1) Why do teams enter holiday tournaments with other teams from their conference/division? It doesn't make sense. Don't you see enough of these teams during the regular season? Why is Bernards playing Mount St. Mary in a final when they play twice during the regular season? Same with Dunellen and Middlesex, who play once in the regular season and likely again in the Central Jersey Group I sectional tournament. There are plenty of tournaments around the state to enter that you do not need to settle for familiar foes. Follow the lead of Bound Brook (which traveled to Maryland) or South Hunterdon (which challenged itself against the likes of New Egypt, Keyport and Lindenwold).
2) Hunterdon Central might be in a different class than every other team in the Skyland Conference and the area. I have not seen the Red Devils yet, but I have seen 14 teams and none are putting up the kind of results they are. My number two and three ranked teams -- Piscataway and Rutgers Prep -- already have had squeakers this season while Central is winning easily on the way to the semifinals of a very competitive 16-team Brick Memorial Tournament.
3) Gill St. Bernard's is legitimate. We learned that last weekend when Gill beat Montgomery. Today's game against New York power Bishop Ford should be interesting. If I had to pick right now, I would say Rutgers Prep and Gill have a 50 percent chance of facing each other in the Somerset County Tournament final.
4) Don't sleep on Mount St. Mary. The Mount Lions, led by 2005 Courier News Coach of the Year Jim Vopal, are 5-0 and winning close games. Senior leadership will do that for you.
5) Bridgewater-Raritan is better than its record shows. Being tied with Piscataway in the final seconds is something for this very young team to build off.
Here are some players that caught my attention this week: Courtney Woodard (Plainfied), Shauna Mulkerin (Immaculata), DreShonda Williams (Piscataway), Taylor Jeffers (Franklin), Amy Evanylo (Manville), Blaire Houston (South Plainfield), Lindsay Darvin (Benards), Gabby O'Leary (Westfield).
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Friday, December 21, 2007
Well the first week is over...
And what a hectic week of girls hoops it was.
First, THANK YOU to all the coaches, assistants coaches, players, scorekeepers, team managers, parents, etc. who call in games. I know our early deadlines (9:45 p.m.) have been tough on you, but you are doing a great job. We are getting more night time girls basketball games in the paper than only other sport.
Second, the girls basketball notebook will be running on Saturdays in our new VARSITY pullout section. Notebooks for all sports run on the same day in that section. Also, Friday night game stories will be in VARSITY, too. So don't thumb through the sports section and figure something went wrong. Look for VARSITY.
Here are some of my thoughts, but for more, read the notebook.
-- Thursday and Friday night I saw two very team-oriented victories. Watchung Hills and Somerville both graduated star players last season, but appear to have adjusted well to their makeover. Interestingly, both teams won by the same score, 44-36.
-- I'm hearing good things about Immaculata's Shauna Mulkerin. The Spartans are 0-3, but people I have talked to who have seen them say Mulkerin is a young Lindsay Melone in the making. That's a scary thought for opposing teams during the next three years.
-- Who is the best team in Somerset County? It's no clear now than it was during the preseason. I have my thoughts, but I'll keep those to myself. You can debate that it is any of four or five teams. And please do, in the comments section.
-- My Top 10 looks surprisingly similar to my first Top 10. I guess I'm more clued in than I give myself credit for.
-- Here is my probable coverage schedule for holiday tournament week:
Dec. 26: Immaculata vs. Piscataway AND South Plainfield vs. Delaware Valley
Dec. 27: Plainfield vs. Franklin
Dec. 29 Dunellen Tournament consolation and championship games
Before that, I'll be covering Voorhees-Rutgers Prep on Saturday afternoon. It should be a very good matchup. As they did last season, the Vikings are surprising me. I clearly underrated them. Rutgers Prep has yet to play a local team, so it is a good chance to see how it measures up.
PREDICTION: Rutgers Prep 48, Voorhees 39
WHY? Junior center Felicia Mgbada will be too much to handle in the post and the quickness of the Argonauts' guards will too many cause problems in the full court.
First, THANK YOU to all the coaches, assistants coaches, players, scorekeepers, team managers, parents, etc. who call in games. I know our early deadlines (9:45 p.m.) have been tough on you, but you are doing a great job. We are getting more night time girls basketball games in the paper than only other sport.
Second, the girls basketball notebook will be running on Saturdays in our new VARSITY pullout section. Notebooks for all sports run on the same day in that section. Also, Friday night game stories will be in VARSITY, too. So don't thumb through the sports section and figure something went wrong. Look for VARSITY.
Here are some of my thoughts, but for more, read the notebook.
-- Thursday and Friday night I saw two very team-oriented victories. Watchung Hills and Somerville both graduated star players last season, but appear to have adjusted well to their makeover. Interestingly, both teams won by the same score, 44-36.
-- I'm hearing good things about Immaculata's Shauna Mulkerin. The Spartans are 0-3, but people I have talked to who have seen them say Mulkerin is a young Lindsay Melone in the making. That's a scary thought for opposing teams during the next three years.
-- Who is the best team in Somerset County? It's no clear now than it was during the preseason. I have my thoughts, but I'll keep those to myself. You can debate that it is any of four or five teams. And please do, in the comments section.
-- My Top 10 looks surprisingly similar to my first Top 10. I guess I'm more clued in than I give myself credit for.
-- Here is my probable coverage schedule for holiday tournament week:
Dec. 26: Immaculata vs. Piscataway AND South Plainfield vs. Delaware Valley
Dec. 27: Plainfield vs. Franklin
Dec. 29 Dunellen Tournament consolation and championship games
Before that, I'll be covering Voorhees-Rutgers Prep on Saturday afternoon. It should be a very good matchup. As they did last season, the Vikings are surprising me. I clearly underrated them. Rutgers Prep has yet to play a local team, so it is a good chance to see how it measures up.
PREDICTION: Rutgers Prep 48, Voorhees 39
WHY? Junior center Felicia Mgbada will be too much to handle in the post and the quickness of the Argonauts' guards will too many cause problems in the full court.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Important correction
In Thursday's girls basketball season preview, I mistakenly wrote that Rutgers women's basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer had attended a Plainfield High School practice. There was a miscommunication between Plainfield coach Elizabeth Clark and myself.
Clark called me Thursday morning and said what she actually told me was that having former Stringer player and Plainfield assistant coach Mauri Horton on her staff was "like having Coach Stringer at practice."
Clark called me Thursday morning and said what she actually told me was that having former Stringer player and Plainfield assistant coach Mauri Horton on her staff was "like having Coach Stringer at practice."
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
A Top 10 Experiment
I admit that after phone calls and/or emails to the 33 local high school girls basketball coaches, I still do not have a great grasp for what is going to happen this season. I swear that is not an indictment on my work, but rather a testament to how much parity is expected.
I mentioned this to my colleague Jerry Carino and told him that I did not want to make a Preseason Top 10 for fear of looking stupid. Together, we hatched the idea of putting all possible candidates into a hat and seeing what happens.
I decided against it for the newspaper, but figured it could make good blog fodder.
So, fresh out of a filthy, sweat- and sand-stained Florida Marlins cap found lying around the office, here is the out-of-a-hat Top 10. It consists of the 13 schools I considered for the Top 10 that runs in the paper as part of Thursday's lengthy season preview.
All I'll say now is that this is very different than the one I eventually printed. Only one team is in the same spot here as in the paper. Check out both.
1. North Hunterdon
2. Franklin
3. Gill St. Bernard's
4. Immacualta
5. Scotch Plains-Fanwood
6. Rutgers Prep
7. Montgomery
8. Hunterdon Central
9. Watchung Hills
10. Somerville
Others considered: Hillsborough, Westfield, Piscataway
I mentioned this to my colleague Jerry Carino and told him that I did not want to make a Preseason Top 10 for fear of looking stupid. Together, we hatched the idea of putting all possible candidates into a hat and seeing what happens.
I decided against it for the newspaper, but figured it could make good blog fodder.
So, fresh out of a filthy, sweat- and sand-stained Florida Marlins cap found lying around the office, here is the out-of-a-hat Top 10. It consists of the 13 schools I considered for the Top 10 that runs in the paper as part of Thursday's lengthy season preview.
All I'll say now is that this is very different than the one I eventually printed. Only one team is in the same spot here as in the paper. Check out both.
1. North Hunterdon
2. Franklin
3. Gill St. Bernard's
4. Immacualta
5. Scotch Plains-Fanwood
6. Rutgers Prep
7. Montgomery
8. Hunterdon Central
9. Watchung Hills
10. Somerville
Others considered: Hillsborough, Westfield, Piscataway
Monday, December 10, 2007
Nava no more
After nine seasons in the independent Atlantic League, Lipso Nava is finally advancing. Nava, who played third base and became a fan favorite for the 1998 and 1999 Somerset Patriots, accepted a Single-A coaching position Monday in the San Francisco Giants organization.
The mustached marauder (I just made that up spur of the moment) never got out of independent baseball as a player, so this is a good break. He played for the Camden Riversharks before retiring as a member of the Newark Bears. Nava was the hitting coach for Newark's 2007 championship team. Below is the contents of the Bears' press release.
NEWARK, NJ, December 10—The Newark Bears Professional Baseball Club announced today that Lipso Nava, the team’s hitting coach during the 2007 season, has accepted a minor league coaching position within the San Francisco Giants organization for the upcoming 2008 season. Nava will serve as the hitting coach and first base coach for single-A Augusta in the South Atlantic League.
“I appreciate the confidence that the Newark Bears showed in me this past season and for giving me the chance to grow, both as a coach and as a person,” said Nava. “I look forward to this opportunity to further my career and, with the help of God, reach the Major Leagues one day.”
The 39 year-old Nava guided Bears hitters to a league-record .302 team batting average in helping Newark win the 2007 Atlantic League Championship. Last season marked Nava’s first as a coach at any level of professional baseball. He retired as a player following the 2006 campaign.
“I have personally known Lipso for seven years, and I am extremely proud of him and happy for him and his family,” said Bears general manager John Brandt. “With his tremendous work ethic and the success he achieved last season, he is very deserving of this opportunity.”
In a 17-year playing career, Nava had a .274 lifetime batting average in over 1,300 games played. He batted better than .300 on three different occasions, including a career-best .332 for the Somerset Patriots in 1998. The season before, Nava reached the Triple-A level for the only time in his career, batting .266 with nine home runs for the Iowa Cubs.
The Venezuelan-born Nava played for three different Atlantic League teams over the final nine seasons of his career, the Bears, the Patriots, and the Camden Riversharks. He closed out his career playing third base for the Bears in 2006, batting .239 in an injury-shortened 52 games.
This is the second consecutive off-season that the Newark Bears have had their hitting coach hired by the San Francisco Giants. In the 2006 off-season, veteran hitting coach Victor Torres was hired to work in the Giants minor league system. Torres is expected to coach at Double-A Connecticut in 2008.
The mustached marauder (I just made that up spur of the moment) never got out of independent baseball as a player, so this is a good break. He played for the Camden Riversharks before retiring as a member of the Newark Bears. Nava was the hitting coach for Newark's 2007 championship team. Below is the contents of the Bears' press release.
NEWARK, NJ, December 10—The Newark Bears Professional Baseball Club announced today that Lipso Nava, the team’s hitting coach during the 2007 season, has accepted a minor league coaching position within the San Francisco Giants organization for the upcoming 2008 season. Nava will serve as the hitting coach and first base coach for single-A Augusta in the South Atlantic League.
“I appreciate the confidence that the Newark Bears showed in me this past season and for giving me the chance to grow, both as a coach and as a person,” said Nava. “I look forward to this opportunity to further my career and, with the help of God, reach the Major Leagues one day.”
The 39 year-old Nava guided Bears hitters to a league-record .302 team batting average in helping Newark win the 2007 Atlantic League Championship. Last season marked Nava’s first as a coach at any level of professional baseball. He retired as a player following the 2006 campaign.
“I have personally known Lipso for seven years, and I am extremely proud of him and happy for him and his family,” said Bears general manager John Brandt. “With his tremendous work ethic and the success he achieved last season, he is very deserving of this opportunity.”
In a 17-year playing career, Nava had a .274 lifetime batting average in over 1,300 games played. He batted better than .300 on three different occasions, including a career-best .332 for the Somerset Patriots in 1998. The season before, Nava reached the Triple-A level for the only time in his career, batting .266 with nine home runs for the Iowa Cubs.
The Venezuelan-born Nava played for three different Atlantic League teams over the final nine seasons of his career, the Bears, the Patriots, and the Camden Riversharks. He closed out his career playing third base for the Bears in 2006, batting .239 in an injury-shortened 52 games.
This is the second consecutive off-season that the Newark Bears have had their hitting coach hired by the San Francisco Giants. In the 2006 off-season, veteran hitting coach Victor Torres was hired to work in the Giants minor league system. Torres is expected to coach at Double-A Connecticut in 2008.
Raritan Township's Cust Academy new site for spring training
Hopefully you caught this article last week. If not, the link is pasted below. I will have more on spring training after the turn of the calendar, but this should tell you all you need to know for now.
http://c-n.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071206/SPORTS05/712060301/1015
http://c-n.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071206/SPORTS05/712060301/1015
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
