Montgomery is the lower seed but not the underdog. The Cougars are playing on their home court and won both regular-season meetings with Franklin.
Sometimes in sports, one team is just a bad matchup for another team. I think that might be the story here. Montgomery passes the ball around the court in a way that would make James Naismith smile, and if the ball is not being dribbled, it is harder to steal it. Franklin loves to win in ugly fashion. Franklin needs to manufacture some easy transition points off steals and if Montgomery keeps the turnover total low, it will be hard to do that.
Sounds like I just made a case for Montgomery to win the game, right?
But I am a strong believer that it is extremely difficult for one team to beat another three times in the same season. Look no further than Montgomery's win against Watchung Hills last week. The Montgomery sophomores are very talented, but still one year away.
Franklin 48, Montgomery 43
Other quick thoughts: 1) South Plainfield is playing like the best team in the GMC Tournament right now. Everyone is anticipating a Perth Amboy-Piscataway final, but these Tigers may crash that party. 2) Westfield and Scotch Plains-Fanwood appear on a collision course for the UCT final. Westfield won both meetings, and SPF has a far richer recent tournament pedigree. 3) With Pennington moving up to Prep A this season, Rutgers Prep is a lock for the Prep B title. The Argonauts will probably face Gill St. Bernard's, which lost to Ridge on Thursday. Rutgers Prep beat Ridge by 16 just a few weeks ago.
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A place to discuss anything happening on the local basketball courts or minor-league baseball diamonds.
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9 comments:
Boro is playing alot better recently and will not look past Lata after the loss they suffered to them late Jan. Look for Boro to rebound 49-42 and get to the finals against Franklin
Boro lost!!!!!!!
This will cause a lot of arguing, but Melone is probably now a lock for county player of the year. However, if Caity Laub can continue to play like she's been playing and lead Somerville far into their state playoffs, she could be a dark horse.
THOUGHT THAT GREAT DEFENDER JONES COULD HANDLE MELONE
Ironic....Montgomery is making a great run....Boro is out of the mix for the county championship, Watchung beats Immaculata and Montgomery 2x during the regular season, wins the conference, but can't but away Monty in the counties. It's never over till it's over. I think that goes for the player of the year also.
This county is so strange - no real dominant team. Boro and Hills are the most consistently good teams, Immaculata has been pretty steady (though the loss to North is tough to figure), and Montgomery is young and seems to have found its style. The other county teams just aren't that good - they rely on one player for everything (one team) or they rely on your mistakes because they have no player capable of consistently making more than free throws and layups. Glad to see Melone play well, and hope that the finals is entertaining.
Thanks for generalizing like 12 teams. You can't just say "they rely on your mistakes" talking about so many teams. Please. Teams like Franklin, Somerville, and Rutgers Prep get no respect, it's ridiuclous. I think Hillsborough is overrated this year, Immaculata relies entirely on two very cocky players, and Montgomery is very inexperienced. I was shocked though when Monty beat Watchung. Never saw that coming. However, if I had to pick a team, I'd have to choose Watchung Hills for they have the fewest flaws.
"relies on two cocky players"..oh boy, what games are you watching????
You blog maybe once a week. Why do you have a blog space if you think that people are too cheap to pay for your pod cast? Carino blogs here 3 to 4 times a week w/ his blog cast. R U tired?
Last time I checked, the podcasts were free.
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